Savannah Guthrie returns to TODAY after vocal cord surgery

Nbc: After taking a break from TODAY to recover from vocal cord surgery, co-anchor Savannah Guthrie returned to the morning show on Friday, January 23 and said she will make a full-time comeback on Monday, January 26. Guthrie told TODAY she initially thought her vocal changes were just "normal aging and wear and tear," but that her voice became noticeably worse last year and "sometimes, it was hard to get through a sentence." She saw Dr.

Peak Woo, who using a tool that examines vocal cord vibration found "a hemorrhagic polyp on one side and vocal nodule on the other side" and recommended microlaryngeal surgery. The procedure was done under anesthesia with a laryngoscope and very small instruments; Woo said they "use instruments about the size of an ant’s head to carefully remove the polyp portion but preserving the tissue surrounding it," and that the surgery took about an hour.

Guthrie said she was ordered not to speak for eight days and that hearing her "new" voice left her "overcome with emotion": "It sounds so good, I could cry." Guthrie described the recovery as a "beautiful, beautiful moment, spiritual moment" and thanked her TODAY colleagues for their support during a roughly three-week absence.

Key Topics

Health, Savannah Guthrie, Peak Woo, Microlaryngeal Surgery, Hemorrhagic Polyp, Vocal Nodule