My general physician calls me a “super compliant” patient. And it is true that I follow all medical instructions to a T.

There was a controversy around how long I was supposed to stay silent after my recent throat surgery. The discharge documents said “till post op checkup”. That would be two weeks. Doctor Law had suggested 5 days when we were going thru the pre-op checklist.

I stuck with the longer duration. And that surprised Doctor Law. After putting the probe thru my nose he turned the camera on and both of us could see that outgrowth was gone. He was very pleased with how the whole area has healed.

“So, you did not talk for 2 weeks?”, he asked.

I nodded.

“Well, you can see the effect of it. The area is healed better than we see with other patients. You are 80% there and with therapy you will be 100% there.”

“When you talk, follow Bryan’s (the speech therapist) instructions. Like no more than 10 minutes per hour for the next week. And I will see you in 3 months. I expect nobody will even realize you went thru a surgery.”

“So, now that you will be talking again, what are the first words that will come out?”

I thought for a while and asked with a very crackled voice “Can you prescribe two more weeks of silence?”

That had him laughing heartily.

“Really? You liked it?”

“Well, I started learning ASL. I am sure my friends found me less obnoxious. And I got a lot of hall passes to stay away from house chores. What is there not to like?”

“Naah… I think you should start talking.”

Got myself an appropriate T-shirt though, just to be safe!