VFS With Dr Katherine Yung in San Francisco

[Rachel]

Awesome news Kendra.

I had glottoplasty May 14th in Philadelphia and 1 week after surgery I am cleared for 10 minutes an hour of speaking. The doctor stated the vibration helps in the healing process and reduces swelling or something to that effect.

I have a few questions, how low (vocal power ) is your voice?

Do you hear in your head a similar sound as prior to your surgery?

If you use a tuner how high does your pith reach?

When you say hoarse, can you rate it 1 to 10 on degree of hoarseness?

When you speak do you notice air goes to the back of your nasal passage automatically?

I am sorry to ask so many questions but I am nervous about what my outcome will be. Thanks and I understand if you do not answer the questions.   

[tgirlamg]

Awesome news Kendra.

I had glottoplasty May 14th in Philadelphia and 1 week after surgery I am cleared for 10 minutes an hour of speaking. The doctor stated the vibration helps in the healing process and reduces swelling or something to that effect.

I have a few questions, how low (vocal power ) is your voice?

Do you hear in your head a similar sound as prior to your surgery?

If you use a tuner how high does your pith reach?

When you say hoarse, can you rate it 1 to 10 on degree of hoarseness?

When you speak do you notice air goes to the back of your nasal passage automatically?

I am sorry to ask so many questions but I am nervous about what my outcome will be. Thanks and I understand if you do not answer the questions.

Hi Rachel

Just checking if these questions were directed at me or Kendra?...  😀 Happy to answer if they are mine but you are 9 days further along than me... My procedure was May 23 😀🙏🌻❤️

[Rachel]

Hi,  I was directing them at you. I meant to say awesome news Ashley, sorry.

In the past week of so I have some improvement but only modest. I am impatient I know.

[tgirlamg]

Hi,  I was directing them at you. I meant to say awesome news Ashley, sorry.

In the past week of so I have some improvement but only modest. I am impatient I know.

Hi Rachel!!!!

Okay then!!...... Here we go... these are my answers from the perspective of 8 days post-op

Vocal power is very low compared to before but, I had no problem being heard by the cashier when shopping yesterday... at a week post op, this is better than I anticipated... I'm not whispering by any means

The way I hear the voice in my head is similar but certainly not the same...

I just did a quick test and hit 402 making an EEEE sound but I am trying not to push anything right now

I guess I would put myself at a 6 or 7 on the horseness scale but again, at a week post op I think this means next to nothing

I am not sure exactly what you mean about the nasal air question but nothing feels unusual about the way I am breathing or using air when I speak...

I see you have been through a lot of procedures dear sister!!!... This last one puts me into the 40 hours in surgery club!... Healing can be a time that is absolutely brimming with opportunities to worry about healing and outcome but, try to just let the worries drop away... In the end, the worry serves no real purpose... Patience is our very best friend right now!!!!... I don't even plan to start worrying about anything even remotely linked to final outcome from this until 3 or 4 months down the line!!!

All Shall Be Well 😀...

Onward We Go Brave Sister!!!

Ashley 😀❤️🌻

[Rachel]

Thank you Ashley.

If you do not mind, I will check back with you and Kendra to see how the progress is going. 

I know with my last vocal surgery I was improving for 6 months post op then I had the glottoplasty.

[tgirlamg]

Thank you Ashley.

If you do not mind, I will check back with you and Kendra to see how the progress is going. 

I know with my last vocal surgery I was improving for 6 months post op then I had the glottoplasty.

Please check in anytime here or by PM!!!... Happy Healing Dear Sister!!! 😀🙏❤️🌻

[tgirlamg]

Hey All... Just a quick 2 week post-op update...

Healing continues to go well and, although as expected at this point, I can't blab for hours... I am speaking comfortably with a 210-230hz aveage frequency range and my peaks go easily into the 300s... So far, so good!

Onward we go brave sisters!!!

Ashley 😀💕🌻

[Kendra]

Your VFS healing is progressing waaaay faster than mine.  I am currently on track but the method I went with has a fairly gradual improvement schedule, and not set to truly show improvement until 4 months post-op.  I am amazed you are already averaging 220hz, I'd be thrilled to get anywhere near the 200 line. 

[Sonja]

Hi Ashley,

Was literally just thinking where has she been?? Congrats on your voice surgery! - it sounds like its working a charm.
Hope you find your new voice!

Take care,

Sonja x

[tgirlamg]

Hi Ashley,

Was literally just thinking where has she been?? Congrats on your voice surgery! - it sounds like its working a charm.
Hope you find your new voice!

Take care,

Sonja x

Thank You Sonja!!! 😀

[Complete]

Just curious. What did the surgery cost? And what is the cost of the follow up voice therapy?  Can the subsequent voice therapy be referred out of state?

[tgirlamg]

Just curious. What did the surgery cost? And what is the cost of the follow up voice therapy?  Can the subsequent voice therapy be referred out of state?

Hi Complete!

Since my insurance covered the procedure and therapy we never got as far as discussing the cost of the procedure if I was paying out of pocket... I am doing the speech therapy through UCSF... Dr Yung mentioned getting in house therapists soon for her practice... I really don't know if she would refer therapy out of state or not but, I'm sure a call or email to SF Voice could answer your questions better than I... Here is her website...

http://www.sfvoice.com/

Onward we go brave sister!!!

Ashley 😀❤️🌻

[BriBriMW]

I'm researching into voice surgery and Yung is the closest option (I don't want to have to travel, I may be paying out of pocket when I get it). I'm kind of worried because Yung's site(s) like some others say that vocal therapy will be utilised to the fullest extent before surgery becomes an option. I can hit a female range and similar resonance consciously (self vocal training for singing), but want it to be less effort, and also want things like my laugh, sneezes, coughs, etc. to be more feminine. Ashley, do you think there's any hope?

[tgirlamg]

I'm researching into voice surgery and Yung is the closest option (I don't want to have to travel, I may be paying out of pocket when I get it). I'm kind of worried because Yung's site(s) like some others say that vocal therapy will be utilised to the fullest extent before surgery becomes an option. I can hit a female range and similar resonance consciously (self vocal training for singing), but want it to be less effort, and also want things like my laugh, sneezes, coughs, etc. to be more feminine. Ashley, do you think there's any hope?

Hi BriBri and welcome to the forum!!!...

I would say that if you are here in the area, why don't you do a consult and see what you think... I have gone through some ups and downs with the recovery and things are still in a bit of a state of flux so I am waiting for full resolution to do my final results posting to finish off this thread

I am a fan of geographic proximity to your surgeon in case of complications or if follow up treatment is needed... I have about 40 hours now spent on surgical tables and a fair number were to correct things... I think surgical results on any procedure are always a bit of a mixed bag... I have found you often mostly get okay to great results but there are always little things you wish were a bit different and I think Voice surgery is very prone to mixed results... I had very good improvement in frequency but my vocal power is lacking right now and we are in the process of addressing that...  when I have a better sense of my final result I will post more details on the issues and resolution!!!

All good things to you as you explore the road ahead sister!!!

Onward we go!!!

Ashley 😀💕🌻

[KatieP]

the camera is small and at the end of a wand type handle...You open your mouth wide,  she pulls out a bit on your tongue to open things up as she puts the camera in your mouth...

Before I started Speech Therapy with the SLP, she had me go to an ENT to look at my vocal chords for potential pathology. In my case, there was a thin cable with a camera and light at the end, which was inserted up the nose and down to the vocal chords. No noticeable impact on making any sounds at all. And, gross as it may sound, was not uncomfortable at all. It was pretty cool to see the video afterwards of my vocal chords and them working...

And, a huge congratulations, Ashley!!!

Kate

[tgirlamg]

Before I started Speech Therapy with the SLP, she had me go to an ENT to look at my vocal chords for potential pathology. In my case, there was a thin cable with a camera and light at the end, which was inserted up the nose and down to the vocal chords. No noticeable impact on making any sounds at all. And, gross as it may sound, was not uncomfortable at all. It was pretty cool to see the video afterwards of my vocal chords and them working...

And, a huge congratulations, Ashley!!!

Kate

Thank You Katie!!!

I have since been introduced to the nose version so they can see what they are doing while going through my mouth at the same time with the apparatus to inject Prolaryn into the folds!!! Fun!!!! 👍🙂🌸

Ah well... Keeps life interesting!!!

Onward we go brave sisters!!!

Ashley 🙋‍♀️💕🙂

[Complete]

Why were they injecting prolayrn?

[KatieP]

Why were they injecting prolayrn?

Not a doctor, but the Prolayrn web site says, "Having a weak, breathy voice or hoarseness may be a sign that your voice cords (also called vocal folds) are weak or not closing all the way. This is called vocal fold insufficiency.
PROLARYN GEL and PROLARYN PLUS are treatments your doctor may recommend to help your vocal cords close more properly."

I could imagine those symptoms post VFS...

Kate

[Complete]

Yes, thank you, Katie. I too googled prolayrn and l understand it's use.What I am wondering is if this "insufficiency" is a result of the surgery,  (probably), and is it permanent?

[tgirlamg]

Yes, thank you, Katie. I too googled prolayrn and l understand it's use.What I am wondering is if this "insufficiency" is a result of the surgery,  (probably), and is it permanent?

Hi Complete!

The insufficiency is a result of surgery combined with the thinning of the vocal chords we saw at the original consult... I mentioned that factor in the first post of the thread and it ended up being more of a factor than anticipated... as a side note, thinning comes to some degree with age and smoking, which I did off and on from late teens to early 30s...

I suspect that I will doing semi annual touch ups with prolaryn in the years to come but, we shall see but, I really don't want to put forward any speculation .. my goal is to wait until the more or less final results make themselves known and then I will give a better assessment here of the entire journey... I will say now though that it is nice being completely in female frequency range... power or not!!!

Onward we go ladies!!!

A 😀🌻💕