Yeson voice feminization surgery

[Jennygirl]

A teensy update!

I hit E5 660hz sustained!!! C5 is now a piece of cake

I think I will be raising my goal of F5 very shortly!

[Shantel]

A teensy update!

I hit E5 660hz sustained!!! C5 is now a piece of cake

I think I will be raising my goal of F5 very shortly!

[abbyt89]

Well, I just came back from  vacation and just finished packing again for Seoul!

My flight leaves tomorrow from DC, I'm so excited!

Thank you so much Jenny and everyone else in this thread who has helped me plan for this trip I will be sure to keep everyone updated while I am there!

[Jamie D]

Have a great trip Abby!!  Watch out for "gaebul" (also known as "penis worms" - a delicacy when eaten raw).

[Shantel]

Gross!

[/b]

[barbie]

Well, I just came back from  vacation and just finished packing again for Seoul!

My flight leaves tomorrow from DC, I'm so excited!

Thank you so much Jenny and everyone else in this thread who has helped me plan for this trip I will be sure to keep everyone updated while I am there!

Everyday newspaper and TV report the temperatures are record high nationwide here in Korea. The strong North Pacific high pressure continues to dominate, and no chance of any tropical cyclone (typhoon) within 2 weeks. In my hometown, we had not seen any significant rain during the past 40 days, a record. Temperature in Seoul reaches > 33 degree Celcius (92 F) everyday, but there have been some showers, better than my home town.

Be ready for a hottest summer.

barbie~~

[Jennygirl]

Soooo excited for you Abby!!!

Yeah Jamie is right: watch out for those larvae or whatever they are. The smell is unmistakable though (in a really gross way) so I'm pretty sure you'll naturally steer clear eww gross smell!

Ahhh you're going to be so happy with your voice! I was happy with mine the second I was able to hear it for the first time, but over the past 2 months it's gained an entirely different tonal quality. Since the top range is starting to extend, it's giving me all sorts of upward mobility with inflection and dynamics of pitch. It's becoming really fun to talk and I find that my conversational pitch range is pretty much right on par with most of the cis women around me. Sometimes I really surprise myself with how girly I sound I try to remember those moments and learn from them.

And a few words on recovering... pre-op, the absolute highest pitch I could make was ~520hz. 1-2 months post op I was down to ~440hz and a little worried about it. Now at 3 months post op I am getting ~660hz and it becomes easier every day. At the same time, I feel more free to be myself. I can't describe in words how happy I am that my upper range is "shifting" like they said it would.

Another example about recovery... 1.5 months ago, I had an appointment with my endo. He made no mention of my voice, but I did let him know I had a voice surgery. Well yesterday, I had a follow up. He had forgotten I had voice surgery and asked "what on earth" I had done- he was blown away! He wanted all the information about Yeson so he could recommend it to his other patients. Recovery really does take a while, but you'll get there!

Are you excited to be mute for a week? Ha ha ha

[jfong]

Soooo excited for you Abby!!!

Yeah Jamie is right: watch out for those larvae or whatever they are. The smell is unmistakable though (in a really gross way) so I'm pretty sure you'll naturally steer clear eww gross smell!

Good luck Abby...

Btw those larvae is called Beondegi (번데기) and it's different from Gaebul (개불) which is some sort of seafood. But I do agree it smelled bad...I tried them once and they didn't taste any better than they smell (and I am pretty adventurous with what I'm eating)...

I would love to try Gaebul next time I'm in Korea though haha...

[barbie]

Good luck Abby...

Btw those larvae is called Beondegi (번데기) and it's different from Gaebul (개불) which is some sort of seafood. But I do agree it smelled bad...I tried them once and they didn't taste any better than they smell (and I am pretty adventurous with what I'm eating)...

I would love to try Gaebul next time I'm in Korea though haha...

Some people will not like the texture of Gaebul. I have observed that most of people from Seoul do not eat Gaebul, they just can eat sashimi of teleost fish like flounder or plaice. If you can eat live oyster, then you may try Gaegul.

Beondegi is the larva of silkworm. In Korea, there were once so many mulberry trees around the country to produce silk during the 1970s. Beondegi became popular in that time, and without any prejudice, it tastes good.

You may also try dog meat. Many people from France actually ask us to guide to a restaurant for dog meat.

However, keep in mind that traditional Korean dishes are basically vegetarian. You may find some nice restaurants for veggies, too. Usually they are based on buddists' meals. As Jenny said, bibimbab is always nice for foreigners. If you are a veggie, then you can remove just the meat before eating bibimbab: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap. Korean air line always serves bibimbab.

barbie~~

[abbyt89]

Thanks for all the information about the food! I'll be honest I'm curious about dog meat but I don't think I could mentally do it.

I did try the bibimbap today on the airplane - I must say Korean Air is fantastic and this was by far the most pleasant (well, as pleasant as a 14 hour flight can be) flight I have ever taken.

Anyway I made it to my hotel, Jacquelynn from Yeson met me right outside of immigration and had a car waiting for me. It was so nice! She took me right to my hotel and even helped me check in!

Tomorrow I have my check-up and if all goes well I will have the surgery Wednesday morning.

I seriously can't believe it's here already, I feel like I'm dreaming!

[Shantel]

Good luck Abby, we're with you in spirit and hope for the best!

[Jennygirl]

Thanks for all the information about the food! I'll be honest I'm curious about dog meat but I don't think I could mentally do it.

I did try the bibimbap today on the airplane - I must say Korean Air is fantastic and this was by far the most pleasant (well, as pleasant as a 14 hour flight can be) flight I have ever taken.

Anyway I made it to my hotel, Jacquelynn from Yeson met me right outside of immigration and had a car waiting for me. It was so nice! She took me right to my hotel and even helped me check in!

Tomorrow I have my check-up and if all goes well I will have the surgery Wednesday morning.

I seriously can't believe it's here already, I feel like I'm dreaming!

Omg super nice! I wish they had that car service when I was there. Definitely taking Korean Air if they have bap on the plane. Sheesh! Sounds like a great trip so far

I hope your check up goes well!

[barbie]

I did try the bibimbap today on the airplane - I must say Korean Air is fantastic and this was by far the most pleasant (well, as pleasant as a 14 hour flight can be) flight I have ever taken.

Anyway I made it to my hotel, Jacquelynn from Yeson met me right outside of immigration and had a car waiting for me. It was so nice! She took me right to my hotel and even helped me check in!

Tomorrow I have my check-up and if all goes well I will have the surgery Wednesday morning.

Yes. Korean air line is at a top class in serving passengers, but the airfare is accordingly more expensive than other air lines. My feeling has been that attendants of Korean air line treat passengers as human, but other airliners (I would not specify them) treat passengers as baggage.

And, S. Korean government ordered all of public government offices to shut down air conditioning for 3 days (Aug 12-14). I am in a national university and with no air conditioning right now. Most private sectors are also trying hard to save electricity in fear of nationwide blackout.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-11/south-korea-urges-power-saving-as-shutdowns-portend-shortage.html

Fortunately, today I feel a smack of autumn, but it will be hotter in Seoul anyway.

barbie~~

[abbyt89]

Yes. Korean air line is at a top class in serving passengers, but the airfare is accordingly more expensive than other air lines. My feeling has been that attendants of Korean air line treat passengers as human, but other airliners (I would not specify them) treat passengers as baggage.

And, S. Korean government ordered all of public government offices to shut down air conditioning for 3 days (Aug 12-14). I am in a national university and with no air conditioning right now. Most private sectors are also trying hard to save electricity in fear of nationwide blackout.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-11/south-korea-urges-power-saving-as-shutdowns-portend-shortage.html

Fortunately, today I feel a smack of autumn, but it will be hotter in Seoul anyway.

barbie~~

Yes it's about 93 degrees right now and the humidity is astounding! I knew it was going to be bad but gosh I was drenched just walking the 5 minutes it took to get from my hotel to the metro station. I think my hotel might have turned off air conditioning in the lobby because they have all the doors open and it's really hot...thankfully my room is nice and cool!

[abbyt89]

I just came back from my pre-op exam where I met Dr. Kim and had a bunch of vocal tests run to see where my voice was at and to identify any potential issues with my voice/vocal chords. I have a slight vocal tremor but not enough to require botox during the surgery, so that's good because that would've meant two weeks without being able to talk instead of one.

My mean pitch at my normal male speaking voice is at about 125hz, which is square in the middle of the male range. When I speak at a comfortable female voice (not straining at all, just a comfortable higher pitch than my normal voice) I have a mean frequency of 170hz, which is about 30hz below the bottom end of the female range. With this procedure, the median increase in pitch is about 75hz, so even without "trying" I should have a pitch at the low female end, which is perfectly fine with me.

The staff couldn't have been more friendly and the place was really nice. Jessie was fantastic, as expected. She sat with my through every step of the ~3 hour appointment and made me feel super comfortable.

I have my surgery at 8:00 local time tomorrow morning, so a few hours after that I should be awake and hopefully "there" enough to provide a coherent update!

[Jamie D]

Fingers crossed for Abby!

[Shantel]

Fingers crossed for Abby!

Yes me too, good luck hon!

[Jennygirl]

Aww Abby, I'm so happy for you!!!

I'll be sending massively positive thoughts your way at around 4PM LA time and wishing you a perfect initial recovery and beyond!

I don't know if you will experience this but when I woke up after surgery it was a little bit hard to breathe, and it kind of scared me for a few minutes. I quickly realized I just had to relax & breathe slowly which made everything fine. Also, I had a lot of phlegm for the first 24 hours and it was really hard to not try to cough up. Take water with you wherever you go! The more water you drink the better. Just a little tip!

You're gonna do great! I'm already so excited to hear your results!

[abbyt89]

Aww Abby, I'm so happy for you!!!

I'll be sending massively positive thoughts your way at around 4PM LA time and wishing you a perfect initial recovery and beyond!

I don't know if you will experience this but when I woke up after surgery it was a little bit hard to breathe, and it kind of scared me for a few minutes. I quickly realized I just had to relax & breathe slowly which made everything fine. Also, I had a lot of phlegm for the first 24 hours and it was really hard to not try to cough up. Take water with you wherever you go! The more water you drink the better. Just a little tip!

You're gonna do great! I'm already so excited to hear your results!

Thanks so much for the positive words and the heads up! I will keep in mind about the breathing

I'm really only worried about two things. I'm afraid that I will wake up groggy from the surgery and forget that I'm not supposed to be able to talk and scream and yell for the nurse or something lol.

And then the other thing is the no coughing part. Earlier today I felt a cough and tried really, really hard to suppress it. I was able to hold it off for about 5 minutes and then I involuntarily coughed. I'm worried that that will happen again over the next week or so and mess up the results . How did you deal with that?

[Jennygirl]

Thanks so much for the positive words and the heads up! I will keep in mind about the breathing

I'm really only worried about two things. I'm afraid that I will wake up groggy from the surgery and forget that I'm not supposed to be able to talk and scream and yell for the nurse or something lol.

And then the other thing is the no coughing part. Earlier today I felt a cough and tried really, really hard to suppress it. I was able to hold it off for about 5 minutes and then I involuntarily coughed. I'm worried that that will happen again over the next week or so and mess up the results . How did you deal with that?

First of all how are you feeling and I hope your surgery went well!!!

I definitely felt that issue with coughing and clearing the throat. I had pretty heavy phlegm for the first 24 hours, then moderate for the next 4 or 5 days and totally fine after that.

To deal with that tingling cough feeling I just always made sure I had a water bottle with me, and I would pretty much be sipping it constantly if I felt one coming on. I went through a TON of water... Almost 3L a day.

Sipping little bits of water repeatedly did seem to help a lot. Also they will give you cough suppressant meds along with several expectorants to take to keep the phlegm as light as possible. If I remember correctly I wanted to cough the most about 1/2 hr after eating. Really try to stay away from spicy/sugary/greasy foods because they will irritate your throat, create mucous and make you want to cough.

Not coughing is the hardest part of recovery. Not talking is easy!

Soooo excited to hear from you!!!!