Yes, I got a new voice for 2010. Here's the scoop....

You all know how fond I am of new equipment, so...

Seriously, here's what happened:  I moved from Los Angeles to Ohio.  That's pretty much it.  We can blame Ohio for everything.  I frequently do.  In this case, I acquired a new flu-type virus that settles in the lungs and doesn't go away.  Everyone I know has it now, it makes you cough when you laugh.  I initially got it 4 years ago.  It's treated with asthma medication as your lungs start to fill with fluid and it's noisy.

It's common knowledge that I am kind of an idiot.  I forget things, like the warning I got 4 years ago to rinse my mouth out after I use my inhaler to avoid getting thrush (oral yeast).  This year I had to use the inhaler more than usual...and didn't make the connection when I developed raw spots in my mouth that wouldn't heal.  Or when my lungs got extremely bad and I started to have to use the inhaler daily.  Or when my allergy and sinus symptoms got debilitating and I developed migraines.  Or stomach cramps.  Or when it got hard to see (sort of a white filmy issue).

Now, a fun fact about yeast is that it feeds itself.  It thrives in sugar.  I'm a gluten-free vegetarian.  I'm hypoglycemic and plump (but since I've been strict vegetarian/celiac the fat is going away).  By the grace of God, I don't like sweets, and that one day a month I do it's Ding Dongs, Devil's Food Cake, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Ice Cream, Canoli and Petit Ecolier (sp?) crackers with bittersweet chocolate chunks on one side.  Sometimes I add peanut butter to those.  Predictable.  So all of a sudden I start craving nothing but sugar,  all the time.  I am eating multiple candy bars (yuck), bags of candy (double yuck), pretty much anything in the checkout lane.  I'm putting gobs of sugar in perfectly good cereal (ick). I gained 10 pounds.  By now I felt terrible on all levels.

All of this started to get out of control around November, when I started singing in SL.  I, being a total moron, credited my sudden inability to hit and sustain notes to nerves.  It was only when eating became ridiculously painful that I remembered that bit about thrush.

You know those photos they show you in health class of diseases that are totally out of control and you wonder how anyone let them go so long?  I finally achieved photo status!

OK, this is actually a picture of graphic tongue that I enhanced.  Graphic tongue, I learned, is a normal condition where the tongue looks as spotted as an Appaloosa.  I have graphic tongue, which is another reason I didn't spot the yeast.

As soon as I Googled, my tongue popped up!  Yea!  Off I went to the grocery store ( you never need to see the Dr about yeast).  All I can say in defense of my rampant and inexplicable stupidity here is that the infection started and built up so slowly that I just didn't notice.

After two days of treatment my tongue returned to normal size - it was about 3 times normal.  I don't know how I could talk - much less sing - at all.  My throat also shrunk (expanded? the tissues shrunk) back to normal, as did my nasal passages, etc. in time.  My lungs and eyes cleared up over the next two weeks.  I am still taking probiotics and other supplements to make sure it's completely gone from everywhere.

...and I got my voice back!  It's such a relief.  Of course, now I have to learn how to use it all over again, but I don't mind.

So let this be a warning to you kids!  Drink lots of water and write stuff down! And don't be afraid to come to my show - I swear it's much better now with the new voice!