Voice Feminization Surgery With Dr Haben

[Eva]

OK so I made it through my surgery just fine, Im alive and well and I just got home today

So this will be my thread on Dr Habens voice feminization surgery that Im sure others will be interested in...

First I guess I will show a pic of the Drs work...


These are my vocal cords... They are now 1/3rd shorter, that HOLE you see is on both sides and I believe they are stitched closed... That made them thinner and shorter.... The doc said "Im confident this will be all you need to put your voice into the female range"... This was all done endoscopic, no incision on my neck...

He said I will keep all of my dynamic range and power and I should be able to even sing if I want to eventually   I hope so that would be cool

BUT first I have to complete 1 week strict no talking at all... Been two days so far and its been hard to do, especially traveling home to SD from NY yesterday all by myself... I had the travel day from hell, 2 layovers, 2 delayed flights... Had to RUN just to barely board one on time only to be delayed 45 minutes to de ice when it started snowing at Ohare...

Anyway thats over... Im amazed it didnt hurt a lot more than it did... It sure LOOKS like it should hurt!!!

Really not bad at all though... I was under for about 2 hours... No problem coming out of anesthesia and surprizingly very little discomfort... For the first day just a little itch in my throat that was easily relieved with ice chips and ice water... LOTS of ice and water really helped... I went out to NY alone and stayed overnight in the hospital for an extra $300.00... Money well spent I thought... It was nice to have so many nurses there to look after me and they took great care of me 

So after a week I was told to expect it to actually be worse than it was... it will take a month just to get rid of the hoarseness and "surgical laryngitis"... I have slipped and talked a few times and aside from one time close after the surgery its sounded TERRIBLE... There was one accidental "Hi" in reply to a nurse that sounded absolutely incredible though

I had to kid the doc and ask him if he really actually did anything??? Really surprisingly little discomfort

The day after surgery Dr Haben checked everything out (he definitely did a lot  ) and it all looked good even to my untrained eye 

He said "thats exactly how it should look, healing very well, couldnt look better"... He said in about a month I should be happy but it will take three months to fully heal... He said to call him back in three months to record an after to go with my before recordings....

It will be a while before I can post any before and after recordings but I plan to... Hopefully this works out...

[Eva]

I should add that his staff were very helpful in setting all this up and it all went very smooth... Dr Haben is a great guy and its obvious they have done this kind of thing before... He told me he's done 500 of these operations... He did not do a CTA on me, the laser thinning was a substitute method I chose... He would have just done the web glottoplasty for a reduced rate if I wanted to though... I decided against the CTA because I dont want the scar for one and also Im planning facial feminization surgery in March with Dr Zukowski in Chicago...  With the face and neck lift planned its just too unpredictable to do the incision and trach shave and scar... I will have Dr Z do the trach shave and FFS and then If Im not happy with my voice Dr Haben can do a CTA in addition to whats been done... I doubt thats gonna be needed though

[ImagineKate]

If you don't mind sharing, what's the cost with Dr Haben, and how long in advance do you schedule?

Yeson seems like where most are going but a US surgeon would be appealing for a number of reasons, namely that drugs and some monitoring (labs, tests) would be covered by insurance. Plus his location is NY is not far from me, well it's not halfway across the world far!

[Eva]

There are no dietary restrictions after the surgery. Sometimes taste will be altered post operatively
for up to a month or so. This is due to the pressure of the scope on the tongue causing a "Charlie-
hoarse" on the taste nerve during the 'endoscopic' portion of the procedure. This is annoying,
however it is expected to fully resolve in time. Please be patient.

http://professionalvoice.org/pdf/feminization_laryngoplasty_post-op.pdf

OK so its WEIRD I actually have this strange loss of taste NOTHING tastes good, kinda scary I hope it goes away soon.... Whats weird is I didnt have this right after surgery, it seems to have creeped up very slowly....

I guess I will use it as an opportunity to try to lose a few pounds by eating less, very disconcerting though

[Eva]

If you don't mind sharing, what's the cost with Dr Haben, and how long in advance do you schedule?

Yeson seems like where most are going but a US surgeon would be appealing for a number of reasons, namely that drugs and some monitoring (labs, tests) would be covered by insurance. Plus his location is NY is not far from me, well it's not halfway across the world far!

Hi it cost me $7350.00 and that included and overnight stay in the hospital post op... Thats an extra $300.00.... Id say having someone with you to take care of you at the hotel would be doable but.... I really was glad I stayed in the hospital... Very nice to have all the friendly nurses and staff taking great care of me.... I went alone though, it was apparent to me that they have this all worked out though and it was all impressively smooth....
There was about $70.00 additional for two additional cab rides I had to pay and meals I didnt have at the hospital and of course my airfare.... This is pretty accurate....

http://professionalvoice.org/pdf/feminization_info_and_cost_sheet.pdf

I booked my surgery about 6 weeks out...

[Eva]

I had a few instances last night where quickly out of nowhere Id get a STRONG urge to cough...

Luckily I was able to easily control that by chewing up a sugar free cough drop and swallowing it

Also just sipping water helps a lot with the urge to clear my throat...

Almost NO pain at all today, just a very slight sensation of having a sore throat but really not bad at all... 4 more days to go, cant wait to try it out

[ImagineKate]

Hi it cost me $7350.00 and that included and overnight stay in the hospital post op... Thats an extra $300.00.... Id say having someone with you to take care of you at the hotel would be doable but.... I really was glad I stayed in the hospital... Very nice to have all the friendly nurses and staff taking great care of me.... I went alone though, it was apparent to me that they have this all worked out though and it was all impressively smooth....
There was about $70.00 additional for two additional cab rides I had to pay and meals I didnt have at the hospital and of course my airfare.... This is pretty accurate....

http://professionalvoice.org/pdf/feminization_info_and_cost_sheet.pdf

I booked my surgery about 6 weeks out...

That's not bad. I'm no stranger to upstate NY and I would be very comfortable there. It's an option to consider. Thanks. Keep us apprised of your progress. I would be very interested in your final result.

[ImagineKate]

I've been looking at the website and he has very few examples, unlike Ye Son who has a ton. Hopefully when I'm ready to consider it there will be more.
http://professionalvoice.org/feminization.aspx

[Eva]

Yes I was kinda surprised and perplexed to hardly be able to find anything out there good or bad about Dr Haben... What I did find was pretty much all good and really nothing bad to be found...

Apparently he's been doing this for years now but there's NOTHING to be found out there for before and afters...

There was one thread here that was very impressive that helped me make up my mind....

So I just made a leap of faith and I figured that if what he is doing was giving bad results Id be able to find something out there... I donna maybe the result is so good his patients just slip away into obscurity living as women with great voices

Im gonna find out first hand soon and I do intend to post some results here

[alena]

I hope your recovery goes well Eva, please keep us updated as I'd rather go to NY as it is much closer to me than South Korea!

[Eva]

Thanks Alena, I will do that... I think its pretty sad American women must go all the way to Korea for VFS...

[Eva]

OK last night was kinda rough... There is an annoying itch thing going on... I can deal with it but it would be nice if it wasnt there... I guess I gotta be realistic and expect some discomfort 4 days post op.... 3 more days... I dont think its gonna sound very good at first though judging by the way its sounded when Ive slipped and talked though...

Dr Haben told me to be psychologically prepared for it to get WORSE before it gets better though...

There is a psychological aspect to this I wasnt expecting... Its PERMANENT and there is a VERY good chance I'll NEVER be able to talk like a man again

Im kinda early in here... I first came out one year ago only to an old friend... 2 months later I started an herbal feminization regime that to my amazement was actually somewhat effective... 2 months into that I started laser and shortly after that electro as well....  I did the herbal stuff for three months and then decided I to quit messing around and start HRT... Shortly after that I was out to everyone...
7 months later and here I am   I went "fulltime" from the beginning though.... It just gets easier and better by the day now

[Eva]

OK so much better last night and this morning.... Absolutely no discomfort at all... So it felt so good and normal this morning I had to try to say something... Well no not yet... Nothing at all came out, also just doing that brought a little bit of discomfort...  SO I will shut up, only two days left before Im supposed to be able to start talking though.... I hope it gets at least usable by then because there are things I need to do that will require talking, not much talking but I gotta be able to talk... Terrible voice or not its just gotta get done...

I do notice my sense of taste is MUCH better this morning so thats good, thats pretty scary to lose!!! I have dropped 5 lbs since having  this surgery... Gonna try to keep that off

[ImagineKate]

Thanks for the updates, Eva! I'm so excited to hear your result!

[Eva]

No problem Kate, nothing better to do here for now anyway but mope around and recover

OK so my voice is coming back but WOW is it BAD 

Im clear to start gently talking again tomorrow... I just tried to say a few words and it sounded pretty weird...

A good thing is my sense of taste seems to be a lot better this morning...
Its real weird the way its been coming and going, but at least its getting better...

Both are supposed to be "normal" but there really is nothing normal about this whole deal!!!

Oh well one more day.... Its feeling nearly 100% now though and little grunts and groans do have a more fem sound to them anyway 

[Eva]

SO glad I got this done in NY and made it home before the SNOW they are getting now, 20+ inches in like 12 hours

It was 65 when I was there  I would have been so screwed and stressed out if I was there now!!!

[anjaq]

What causes the loss of taste? I never heard that before - but you say it is normal. What happens there? Is it from the botox?

[Eva]

Hi Anjaq apparently its from the pressure put on the taste nerve from the endoscope...

There are no dietary restrictions after the surgery. Sometimes taste will be altered post operatively
for up to a month or so. This is due to the pressure of the scope on the tongue causing a "Charlie-
hoarse" on the taste nerve during the 'endoscopic' portion of the procedure. This is annoying,
however it is expected to fully resolve in time. Please be patient.

http://professionalvoice.org/pdf/feminization_laryngoplasty_post-op.pdf

It's getting better quick though, still comes and goes, very weird

I know Im not supposed to talk until tomorrow but I had a couple things that had to get done today.... I had to talk... Its nowhere near good at all yet and unfortunately a little sore after using it... I shouldnt have done that but it really was feeling better...

I hope I didnt mess anything up... No pain but it is a bit like a mild sore throat 

[Eva]

No Botox here... I didnt have anything wrong at all with my vocal cords though except for the male part

[Eva]

OK so I can officially start talking today.... Well I can say that for the first few words at least I can definitely hear a slightly higher pitch with zero effort to raise my voice

Unfortunately its still very weak and it gives out after just a few words If I make an effort to raise my pitch nothing much happens at all...

I guess I just gotta give it time and take it easy...