Do I have to do my Srs before voice surgery ?

[Fluttershy95]

Hey I talked with a Surgeon this week that does voice surgery and would also be covered by my insurance. The problem is that she told me that i need to do my srs before i can do my voice surgery because i could die from getting not enough air during my srs.

Is that really true and would that mean that i can't have any major surgery after my voice surgery?

[AnonyMs]

I don't know much, but I've seen it mentioned a few times. Look for intubation

Intubation after voice surgery
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?topic=165845.5

Re: One year post op on Yeson and unhappy
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,189262.msg1689157.html#msg1689157

Re: Yeson voice feminization surgery 2.0
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,192899.msg1743728.html#msg1743728

There's probably more links here, I didn't look too much

[Mariah]

No set order on the procedures when they are not in the same area of the body. So yes you can have it before or after. I have never seen any set order in regards to this. So many choose to deal with the voice early on way before SRS. Hugs
Mariah

[anjaq]

Hey I talked with a Surgeon this week that does voice surgery and would also be covered by my insurance. The problem is that she told me that i need to do my srs before i can do my voice surgery because i could die from getting not enough air during my srs.

Honestly, unless she does some procedure that is not known to me yet, I would consider choosing a different surgeon for the voice, if that is what she thinks, as she seems to lack medical knowledge herself.
Suring SRS you will be intubated and the tube will be below the larynx, so whatever happened there has no effect, just with some voice surgeries you have to be very carefull with intubation afterwards... but thats a task for the SRS anaesthesist then.

[Dena]

I know that Dr Haben wants to know that you have had RLE before surgery and will ask for how long. I am not sure if he might want a letter if you are pre surgical. Post surgical he still gave me the form to fill out but as I am long post surgical, there were no other issues. There will be a wait for you to heal between surgeries of several months which works out well because you don't want to be dilating for the day or two around the voice surgery.

[Jenna Marie]

I suppose you could also look into a GRS surgeon who doesn't do intubation, if you're really concerned about this - I'm 99% sure I was not intubated with Brassard. He prefers an epidural (spinal) anesthetic with twilight sleep, both of which typically allow the patient to breathe on their own.

[Dena]

Warning the surgeon before the surgery should be enough. As long as they are aware that things aren't normal, they can use smaller hardware and avoid forcing anything. On the other hand, there can be plenty of room to work as this is a 40/50% tie. The upper limit on what a doctor will do.

[anjaq]

I know that Dr Haben wants to know that you have had RLE before surgery and will ask for how long.

I hate those sort of questions, what is it their business....
At least from Yeson I know some people went there not having had RLT done yet, but instead wanted to get FFS and VFS done in order to start that properly without getting stares too much.

I suppose you could also look into a GRS surgeon who doesn't do intubation, if you're really concerned about this - I'm 99% sure I was not intubated with Brassard. He prefers an epidural (spinal) anesthetic with twilight sleep, both of which typically allow the patient to breathe on their own.

Are you sure about this? I had a twilight sleep anaesthesia for a rahter minor surgery last year and while they did not intubate me, they had to use a "larynx mask" to assist breathing. It sits above the larynx though and will not go through the vocal folds, which is good in this case as it does not touch the changed vocal folds. However its not always 100% reliable. They told me if it fails for some reason, they would have to intubate during surgery... So they should still be aware of the proper procedures in that case.
Apparently this twilight sleep thing is a bit of a balancing act and if they add not enough of the drugs, you might wake up, if they put in too much, your breathing may get too weak and they have to intubate. So we chose to not do that balancing act and instead use the larynx mask as for them it seemed to be the more reliable option, but I guess a very good ans honest and detailed talk with the anaesthesist is definitely making sens in case of a planned surgery after VFS
I am a bit scared of unplanned surgeries now post-VFS - I carry an emergency card with information on VFS but if there is an emergency, they may possible not read that first before intubating and a forced intubation with a too big intubator may indeed cause the vocal fold suture to be undone, thats what a GRS surgeon told me.

[Jenna Marie]

anjaq : I'm sure that *I* was not intubated and that Brassard's general policy was not to intubate.  Obviously I can't be sure it's never happened (you're absolutely right, unfortunately, that there's no guarantee it might not ever happen during regular living either, if something goes wrong like a car accident or whatever). I would never recommend NOT telling the surgeon, and in fact I'm on record in the past as saying doctors need to be fully informed, but it does seem as though the odds are better choosing a surgeon who at least does not routinely intubate.

(I just went back to check the full operations report, and yes, I was not. Guess I was lucky enough that everything went smoothly.)