Rachael Ray to have throat surgery

Every time I've heard Rachael Ray speak lately (not on her Food Network shows but on her daily syndicated show, which is more current), I've noticed that her voice has been even more raspy than usual. She has always had a deep voice (except when she gets all excited and high-pitched), but it has usually been smooth. Now it seems incredibly scratchy, like she has a permanent sore throat. Turns out there's a reason why.

Ray has a benign polyp on her vocal chord. She'll have day surgery in December to remove it. Now some of the tabloids have reported that Ray was worried about throat cancer, and I bet a lot of people believed that because of they way she has sounded lately, but the polyp is benign. A spokesperson says that "Rachael is the picture of health" and that's a common, quick procedure which won't affect the taping of her show.

Of course, I think that anytime you have to go into an operating room and have someone cut into your throat while you're knocked out means you're not exactly a picture of health, even if what is being removed isn't that serious. I think there's a math formula for it:

Human being + scalpel + operating room = serious.

The National Enquirer says that the growth is from Ray's many years of smoking. I never knew she smoked. Is it possible you can get a polyp from just talking non-stop for 5 years?