Need advice about which VFS doctor

[iKate]

It's not just the suture being undone but I would worry about scar quality and tightening. It's not just the size of the folds but I believe how taut they are can have some effect.

But if you have to cough, nothing you can do about it. I had plenty of  phlegm but no cough. I didn't wait until I had to cough to take cough suppressant. I took it continuously over the 7 days.

[jollyjoy]

Thanks Jollyjoy! How has your recover/voice been?

I'm at the three weeks mark, the recovery has been quite slow, still sounds like I have the surgical laryngitis. I'll post a voice sample at the six weeks mark.

[anjaq]

Yes, I believe that maintaining the integrity of the suture is not all. The suture itself is rather stable, especially after 2 weeks. But I also believe that damage can be done anyways. I am rather sure that my coughing fit during wakeup did something that reduced the increase in pitch that would otherwise have been possible, but it was almost beyond my control - the only thing I could have done would have been to prevent it by cancelling the surgery at that point as I just had recovered from a cold/flu and probably that was just too early.
So I would still be careful even if the suture itself will not be undone by coughing or speaking, there might be other little damage that can occur

[Roni]

I'm at the three weeks mark, the recovery has been quite slow, still sounds like I have the surgical laryngitis. I'll post a voice sample at the six weeks mark.

Have you talked to Dr Haben about it? I'm a bit scared myself that I might end up with a ridiculously high pitched "Mickey mouse" sounding voice as he stitched up 45% of my vocal chords despite me starting off at a relatively high pitch pre-op. Oh well, he is the doctor and probably knows best.

[Roni]

Also thanks for all the input everyone!

[jollyjoy]

No I haven't. I'm not too concerned at this point since it's still pretty early in the recovery process and everyone heals differently, I guess I'm on the slower spectrum. I had the CTA as well so that will take a bit longer to heal than just the glottoplasty alone. If at around 6 weeks, there's no signs of improvement, then I'd be concerned. He also told me he did 45%, sounded like a lot to me at first but  I trust he knows best.

Have you talked to Dr Haben about it? I'm a bit scared myself that I might end up with a ridiculously high pitched "Mickey mouse" sounding voice as he stitched up 45% of my vocal chords despite me starting off at a relatively high pitch pre-op. Oh well, he is the doctor and probably knows best.

[Roni]

No I haven't. I'm not too concerned at this point since it's still pretty early in the recovery process and everyone heals differently, I guess I'm on the slower spectrum. I had the CTA as well so that will take a bit longer to heal than just the glottoplasty alone. If at around 6 weeks, there's no signs of improvement, then I'd be concerned. He also told me he did 45%, sounded like a lot to me at first but  I trust he knows best.

Well keep us all updated girl! I'm just as excited to hear your voice as I am about hearing mine lol.

[runaway]

No I haven't. I'm not too concerned at this point since it's still pretty early in the recovery process and everyone heals differently, I guess I'm on the slower spectrum. I had the CTA as well so that will take a bit longer to heal than just the glottoplasty alone. If at around 6 weeks, there's no signs of improvement, then I'd be concerned. He also told me he did 45%, sounded like a lot to me at first but  I trust he knows best.

Hey Joy, FWIW my voice fluctuates a lot, depending how much I've (over)used it. My throat has been sore, and my voice hoarse the past few days cos I had to talk loudly in crowded places.

I've also noticed that my voice quality has improved as the swelling of the thyroid cartilage went down. I had no idea how swollen it was the first week, until it started going down.

Roni, my post-op photo of my vocal folds looked about 45% sutured off too, so it's probably normal. Dr. Haben mentioned that he doesn't like suturing off too much because it makes the voice weird, so I'm sure he wouldn't have done anything he considers excessive.

You'll both be ok! I was full of nerves and paranoia the first 2-3 weeks post-op, wondering if I'd just made the biggest mistake of my life, but that subsided as it became apparent my voice was passable.

[Dena]

Have you talked to Dr Haben about it? I'm a bit scared myself that I might end up with a ridiculously high pitched "Mickey mouse" sounding voice as he stitched up 45% of my vocal chords despite me starting off at a relatively high pitch pre-op. Oh well, he is the doctor and probably knows best.

If I remember correctly your voice was around 150-160 Hz. About the most the surgery would give you would be 80 Hz with that much suturing so my guess is your voice will end up in the 230 - 250 Hz range which is well below Mickey Mouse. C4 - middle C or about 261 Hz is the "Average female voice" so I think you will end up with a very nice feminine voice. It should sound something like Ikate's voice in pitch. 

[Roni]

If I remember correctly your voice was around 150-160 Hz. About the most the surgery would give you would be 80 Hz with that much suturing so my guess is your voice will end up in the 230 - 250 Hz range which is well below Mickey Mouse. C4 - middle C or about 261 Hz is the "Average female voice" so I think you will end up with a very nice feminine voice. It should sound something like Ikate's voice in pitch. 

Thanks for the reassurance Dena. Yes, that is about where my natural pitch lies according to Dr Haben as well.  I'll be happy if I end up sounding like any of the ladies on here! Going to play the waiting game now.. since I'm off work the next month I will probably do at least two weeks of strict voice rest even though Dr Haben only requires one.

[Roni]

Yes, I believe that maintaining the integrity of the suture is not all. The suture itself is rather stable, especially after 2 weeks. But I also believe that damage can be done anyways. I am rather sure that my coughing fit during wakeup did something that reduced the increase in pitch that would otherwise have been possible, but it was almost beyond my control - the only thing I could have done would have been to prevent it by cancelling the surgery at that point as I just had recovered from a cold/flu and probably that was just too early.
So I would still be careful even if the suture itself will not be undone by coughing or speaking, there might be other little damage that can occur

I'm in the same boat in that I have a really congested chest at the moment. Controlling my coughs has proven difficult as a result. If I had known how difficult this would be I would have chosen to do VFS another time. Nothing I can do now though. I guess for any women looking to do VFS in the future, make sure your chest and sinus canals are free of congestion before taking on the procedure.

[anjaq]

If I remember correctly your voice was around 150-160 Hz. About the most the surgery would give you would be 80 Hz with that much suturing so my guess is your voice will end up in the 230 - 250 Hz range which is well below Mickey Mouse. C4 - middle C or about 261 Hz is the "Average female voice" so I think you will end up with a very nice feminine voice.

Well - the 80 Hz increase seems to be more an average value. With Dr Kim it is said to be 75 Hz. For some the increase is less, for some it is more. I think the range is that it goes from something like no increase in the worst case (at least according to the patients reports) to up to 150 Hz pitch increase.
I have usually read that 220 Hz (A) is the average female pitch, so 260 Hz (C) is a bit above average, but it still is well within the normal range and depending on the local cultural variations, the average may vary anyways - German women have lower average pitch than US women who have lower voices than Korean or Japanese women.

[jollyjoy]

Thanks for sharing! I was also quite paranoid during the initial weeks, now I've been much more at ease. And I definitely do hear some improvement week by week, so now I'm just excited for the weeks to go by.

Hey Joy, FWIW my voice fluctuates a lot, depending how much I've (over)used it. My throat has been sore, and my voice hoarse the past few days cos I had to talk loudly in crowded places.

I've also noticed that my voice quality has improved as the swelling of the thyroid cartilage went down. I had no idea how swollen it was the first week, until it started going down.

Roni, my post-op photo of my vocal folds looked about 45% sutured off too, so it's probably normal. Dr. Haben mentioned that he doesn't like suturing off too much because it makes the voice weird, so I'm sure he wouldn't have done anything he considers excessive.

You'll both be ok! I was full of nerves and paranoia the first 2-3 weeks post-op, wondering if I'd just made the biggest mistake of my life, but that subsided as it became apparent my voice was passable.

[Roni]

So I'm currently drowning in phelgm, literally everytime I swallow saliva I feel mucus/phlegm at the back of my throat. I'm assuming this is the body's natural reaction to fighting the wounds/possible infection at the surgical site? Just want to make sure I'm not getting a cold or flu lol. I am currently taking cough medicine and over-the-counter Mucinex.

[jollyjoy]

I don't think you have a cold, I also had a lot of mucus for the first 7-10 days, which made me want to cough. I didn't take anything over the counter though, just the four Dr. Haben prescribed.

[Dena]

So I'm currently drowning in phelgm, literally everytime I swallow saliva I feel mucus/phlegm at the back of my throat. I'm assuming this is the body's natural reaction to fighting the wounds/possible infection at the surgical site? Just want to make sure I'm not getting a cold or flu lol. I am currently taking cough medicine and over-the-counter Mucinex.

If your ran out of cough medicine from Dr Haben and you think you have a bug, email Dr Haben with the name/number for your pharmacist and he may provide another round of the cough medicine. The first month it's very important to take it easy on the surgery. I avoided coughing for a couple of months after surgery just to ensure the best healing.

[Roni]

I don't think you have a cold, I also had a lot of mucus for the first 7-10 days, which made me want to cough. I didn't take anything over the counter though, just the four Dr. Haben prescribed.

It was Dr. Haben who recommended the Mucinex but I am not quite sure if the drug is doing more good or bad. It lists at the back of the package that the drug aims to "produce more effective coughs," so I wonder if I am in fact coughing more as a result of the medicine.

If your ran out of cough medicine from Dr Haben and you think you have a bug, email Dr Haben with the name/number for your pharmacist and he may provide another round of the cough medicine. The first month it's very important to take it easy on the surgery. I avoided coughing for a couple of months after surgery just to ensure the best healing.

I did just that. Thank you! At this point all I care about is preventing the consistent coughing so as to not rupture the surgical site. I seem to be coughing 10 times a day right now. I try and hold the coughs but they seem to be a reflex sort of action my body is producing, and there is nothing I can do about it. I'm kind of upset because I may not get as much of a pitch increase as I would like due to the coughing. But as I stated, all I care about at this point is preventing ripping of the vocal folds.

[Roni]

Weird question...

So I came upon the realization that I am, in fact, a mouth breather. And the reason I've been coughing more so lately is because I switched to breathing through my nose, upon suggestion from someone here that breathing through the mouth produces drier air which could affect the vocal chords. Unfortunately I'm just not well-tuned to nose-breathing and I think my lungs are having a harder time clearing irritants, getting more congested as a result.

My question: should I switch back to mouth breathing to avoid further coughs and face the drier air, or should I stick with breathing through my nose at the expense of (currently) coughing about once an hour? Just don't know whether dry air or coughing is more harmful to my recovery in the long run.

[Dena]

I walk 3 miles every night to get in better shape and lose a few pounds I accumulated and I ask Dr Haben about that, he said walking as ok as long as I didn't breath through my mouth. I stopped walking after surgery just to make sure I didn't get coughing from dry air issues (I live in Arizona with really dry air). I also may have an advantage over you in that my nose had partial blockages in the passages and when the surgeon worked on my nose, he opened up the passages. I can now walk at a good clip and still breath through my nose. If at all possible you should breath through your nose and avoid doing things where you need your mouth for more air. I am back to walking but carry a bottle of water should things dry out and I need to stop a cough.
If you have allergies, consider taking something for it. I did for about 3 weeks because when I had my surgery it was the middle of dust storm season and stuff really gets stirred up for days when we get a dust storm.

[jollyjoy]

I didn't pay attention to my breathing, but I believe I breathed through the nose during the day and through the mouth during night. I coughed every single day for the first 7-9 days I think, it was something I just was not able to control even though I tried really hard. Luckily, I didn't experience any sharp pain and nothing has ripped as far as I know.