I mentioned in an earlier post and elsewhere an illness that KO-ed me earlier this year, but have not written about it. I was asked about and have spoken openly about it in workshops (including Paulie Felice's amazing "The Forge" weekend retreat) and even a few of my more interactive gigs, but was recently asked again and decided to write a short piece on it.
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| Bordetella Pertussis bacteria |
Let's leap right in!
Pertussis is the medical term (you may know it as "Whooping Cough"), and is something I always thought was just something little kids get.
Nope.
And, speaking bluntly, it's not just brutal, its a potential career ender for vocalists.
You've had the vaccine (the well-known DTaP), but unless you step on a rusty nail as an adult, you might find its been decades since you've had it. Unfortunately, they suggest every decade.
Don't mess around with this - if you've not been boosted in the last decade, get your vaccine now.
For a deeper dive.....DTaP is the version of the vaccine given to kids (yes, the one you had years ago) and the Tdap is the adult booster that you get every ten years.
Both stand for Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis.
The Bordetella Pertussis bacteria ("pertussis" is Latin for "intense cough") hooks into the cilia - the tiny, hair-like extensions on the cells lining your upper respiratory tract - and releases toxins that cause the airways to swell. Three primary toxins, actually.
1. Tracheal Cytotoxin (TCT)
2. Pertussis Toxin (PTx)
3. Adenylate Cyclase Toxin (ACT)
The TCT paralyzes the cilia so they stop beating (cilia are the tiny hairs that clear your airways), and then actively kills the epithelial cells. This is at the root of the violent cough and contributes to the longevity of the illness.
PTx enters the host cells and disrupts intracellular signaling.
ACT is the bacterium's personal protector. It paralyzes the local immune defense, ensuring the colony can continue multiplying with impunity and without interference.
It's often referred to as "The 100 Day Cough", but this doesn't do it justice. The hard cold reality is that most people aren't stressing their respiratory system with any regularity...except, say, athletes and vocalists. They will notice it lasts much longer than 100 days.
My personal situation: I was out of the gym half of December (when it first hit me) and missed ALL of January & February, returning in March (but, as I mentioned HERE, only enough to get my sea legs back). Suffice to say I was very weak for 3 months, which negatively impacted all areas of my life.
But let's talk about it's impact on my life as a musician....my ability to teach and to play & sing.
Short story: I lost all of my lower octave and my entire falsetto, as well as half an octave of high end, severely reducing my range and the songs I could sing. In addition, I lost my voice almost completely for a week or two, and was barely able to teach. On top of that, I lost most of the resonance in my voice, which greatly reduced the quality of my vocal tone.
And none of that addresses the horrible & constant cough (talk about disrupting lessons)....and the laryngo spasms (yes, you think you're going to die), which is what finally put me in the ER at the hospital!
Double doses of various meds (inhalers and antibiotics and cough suppressors and more) got me on the mend!
By my June "First Friday" gig, my voice had mostly returned, but my low notes were weak and without body, and the upper end of my range still greatly diminished.
July's "First Friday" rolled around, and it was the first time I noticed the bass tone in my low notes had returned.
That's fully 6 months before most of my voice had returned....and I'm just now back to 100% in the gym.
For a guitar player who sings, I was able to manage, and maintain my career because I could minimize the speaking requirements in my teaching capacity, cancel most public speaking & broadcast/print interviews, and drop the "high performance" vocal pieces from my set lists, leaning into the easier songs or easier versions of otherwise more difficult songs.
But many of my peers in the industry (classical singers, for example, or musical theater vocalists, for another, or even high performance pop singers) would simply have been out of work.
Career over. Or at least on extended leave, if you've got enough financial security.
So again - roll any dice with this one, my friends. Make sure ALL your boosters are up to dat, and stay safe out there!
If you value my work and want to support it......contact me for lessons (guitar, electric bass, ukulele, social drumming, songwriting, etc) or feel free to leave a tip (one-shot or monthly):
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http://www.skinnydevil.org
http://www.sdmlguitar.com
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