Yeson surgery booked for 8th Jan

[Ritana]

Hi girls

My surgery has been booked and confirmed for 8th Jan. I' m getting very nervous as I'm flying alone!! For girls who've had the surgery at Yeson's, what advice would you give me regarding the following?

1. Hotels to stay in (convenient, safe and friendly).
2. Advice on how to get around, places to visit/ avoid ,etc.

3. How did you communicate with people post-op when you were unable to talk?

4. What items, equipments, etc did you take with you?

5. Any tips on what helped you during recovery?

6. Did Yeson give you a letter stating you had surgery to show airlines/ staff at airport transit? How did you communicate?

Please answer with whatever helpful tips you can offer as I'm feeling very nervous, girls!!!

Thanks in advance.

Ritana

[iKate]

Hi girls

My surgery has been booked and confirmed for 8th Jan. I' m getting very nervous as I'm flying alone!! For girls who've had the surgery at Yeson's, what advice would you give me regarding the following?

1. Hotels to stay in (convenient, safe and friendly).
2. Advice on how to get around, places to visit/ avoid ,etc.

3. How did you communicate with people post-op when you were unable to talk?

4. What items, equipments, etc did you take with you?

5. Any tips on what helped you during recovery?

6. Did Yeson give you a letter stating you had surgery to show airlines/ staff at airport transit? How did you communicate?

Please answer with whatever helpful tips you can offer as I'm feeling very nervous, girls!!!

Thanks in advance.

Ritana

Hi Ritana!

1. I stayed at Phil House. I had to take the subway but it is not very far. It was CHEAP. Yeson recommends princess hotel. That is an option too and close by. There is also Ramada nearby.

2. Subway, subway, subway. You can take taxi too but it is more costly. Depending on how you feel you may want to take the taxi to your hotel after the surgery but I was good enough to walk to the subway. Places to visit? Depends on what you want to see. The markets have cheap stuff and plenty of shopping. Gangnam and Myeongdong. I also visited Myeongdong Cathedral which was nice. Do the DMZ tour if you can but I couldn't due to the MERS scare. N Seoul Tower and namsan mountain was nice. We went to the national museum of Korea, very scenic and pretty outside and lots of nice stuff inside. The war memorial was nice too as some of my family is military it holds special significance for me. I can't really think of places to avoid. There are a couple of casinos but they can be smoky and make you cough. Avoid spicy food as it may make you gag and cough...

3. I used my iPhone and a text to speech app. I also used Google Translate. So basically practice using those smartphone thumbs!  My mom was with me too but I did most of the communication on my own.

4. I took my MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone. I had my work phone (Samsung S5) and they enabled international roaming for me. I carried a few power adapters to connect to the Korean electrical outlets (Euro style). I also carried an Anker PowerPort 6 which is a 6 port 60 watt USB charger. This saved having to connect chargers to multiple outlets. I was able to charge my stuff and my mom's stuff.  I also got a local SIM card so I could use data where there wasn't wifi (my phone is unlocked). Cheaper than international roaming.

5. Drink lots of water. Do not cough. Follow all their instructions. I found that water helped me not cough and also taking the cough suppressant they give you helped a ton.

6. They give you a full medical report and some sheets with common phrases in Korean. There is one explaining how you had surgery and are unable to speak. If your passport is male, you may encounter some hassle (I did) but it is a hit or miss. Some people encounter no hassle. Others get strip searched during layovers in China etc.

As far as changing money goes - you will get the most favorable rate with your credit card. However, your issuing bank may charge a foreign transaction fee. On some higher end cards they don't. Discover doesn't charge one either and they are accepted as Diners club much everywhere in Seoul. I used my Amex and Navy FCU card. You can also get cash from the ATM but the ATM operator will charge something like 3% fee or a flat fee in KRW. I got by mostly without cash but in the markets etc when shopping I needed to get some so I did.

[Ritana]

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. IKATE!

As far as my passport is concerned, it says female and I've been a happily post op female for a few years now so there is no issue with that. I hope the surgery documents won't say say "voice feminisation" as this would be a dead give away!

[iKate]

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. IKATE!

As far as my passport is concerned, it says female and I've been a happily post op female for a few years now so there is no issue with that. I hope the surgery documents won't say say "voice feminisation" as this would be a dead give away!

It does in the medical report.

The paper with common phrases that you show people only says laryngeal surgery not voice feminization.

[Ritana]

Oh dear, I nearly had a heart attack! Sigh:))) I would hate to go through transit in China and present documents with "boice feminisation" to show I can't talk! I would be worried about being mistreated for being trans while.I can't even express myself.

[anjaq]

Hi Ritana. Good luck with your journey and surgery

1. Hotels to stay in (convenient, safe and friendly).
I stayed at Phil house - its cheap, especially if travelling by two, has kitches on the rooms if desired and a washing machine - but it is rather simple. If you want to stay any fancier place, better use Tripadvisor etc, the "Princess Hotel" recommended by Yeson is not that great, I hear, its main convenience is the location close to the clinic, which is not needed as you have ony 3 visits to the clinic and transportation is cheap and easy

2. Advice on how to get around, places to visit/ avoid ,etc.
Get around by subway - its cheap and safe and fast. taxi is also ok, not so expensive, but I only used it after the surgery when I was still drowsy. Places to see : I saw the palace, which was nice, but not as beautiful as in spring. Meyongdong and Insadong are good parts of the city to visit, also take a look at the old village, it has nice houses.

3. How did you communicate with people post-op when you were unable to talk?
I used an app called "speech assistant" and the swype keyboard on my Samsung Galaxy. Others used old fashioned notebooks and pen.


4. What items, equipments, etc did you take with you?
Laptop, Smartphone (very important), medication (additional cough medication with codeine), desinfectant spray to avoid getting a virus while being there, warm clothes in winter - on site I bought the proper dust masks (ask Jessie which ones) and I hear there are USB room humidifiers available. I also brought an additional pillow and blanket for the flight and also it was helpful in the Phil house, Koreans seem to like to sleep flat and hard.

5. Any tips on what helped you during recovery?
avoid coughing at all cost, avoid speaking, keep to the instructions, take the medication they give you, use the dust mask, drink a lot of water - take it with you when sightseeing, public toilets are everywhere, no worries.

6. Did Yeson give you a letter stating you had surgery to show airlines/ staff at airport transit? How did you communicate?
Yeson will provide this for you, if you need more than they write, you can ask them about it.
I would book a direct flight if possible to avoid hassle with transfers. I had a transfer at Bejing Airport and it was horrible! We stood in lines for an hour, then were inspected by security for 2 hours and almost missed the flight. They did not know hormone gels (I had to demonstrate it!) or other exotic medications and medical devices, they did not even trust our battary chargers for the cellphones. We had to undess to the underwear and be searched! So definitely I was very happy at that moment to have has GRS and proper legal documents and travel papers without any hint of "trans" in them.

[Ritana]

Thank you so much. Anjaq. Helpful and lovely as usual. One more question,  how long did it take you to speak with a "normal voice"?

[iKate]

Thank you so much. Anjaq. Helpful and lovely as usual. One more question,  how long did it take you to speak with a "normal voice"?

I could talk at 1 month. Some take longer. Yeson recommends vocal rest for 1 month. Some are longer due to other vocal conditions. You can do it in less but it is not really recommended.

[Ritana]

Ikate, was your voice "normal" after one month?

[anjaq]

I could speak after 4-5 weeks, but it was pretty low in volume and hoarse. I could have conversations at week 6, but not overdo it. at week 8 it was pretty ok, I could have normal conversations for longer times and be heard more clearly. At about 14 weeks I gave a lecture for about 2 hours for about 30 people, that was about maximum I could do at that time and I had to rest the voice a bit afterwards.
Ever since then it sloooowly bacame better and louder and more resonant. I had to really learn a lot on how this voice works now. getting off the Botox and then off the Clonazepam were tough times.
For me, NOW it starts to feel "normal" - after 10 months. But I guess it can be considered normal much earlier. The hoarseness was something that stuck with me for a long time though and still is there to a degree...

[iKate]

Ikate, was your voice "normal" after one month?

It was a little low, a little hoarse and pitch wasn't as high as it is now. But it was 60% of the way there.

I should say this - everyone is different. Some take 4 months for a pitch increase. I got lucky.

This was me after 1 month:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s19ABJAiozfw

This is me today (25 weeks):

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1lbwCTKPZn3

[Ritana]

Thank you Anjzq, I hope I will.be able to go back to my call centre work after a month. Ikate, you sound incredible! Your voice seems.to have feminised a lot between 1 month and 6 months!

Anjzq, have you got before and after recordings please?

[anjaq]

This is possibly close to where my voice was pre everything. Its hard to say because I did no recordings back then, but I tried here to speak rather low in my range:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0M9GTMdoMrf

This is my everyday voice pre-op:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s15bRcL9jSUU
and
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1EHZiiJ6O19

and this was a couple of days or weeks(?) ago
http://vocaroo.com/i/s10XA7GO4uwG

[Ritana]

Thanks Anjaq and congrats on the results! Not.only you pich is now much higher but I note your intonation and.the way you speak have become far more feminine! Pre-op, it was quite flat; post-op your voice sounds far more expressive and more female-like. Well.done!

Both you and Ikate sound female, and this gives me hope. My normal pitch is already around 170hrz but i have to strain to pass on the phone.

[Ritana]

Sorry girls, the only link I found fir the Phil House is a dormatory for 8 people!?

Have you got a link for the correct Phil House at all?

Thanks

Ritana

[iKate]

Sorry girls, the only link I found fir the Phil House is a dormatory for 8 people!?

Have you got a link for the correct Phil House at all?

Thanks

Ritana

Email them - iphilhouse@gmail.com

[anjaq]

This is Phil House:
http://www.philhouse.co.kr/02/facilities01.php
They have dorm rooms and twin/double rooms. They are more like a small appartment though with kitchen and washing machine. Its all rather simple, breakfast was basically coffee and peanut butter jam sandwich. But its rather cheap for Seoul, especially if travelling by two - and close to the subway.

Thanks on finding my voice good - and yes you are right - I use different prosody now, which is an indirect result of the surgery, since my voice is not forced anymore and can do more things in respect to voice melody. Also the surgery kind of forces you to use a female resonance pattern (what they teach in trans voice therapy as well), because the old resonance patterns will sound bad, too low, strain the voice,... but it does not come by itself, one has to re-learn how to use this voice and if one did not do that before, one has to find the female resonance pattern.

[barbie]

Hi girls

My surgery has been booked and confirmed for 8th Jan. I' m getting very nervous as I'm flying alone!! For girls who've had the surgery at Yeson's, what advice would you give me regarding the following?

1. Hotels to stay in (convenient, safe and friendly).

I usually book hotels in Seoul through hotels.com. It offers great deals.

barbie~~

[Ritana]

Thank you Barbie, Phil House doesn't seem to be featured in hotels.com.

Anjaq, i made a reservation on philhouse website. I put the dates in and a few hours later i got an email saying my reservatio' has been accepted for the requested dates. No indication of the price!

Ritana

[iKate]

Thank you Barbie, Phil House doesn't seem to be featured in hotels.com.

Anjaq, i made a reservation on philhouse website. I put the dates in and a few hours later i got an email saying my reservatio' has been accepted for the requested dates. No indication of the price!

Ritana

I would email them and ask about price. They asked me for 50% up front via paypal and the rest in KRW or USD at the front desk on checkin.