My lovelies... so sorry I have been M.I.A.! I was at burning man for the past week or so .. which was GREAT by the way! I received the most affirming chain of "passing" experiences I have had since beginning transition. Even without really being able to use makeup in such a hot dusty environment, I passed better than ever. Out of the 4 cuties I ended up having some "facetime" with, not one of them believed me at first when I told them I was trans (nor did they care at all!). I know that my voice was a big part of that
Aanyway! It's good to be back!
Carrie- My singing voice is still definitely not even close to what it was before the surgery, but bear in mind I used to be able to sing my heart out as a baritone
Also, I haven't been trying to sing at all. They say that you can resume singing somewhere around 4-6 months and I'm not even to the 4 months mark yet. Honestly, I think it will take even longer than 6 to get my singing voice back to where it was in terms of clarity and power. Maybe more than a year. If singing is your career or a HUGE part of your livelihood, I can't yet recommend that this surgery is a good idea. As far as where my chest/head voice intersects, it seems like it's still in close to the same point... Maybe a few semitones higher. My voice sure has changed, though- "falsetto" sounds way different especially in the mid range. And, I'm still noticing improvements on almost a weekly basis! I know if it was a big deal to me and I worked on it, I would probably get there a lot sooner.
About the trach shave- they actually recommend against it because it can weaken the voice box if done improperly (taking too much cartilage away). Basically if you get a trach shave and it messes with your voice or makes it lower, it will impede your results from this surgery. I had mine done about 3 months pre-op and had no such symptoms, my voice seemed to stay exactly the same. I was adamant with Dr. Outserhout about not taking away too much of the thyroid cartilage because my biggest fear was having it negatively impact my voice. Regardless, when I found Yeson, I was very concerned about having had a tracheal shave. I asked Jessie and she told me if it did not affect my voice I would be fine- they have operated on numerous patients who have undergone thyroid cartilage reduction with a normal outcome. It turns out she was right- I am VERY happy with my results, and my topmost frequency capabilities have actually increased from 523hz to 660hz
If you are going to need a trach shave, I would say get it done as soon as possible by a reputable surgeon who displays an acute attention to detail when it comes to protecting the voice. I would also ask the potential surgeon how many times they have performed the procedure and how many times out of that the patient has reported any voice changes post-op. I think that is the only thing besides being careless during recovery that could possibly negatively affect the outcome of this surgery.
Hope that helps! And I'll say it again- it's great to be back
