Yeson voice feminization surgery 2.0

[anjaq]

I bought the big water bottles and left them in my room, for the city tours I bought a 0.75l bottle with a flip cap and just refilled it always at the hotel or at public drinking supplies if available. I found it handy to have it always in my handbagand have fast access to it in case I was feeling like I might have to cough.

[iKate]

We went to a casino (my mom has a casino radar, everywhere we go, she has to find one) and they gave us free bottled water. So I took one and refilled it. It was good enough to keep in my purse. The nice thing is that there was free water in some places like the national museum of Korea so I was able to refill it.

[Teslagirl]

Agreed. I just got back from Seoul on Saturday. The hotel I was at was right by a 7/11. Every morning when my brother and I left the hotel we'd stop in and I'd get a two liter bottle of water, and every night on our way back I'd stop in and get another. One and a half weeks in and I've managed to only cough twice. Not clearing my throat has been a little more difficult but whenever I've done it I've done it lightly. But I found with the meds they give you, plus the water, half the time I'd just breathe up whatever was stuck in my chest without effort.

I was told the water from the tap was OK to drink in Korea (a friend of mine researched). Isn't it?

Sarah

[anjaq]

I did not trust the water from the tap. I think it was chlorinated. I did not want to risk ANYTHING post op. But what I noticed, most of the big cheap bottled water they sell has way too low mineral contents. I ended up feeling like I could drink the stuff by the liters and still need more. Eventually we bought some sea salt and added a small spoon to each bottle to make it more taste like bottled water at home.

[iKate]

Chlorinated water is the norm for me. In fact I like it more chlorinated rather than less.

It wasn't that I didn't trust the tap water, it's just that bottled water was so convenient, and cheap. I trust that a highly developed country like South Korea would have clean water.

Maybe in Europe it's different but the mineral content for me was just fine. I'm on a low sodium diet anyway. 

[barbie]

I was told the water from the tap was OK to drink in Korea (a friend of mine researched). Isn't it?

Sarah

It is an official statement, but I have never seen anybody drink tap water here in S. Korea.
I live in Jeju island, which is famous for producing volcanic clean water. Yes. Initially I drank tap water in my office. Theoretically the water should be pristine, but I just worry about the pipelines.

You can find and refill your bottle with water from any water purifier located in airports, subway stations, banks, restaurants, and various public places. Purifiers are usually located near the public bathroom. In Korea, they do not charge for water and public bathroom. All are free. (P.S. I tend to be upset when they charge US$ 1 or 2 for using public bathroom in some European and N. American cities).

http://www.9korea.com/articles/should-you-drink-tap-water-in-korea/

Water purifiers in public place look like this:



barbie~~

[iKate]

On my flight on Korean Air they gave me a bottle of jeju water. It was decent. Different taste to Poland Spring. Decent nonetheless.

I saw the purifier in NMK. I refilled my bottle a few times. Water tasted good.

I've only seen pay toilets in a few places in the USA. I haven't paid to use a restroom in forever.

[Teslagirl]

Hello everyone.

I had my surgery and I have been getting lots of advice from iKate, Anjaq, Amy Berlin and Sunhawk, but I am really scared I might have done something to the surgery. I sent this to Jessie:
"Dear Jessie.
I'm worried. I had some ice cream thinking that it would help my throat and instead I think it caused me to develop throat mucus. This made me involuntarily cough several times and I was up all night trying to get the mucus out without coughing further. I drank lots and lots of water, but this morning I am worried I might have damaged the operation. Some phlegm (mucus) came up twice and it was slightly coloured pink, like there was a little blood in it.

I do not have mucus in my throat at the moment and am not drinking or eating dairy products. I don't know what I'll do if I have damaged the operation, and I am very scared.

Have you ever seen anyone who did the same? What should I do? Will Dr Kim see me before Tuesday to check if the operation is alright?

Please reply as soon as you can. I am so worried.

Thank you,

Sarah."

Now I'm starting to wonder if I'll go home with the sutures ruptured, and unable to do anything to fix it. I am now seriously worried, and much more than when I was mailing my friends mentioned above. Does anyone know of a similar situation and did Dr Kim see anyone early to check? Is it possible to have a revision later (though I'll have to save again). So scared.

[iKate]

I had one speck of blood in mine 2 days after and the post op exam was fine. I did not cough violently but I did clear my throat very gently.

Either way it's a fresh wound and there may be blood here and there. I know you're worried but according to Jessie and dr Kim if you rupture the suture you will definitely know. I have diabetes so I'm supposed to be more prone to bleeding and slower clotting/healing. But I'm well managed so I'm actually close to normal now.

Dr Kim checked me 6 days post op but that was the usual follow up. Everything was fine.

Jessie should have given you her cell phone number so if it is really an emergency I guess you can text her of have someone talk to her.

And please take the synatura 3x/day religiously. It helped me a lot.

[Dena]

Anjaq posted that post surgically she coughed so much after surgery that she turned blue. I had Dr Haben do mine and he said Accidents will happen but you should control everything you can. I suspect Dr. Kims surgery is near that level but he is doing something more that Dr Haben does so it's possible there is more open wound area. At this point because it was one somewhat small event, I don't think you did major damage. You might have opened a scab but I think the surgery is still in place. You can check with Dr Kim's office but don't be to surprised if he isn't concerned.

[Teslagirl]

I had one speck of blood in mine 2 days after and the post op exam was fine. I did not cough violently but I did clear my throat very gently.

Either way it's a fresh wound and there may be blood here and there. I know you're worried but according to Jessie and dr Kim if you rupture the suture you will definitely know. I have diabetes so I'm supposed to be more prone to bleeding and slower clotting/healing. But I'm well managed so I'm actually close to normal now.

Dr Kim checked me 6 days post op but that was the usual follow up. Everything was fine.

Jessie should have given you her cell phone number so if it is really an emergency I guess you can text her of have someone talk to her.

And please take the synatura 3x/day religiously. It helped me a lot.

Thanks Kate, I will. Jessie replied with some soothing words. She said:
"Dear Telsagirl
Hi, Telsagirl  
You are going to have lots of phlegms and cough symptom after VFS surgery so please don't worry.
If the surgical site was damaged then you will have lots of blood clots coming with a severe throat pain.
Coughing several times should be fine Just avoid sound as much as you can.
You can have a little bit of blood in your phglems as well for few days after VFS surgery.
Please keep drinking lots of water and take the medication on time 3 times a day after meal.
Please let me know if you have further inquiries."

She doesn't seem too worried so I'll just hope for the best. I will give serious advice to others taking this route though, stay away from dairy products, they promote the production of mucus and according to my limited research, soya is worse, and this causes involuntary throat clearing if it builds up enough. I just couldn't help myself. If you want something cold, try sorbet. The man in the shop below Phil House sells Mango sorbet.

[Teslagirl]

Anjaq posted that post surgically she coughed so much after surgery that she turned blue. I had Dr Haben do mine and he said Accidents will happen but you should control everything you can. I suspect Dr. Kims surgery is near that level but he is doing something more that Dr Haben does so it's possible there is more open wound area. At this point because it was one somewhat small event, I don't think you did major damage. You might have opened a scab but I think the surgery is still in place. You can check with Dr Kim's office but don't be to surprised if he isn't concerned.

Thanks Dena. I'm not sure exactly how Dr Haben's procedure differs from Dr Kim's but I know Dr Kim has tried to correct a fairly severe asymmetry that I had as well as suturing the folds together so it might be a more complex surgery for me.

[Teslagirl]

Hello all.

Well it's 8:00pm here and its gotten really dark and there is a lot of heavy rain. Even with all the rain, it doesn't get any fresher; it's just as humid as it was before.
I was going to go out looking for for a friendly restaurant as at the moment I'm surviving on the jam and toast they provide here in the morning, and some snacks I bought from the little shop below Phil House. Maybe if it dries up a bit I'll go out, but this weather looks set for a while.
Does anyone who has been to Phil House have any recommendations for nice restaurants nearby? I'm not very adventurous, and being British, I don't like to stand out much (anything to avoid being embarassed). This is certainly not a multicultural country and I think I blend in like a pink rhinocerous. I love Chinese food but will try anything, so Korean would be great as well. I really think I've got to start eating better food. Processed snack food is not a great idea when you're recovering from surgery. I feel the need for vegetables as well. Any suggestions would be very helpful. At the moment I feel like Bambi in the forest and I'm just hiding away.

[Teslagirl]

It is an official statement, but I have never seen anybody drink tap water here in S. Korea.
I live in Jeju island, which is famous for producing volcanic clean water. Yes. Initially I drank tap water in my office. Theoretically the water should be pristine, but I just worry about the pipelines.

You can find and refill your bottle with water from any water purifier located in airports, subway stations, banks, restaurants, and various public places. Purifiers are usually located near the public bathroom. In Korea, they do not charge for water and public bathroom. All are free. (P.S. I tend to be upset when they charge US$ 1 or 2 for using public bathroom in some European and N. American cities).

http://www.9korea.com/articles/should-you-drink-tap-water-in-korea/

Water purifiers in public place look like this:



barbie~~

Thanks for the information about water Barbi. I was told that tap water was fine here, but maybe I should start buying bottled water. I don't get about much so don't see these water coolers. The farthest I've been is Yeson and back in a taxi a couple of times and the street outside Phil House.

[iKate]

It depends on what you're looking for.

If you're looking for fast food, Lotteria is across the main road. It's fairly decent. They have a similar menu to McDonald's and they have breakfast items. Otherwise I survived on chain fast food places like KFC and Pizza Hut.

As for dairy products I did not know that. I had a glass of milk every morning and it seemed to help. But I guess everyone reacts differently.

[Dena]

Thanks Dena. I'm not sure exactly how Dr Haben's procedure differs from Dr Kim's but I know Dr Kim has tried to correct a fairly severe asymmetry that I had as well as suturing the folds together so it might be a more complex surgery for me.

Katie has just reported in with her Dr Haben surgery and this is the first time I heard of a month of voice rest. it seems she had extensive voice damage that resulted in a surgery much like what Dr Kim is doing. Mostly I think the difference is the limited number of reports we have on Dr Haben and the fact that Haben uses a suture that dissolves as compared to the permanent ones Dr Kim uses. The more I am learning, it seems that the doctors compare pretty well but I still have no regrets about using Dr Haben and would do so again. Dr Haben also offers the Triple that isn't available from Dr Kim and for some people, this may be the only solution to their voice issues.

[Teslagirl]

On my flight on Korean Air they gave me a bottle of jeju water. It was decent. Different taste to Poland Spring. Decent nonetheless.

I saw the purifier in NMK. I refilled my bottle a few times. Water tasted good.

I've only seen pay toilets in a few places in the USA. I haven't paid to use a restroom in forever.

Britain is full of pay toilets. It's cheap, but still outrageous. They'll make money from anything.

[anjaq]

Regarding ruptured sutures - the description Jessie gave for that case is a sharp and persistent pain int he throat and lots of blood coughing - you would definitely know. all else is not to worry about too much. Some blood comes out - its notmal and actually its the reason why Botox is given on day 7. Dr Kim told me that otherwise some of the Botox would leave with blood and other wound stuff from the wound and thus be lost. So some bleeding is normal as well

I took diary products very well, They were building some mucous that is right, but for me it was actually a positive because it was not so dry anymore. I had to do some silent coughs at times though, but I regarded those as being harmless.

I can recommend 2 food places that have more western style foods - one is diagonally across the main street if you go to the subway - so not the street right across the main street but the next to the left - there is some little place there that sells fried chicken in all shapes - you can get KFC-style fried chicken there. Pizza Hut and therelike is crazy expensive. The other restaurant we tried was to the right on main street and then to the right again on the next big crossing. Maybe 200m or so behind a shop that sells pet dogs. They had basically fried fish, chicken, something like schnitzel - with rice, sauce and some veggies. Looked pretty European to me so I was bored by it but it was ok. Phil House also has a restaurant recommendation list with map and average prices and all sorts of info at the reception desk - just take a look at that one.

[iKate]

It's been a month. I'm talking now.

Wow, what a huge difference... I mean like mind blowing.

And my voice doesn't really get tired. I just feel myself making a bit more effort to talk. I'm not pushing it much over the next month, but people already like it. I am keeping it low though. Not whispering but not loud either. It's very breathy at this point but I expect that to improve.

So far I'm happy, but I know it will get better. Praat measured 194Hz just normal speaking. The voice passes on the phone.

Regarding resonance - whatever Dr Kim did seems to have affected resonance too as everything is now head voice by default.

[kwala]

It's been a month. I'm talking now.

Wow, what a huge difference... I mean like mind blowing.

And my voice doesn't really get tired. I just feel myself making a bit more effort to talk. I'm not pushing it much over the next month, but people already like it. I am keeping it low though. Not whispering but not loud either. It's very breathy at this point but I expect that to improve.

So far I'm happy, but I know it will get better. Praat measured 194Hz just normal speaking. The voice passes on the phone.

Regarding resonance - whatever Dr Kim did seems to have affected resonance too as everything is now head voice by default.

Wow, congrats!  The fact that you are this pleased after only a month is great