How I feel after vocal surgery.

[Katie]

I wanted to take a few minutes to write to all you about how vocal surgery has impacted my life.

I began transition in 07. SRS one year later, FFS one year after that.

Was scarred to get vocal surgery so I developed as best a voice I could. I sounded great in my own ears when I talked but when I recorded myself and played it back I could hear the MALE sound of my voice.

I ended up living a number of years with the best presentation I could, but remember my voice was not the best and with that I would occasionally have reminders of what I am by other people. I like to say that the whole package of a person is on display and if there are any things that are out of place then red flags go up.

Fast forward to last July 15. I got vocal surgery and went through a long long recovery. I still am recovering as a matter of fact. But after six months my voice finally came into its place.

I can now say that vocal surgery was the most impactful surgery I have ever gotten! It has virtually eliminated peoples red flags. It has made me blend in about as good as I could ever imagine. By the way I am of the mindset that I was born with a birth defect and I got if fixed and moved on. Hence I like the idea of blending in. I don't wish to discuss my past or have people guessing my past........

With all that said I got to say with this surgery it has been tremendous.....

I have to thank the nice gal (you know who you are) that help me to understand what the surgery could do. From the moment I herd your voice it was all over I had made my decision.

I realize there are people that are against the surgery and that's totally ok. I am expressing my own perspectives. The surgery is priceless......................

[HappyMoni]

Hi Katie,
I wonder if the changes to your voice are considered permanent or will it have to be revisited at some point? I am glad to hear it has worked out so well for you. Congrat!
Moni

[Katie]

Yes the changes are permanent.

[Rachel]

Hi Katie,

Congratulations on your voice success. Could you please share the voice method and doctor that performed the procedure? Also, would you do anything different now that you have had this experience?

Thank you,

Rachel

[jollyjoy]

Katie, I totally agree with you! Although the recovery time is long, it's very worth it!!

[Katie]

I generally dont like endorsing doctors but there is only a small number that do this surgery. Dr. Haben did mine. I would have considered the one in Korea as well but the cost was not much different and the airplane flight I been on before and never want to do that again.

I have never had any vocal training. I am a firm believer that the best way to get a reasonable voice is to go full time. Full time separates reality from anything else and very quickly causes one to change their voice to fit the new presentation to the world.

With that said I still believe most of us could benefit from vocal surgery. Perhaps the best part of it is there is no extra anything to do. You simply talk. What you dont get is word inflection but I after living as me for years I think I got the vocal inflections down ok..


I can only stress again that the recovery is VERY long. If there is one complaint I can say about the doctor is that he does not stress this. It has been 3/4 of a year and I can still tell my voice is recovering.. After yelling a lot I can tell.....

But with that said I did gain control of my voice after about six months and that was awesome.

Oh and in the grand sceme of things the cost of vocal surgery is very cheap. Compare it to the cost of FFS or SRS.