So, how would y’all feel about my going silent?
Okay, here’s the deal. I have had some health issues for the last few years, that have gotten progressively worse over that time. For those of you who watch my Livestreams on Twitch, and/or listen to the Podcasts here, maybe you’ve noticed my coughing here or there some? Well, it is possible that this is more than just an inconvenience, and I’m one to plan for the future well in advance, rather than just sit back and let everything crash around me.
I’ll be blunt: I am having issues swallowing, which is getting progressively worse. I choke on small foods and most liquids, if I’m not extremely careful. That’s been going on for years, but recently, I’m having problems swallowing further down my esophagus, which is extremely painful and disturbing. Also, my voice is very rough of late, and my throat sore around the larynx quite often.
In short, it could be a lot of things causing these issues, but it isn’t just a simple “drinking problem”, as I used to joke. I am consulting with my doctor, and we’ll see what happens next. Oh, and I’m apparently rather diabetic. Which is a huge change, my tests have always come back as normal before that, even though I’m certainly overweight.
The reason we’re talking about this here, though, is that I may need to scale back, if not completely stop, certain activities. I have to talk for my real-life job, that’s not negotiable, but if I have to rest my voice for whatever reason, do I have to continue Livestreaming? Do we really need to continue the Podcasts (because no one is doing them without me, knowing my friends)?
Anyway, I don’t want to curtail my activities here, trust me, I don’t. I really enjoy Livestreaming, and love our Podcasts, so I don’t want to set them aside. But depending upon what this health issue turns out to be, and what we need to do to treat it, I may need to reduce or stop certain activities. I can’t podcast if I can’t talk, and I don’t really want to be one of those “silent livestreamers”, either.
Of course, as the title of this article states, I can always continue to blog. In fact, I would have a lot more time to write, if I’m not Livestreaming for 6-12 hours every weekend, not to mention the podcasts, so there’s that. So, while it is still extremely early in the process, I thought we should have a conversation about this.
Would you guys stick around if I’m just blogging, at some point in the future?
Blogging would be well received I’m sure. Going “dark” so to speak, really discourages an audience. As I’ve found out in the past. Hope you get your health issues resolved.
Yeah, I don’t see myself going dark completely, but stopping livestreaming/podcasting is still a definite possibility. Saw the speech pathologist today, she thinks there is still a good chance my vocal issues can be fixed, but it depends upon what is found on the endoscopy next week.