Voice Issues

So I am sitting here on my futon, relaxing from a weekend in Topeka, KS. We were at Good News Church this weekend leading worship and doing ministry. I had kind of a rough weekend and it's hard to get over. You see we got up there Friday night and stayed in the house of a gentleman in the church. As soon as I walked in the house, I knew I was in trouble. You see the guy has a cat. For some people, that's not a big deal. For me, that's a huge thing. You see, I've become allergic to cats in the past few months. Not sure where that came from, but it's terrible. So I slept in the house that night and the next morning... it was terrible.

Later that day we practiced and I knew it was over. My throat was on fire! I felt like I was breathing fire every time I sang a note. It doesn't help that I am not very friendly to my vocal chords when I sing. So I bore down and began to sing. As we hit the set that night, it was a struggle. I couldn't hear much because our monitor went out and had to listen through the main speakers and we had a drummer with no drum shield. The first song went terrible for me. I was off and my throat was dying. By the time we hit the last song (a very high song) I was done. I'm still getting over the soreness and being hoarse.

All that being said, I am trying to figure out some things I can do to preserve my voice. Singing when you are hoarse and when you are sick..... VERY BAD for you vocal chords. The only thing you can do is drink water and rest. I am looking for some voice remedies as well. Any suggestions?