Another Yeson thread - I'm booked for Feb 26

[anjaq]

He told me my sustained voice for a sound is at 100 hz, so if I say ah for a few seconds I will have to use my trained voice or my voice will drop.

I also had a big issue with the amount of air I was using to speak. I was using 5-7 times more air than the average person to speak and this was because my A-symmetry was letting a lot of air escape and my vocal cords were not coming into complete contact with each other. They only contacted each other in the middle.

Oh so you really are very similar to me there. Same issues - I also have a 100 Hz base frequency but am using a higher pitch for regular speaking nowadays and I have also an assymetry and I have exaclty what you described there in terms of the vocal chord coming together only in the middle. You can see the images in my thread in the voice section of the forum where this thread also resides. Maybe you want to comment there and compare? He told me that due to that I will need a longer recovery time. I also use a lot more air - I can sustain a sound for 9 seconds which is not a lot.
The weird thing is that I corrected some of that with voice training now - the contact of the chords is a lot better now but I still cannot phonate longer for some reason.  So if you had a 100 Hz original voice and a rregular trained voice at 130-140 Hz , which is as i understand it now - correct me if I am wrong - then your parameters ar all very similar to me and I am very very interested then in how things go along for you and I would like to stay in conteact. If you dont mind me asking - how long have you used your changed voice as of now - months, years? And how much did he suture? 1/3 or 1/2?
Thanks a lot.

Jenny - I think this is similar to me - 82-87 Hz, that is about my lower limit as well, but I awas originally speakng at 100 Hz and now at 130-140 regularly. So for you a 50% suture was what broought you up in a good range...I have no clue if my chords are massive or not. I do not have a visible adams apple though, so if that is somehow connected, maybe they are not.
Thanks for the encouragement, Jenny I know i worry a lot, maybe too much but that is me - I am a scientist, I always desire to know every tiny bit and try to eliminate all risks

[AmyBerlin]

Dear Anja,

I know i worry a lot, maybe too much but that is me - I am a scientist, I always desire to know every tiny bit and try to eliminate all risks

I know. We're pretty much the same way when it comes to science. But with life, you can't eliminate all risks, unfortunately.

Amy

[anjaq]

I know. But I cannot fight the urge to at least try

[AmyBerlin]

Hey Megan, Expressgirl,

it's been a while that we last heard from you. Is your recovery going all right?  My own surgery is coming up (less than a month to go now), so I'm getting a little nervous. Good news that you two are safe and recovering well would be greatly appreciated.

Hugs,

Amy

[Boca.Lisa]

Amy,

I'll let ExpressGirl "speak" for herself but when she left Korea on Saturday she was good. Jenn90210 and I are still here waiting for our post op exam and getting the ok to go home. Jenn is leaving tomorrow and im out of here Friday.

A couple things that will help you.

A. If you are a coffee or tea drinker, bring your own decaf items. Cannot get them here at all! I wish I knew that as all I want is a cup o joe in the am.
B. Food has been challenging. After surgery you cant have any spicy food. The sauces here are spicy but the food itself is rather bland.
C. At the airport you can rent a wireless hub for $8 per day. Definately worth while.
D. The surgery did not hurt at all....not talking is very hard! You will feel almost 100% the day of surgery. Be careful not to over do it.

So we all are too soon to know if it worked. Dr. Kim says that at 2 months tell biggest change occurs. It seems that the longer you go, resting your voice the better.

Best of luck to you!!!!!

[barbie]

A. If you are a coffee or tea drinker, bring your own decaf items. Cannot get them here at all! I wish I knew that as all I want is a cup o joe in the am.
B. Food has been challenging. After surgery you cant have any spicy food. The sauces here are spicy but the food itself is rather bland.

It is now spring here in Jeju island, and I saw cherry blossom this morning at my house.

Yes. I have never seen any decaffeinated coffee here, as I do not drink it.
There are some western-style restaurant here in Korea such as Veeps, McDonalds, Pizza hut, and KFC.

Yes, usually the sauces and red-colored soups are very spicy, but others taste mild. You can eat selectively, as they usually offer various side dishes without additional charge. Beans, tofu, rice, eggs and white-colored kimchi would be fine. But be careful in anything red.

barbie~~

[Jennygirl]

SO very excited for all of you. I can still remember the planning and recently post-op days like the back of my hand, and I simply cannot wait to hear all of your voices

[anjaq]

I second that Jenny - it is very exciting to see so many going to korea and coming back home. I expect in two or three months we will get a whole bunch of recordings then

Out of curiousity - why the decaf? Is is because you should not drink caffeeine post op or is it just personal taste?

[Boca.Lisa]

Anjaq,

The decaf thing is because caffeine dries out your vocal chords. Post op you cannot have coffee, tea or anything with caffeine. That includes Chocolate.

Lisa

[anjaq]

Darn. Then I would not want decaf either. Better drink herbal tea and such then... that is so for how long? some  weeks?

[megan2929]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still doing fine. I'm a little over 4 weeks post-op now, but I'm still resting my voice. Yeson says April 5th I can begin general conversation so I'm pretty much waiting until then to really start making any sounds. The Botox apparently makes my voice sound hoarse anyway for 4-5 weeks after the injection, so I'm not expecting to hear anything close to a "nice" voice until 6 weeks (2 weeks from now).

I did sneeze the other day and it it came out sounding like a "achee" instead of a an "achoo" which was nice. It definitely sounded feminine so that made my day

[barbie]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still doing fine. I'm a little over 4 weeks post-op now, but I'm still resting my voice. Yeson says April 5th I can begin general conversation so I'm pretty much waiting until then to really start making any sounds. The Botox apparently makes my voice sound hoarse anyway for 4-5 weeks after the injection, so I'm not expecting to hear anything close to a "nice" voice until 6 weeks (2 weeks from now).

I did sneeze the other day and it it came out sounding like a "achee" instead of a an "achoo" which was nice. It definitely sounded feminine so that made my day

Megan,

Nice to hear that your throat progresses without a problem. Yes. Be patient. I surmise that it would be a new experience of being a dumb person.

Early-summer-like weather is forecast for the entire S. Korea (daily max. >20 degree Celsius), but it is still chilly at dawn.

barbie~~

[megan2929]

Alright ladies, the day has arrived. Well technically I'm going to keep quiet for another 3 days, but I did record about 40 seconds of my voice yesterday at the 5 week mark. So keep in mind that this is really the first time I've strung together more than a couple words, and my voice is still really weak. It sounds pretty breathy which I suspect is a combination of still healing, and the botox not having worn off yet. They said 4-5 weeks before the hoarseness goes away from the botox so that would be another week or so for me.

The beginning of the recording is just me talking in my chest voice. So basically as low as I can go, and it sounds pretty similar to my old (practiced) voice so I'm ok with that. I know the other girls who went before me have said that their voice continued to get better and higher around the 2 month mark so I'm still a few weeks away from really hearing what the final voice will sound like. But I just thought everyone would want to hear an "in progress" recording so you can compare your own healing at the same number of weeks.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0mEsyNkdoTh

[Boca.Lisa]

Megan, it sounds great!!!!!!

Ive listened to your trained voice video and then the new recording. THIS IS DEFINATELY A HIGHER PITCH.

Dr. Kim also said the 2 month mark would be where the pitch change would be most noticeable with additional increases after the vocal exercizes!

Im really excited for you.

I'm 2 weeks in today and I can't wait to hear my new voice!

Keep us updated! YAY!!!!!!!!!

[jenn90210]

Megan you sound great! i hope my results are nearly as good as yours.

[Jennygirl]

I'm sure your result will be Jenn

Megan your voice sounds great! Great success & a huge congratulations!

The hardest days are behind you. Now comes the fun part! Using it!

[barbie]

Alright ladies, the day has arrived. Well technically I'm going to keep quiet for another 3 days, but I did record about 40 seconds of my voice yesterday at the 5 week mark. So keep in mind that this is really the first time I've strung together more than a couple words, and my voice is still really weak. It sounds pretty breathy which I suspect is a combination of still healing, and the botox not having worn off yet. They said 4-5 weeks before the hoarseness goes away from the botox so that would be another week or so for me.

The beginning of the recording is just me talking in my chest voice. So basically as low as I can go, and it sounds pretty similar to my old (practiced) voice so I'm ok with that. I know the other girls who went before me have said that their voice continued to get better and higher around the 2 month mark so I'm still a few weeks away from really hearing what the final voice will sound like. But I just thought everyone would want to hear an "in progress" recording so you can compare your own healing at the same number of weeks.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0mEsyNkdoTh

Megan,

When meeting you in Seoul, I thought your voice was already feminine. Yes. Although your voice does not seem to be fully recovered, I can hear more feminine voice. I expect that your voice will be perfectly feminine in a month.

barbie~~

[AmyBerlin]

Dear Megan,

to my ears this sounds as if the surgery was a success! Give it time for the botox to wear off and for you to regain control over your vocal cords. I'm sure you'll have a magnificent result in the long run!

Take good care,

Amy
whose surgery now is less than 3 weeks away!

[anjaq]

I think as well that it sounds rather good - you still have to heal of course, so that is why it is breaking at times and all that, but I am sure that this will recover within a few weeks. Did you put up a pre-op recording to compare it to that one as well? So basically as I understand it you are now doing effortless what before the surgery required to use a trained voice? If so, that sounds like a success to me as it will allow you to just speak and not think about maintaining the pitch from voice training that much anymore

[Expressgirl]

Sorry for disappearing. As soon as I got back had to return to work (fun having everyone ask me whats wrong). Jet lag was rough to get over. But the healing everything is going fine. No discomfort or pain. Not really anything worth mentioning, since I still have to be quiet. I have said a couple of words recently, but nothing really comes out but a croak. I know my voice is still there cause it comes out if I whisper, but not at any volume. Just have to be patient. Everyone's videos are very inspiring. Just have to be quiet until then and then do my practices at 2 months.