At last, some improvement!
Since my previous post, I followed up with my doctor and visited a vocal coach who is experienced in working with singers who have vocal damage. Prior to those visits I had started noticing a little less trouble getting above a D4 while singing, and was at times able to reach E4.
The visit with the doctor involved another exploration through my sinuses and confirmed yet again no visible issues, and no obvious treatment options.
Visiting the vocal coach didn’t offer too much in the way of guidance either, except the thought that some of my issue may be technical and not strictly medical. It had been a while since I’d had a proper voice lesson, however, so it’s also likely that I wasn’t “in practice” after not being closely observed for a while!
By the time the Seattle Bach Choir concert rolled around in the middle of March, I was starting to notice more fatigue when singing the lower bass parts (which I did for some of the pieces) and more ease when singing the tenor parts, or when the bass part jumped up high. I wasn’t struggling so much with the E4 and was even able to hit the occasional F4 as well.
But since I had been studying the bass parts for so long, I chose to remain (mostly) a bass for this concert, and resolved that I would try going back to tenor for the next concert.
Meanwhile at church I was still singing tenor as best as I could, but slowly finding it not so scary when the E’s and F’s started showing, and even managed an occasional light, floaty F# or G.
I’ve been noticing that I can find some falsetto again and using pure falsetto can sing a partial scale from C4 through A4. When I first started having trouble, I couldn’t even produce any kind of falsetto, so this definitely indicates to me that things are improving.
Still, this is pretty different from where I used to be, when I could manage a solid forte A4. But it’s progress enough that I’m starting to believe I can get back to being a full-time tenor again soon. I’ll try to follow up again in another few weeks!