VFS Glottoplasty - Post-op results

[thegreenrabbit]

It boils down to how skilled (verifiable ) is the surgeon is. Personally for me it was just as important that I could count on quick advice from the surgeon after surgery, should I need it. VFS is by no means a magic cure for Voice. It a lot of ways, it even requires more speech therapy that pre-surgery.  I think that some people even view it as a "nice to have", without really thinking it through.

[anjaq]

Oh for me it was a "nice to have". I could have lived on without it, ignoring the couple of incidents that resulted from the low voice. Most of the time it was ok as it was - But i wanted it for myself. I think the worst idea is to do VFS because "nothing else worked" as this is a recipe for a high probability that it will not work either.

[thegreenrabbit]

Oh for me it was a "nice to have". I could have lived on without it, ignoring the couple of incidents that resulted from the low voice. Most of the time it was ok as it was - But i wanted it for myself. I think the worst idea is to do VFS because "nothing else worked" as this is a recipe for a high probability that it will not work either.

I think that it would still work, but it would require a lot of effort and training. I once new someone who had a successful CTA with no training, and she sounded great.

[anjaq]

Did she manage to get a good voice before the surgery? I know only rarely cases where someone goes in with a typical male voice, no training, does a surgery and comes out of it with a female voice without having to do a lot of training afterwards. I think such a case is the exception. Often some part will work, because pitch is higher and in some situations like phone calls, people tend to go more by pitch in determining gender, but I would not count on pitch saving everything. There were some posts in this frooum about people having a high pitch with surgery or without and still sound male...

[thegreenrabbit]

I never heard her pre surgery voice, but her post CTA was great. She had it done in London.

[thegreenrabbit]

Just made my first recording since I started my voice training last week. There is still a single stitch and granulation near the cords, which means that its still hoarse, but clearer than it has been. In the coming months its the aim that the cords will become more supple and pitch higher.

In the recording it is an average of 168 (min 126 and max 249).

165 seems now to be the lowest it gets when I speak naturally. Pre-op my lowest was about 125 and trained voice about 185.

Taking into account that I had to be intubated again already 4 weeks after surgery, I am happy with the result to date and happy that I still have a voice.

[thegreenrabbit]

My voice now seems to be in a phase where it is quite low. My recent checkup showed a cord insufficiency meaning the cords are not quite closing properly because of the mass of the web. I have a single stitch there with some granulation which I am told will eventually heal itself. Likewise that the insufficiency will get less with exercise. Either way it's a challenge to keep spirits high during it all. The only thing to do us to keep at it. Also a good reason to keep track of your own progress.

GR

[thegreenrabbit]

Good day today. Average stable pitch up tp 183 Hz and much clearer. Voice is with zero effort and its more or less where my "trained" voice was pre-VFS. Volume is still weak, but have managed to sing. Still early days yet and my main aim is to get it around the 200 Hz with further exercises.

[thegreenrabbit]

Found this recording from 2014 of my pre-VFS voice. A simple days of the week. This will give some comparison when I This recording is at 197 Hz and required some effort.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0QVdBcAONyV

My current pitch average is near the 200 on a good day and around the 165 on a bad day.
This was recorded a week ago. I am still quite hoarse and still have a vocal folds closure that needs to be addressed via therapy. There is though a subtle difference between the two. This voice requires no part on my effort except the breathing.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0adkRr4EfXL

[anjaq]

The pitch of your post op voice is about the same as your pre op trained voice. this seems to be the case in many or most who get VFS. You have a different ring to the voice, it sounds less forced (because it is) and there are some shifts in the undertones. I think its not bad for now regarding pitch and the shift in undertones, but I think other things need work in therapy, as you already said.

[thegreenrabbit]

The pitch of your post op voice is about the same as your pre op trained voice. this seems to be the case in many or most who get VFS. You have a different ring to the voice, it sounds less forced (because it is) and there are some shifts in the undertones. I think its not bad for now regarding pitch and the shift in undertones, but I think other things need work in therapy, as you already said.

I have quite a large vocal gap which is leaking a lot of valuable air through when I hit the higher notes. Its going to take a lot of work to put it right. I will get it checked again in 6 weeks when it will be interesting to see if all the bubble blowing has paid off.

[thegreenrabbit]

I may have overused my voice again today. Its quite difficult to refrain from trying to speak at a higher volume when in a  discussion. Throat is quite sore again.