Voice Surgery Results Poll

[glendagladwitch]

Well, I want to do an anonymous poll but I don't see how to do it here.  Thanks to Nero for setting up the poll for me.  Anyway, I want honest feedback on my voice surgery results.  There are three categories, (Pre FemLar, Post Femlar, and Post Revision) each needing a vote A, B, or C.

A = Not Passable as Female
B = Borderline
C = Passes as Female

So please listen to the latest voice samples in each of those three categories at this page and let me have your votes.

http://www.geocities.com/glendagladwitch/Super_Short_List.html?1219286390907



Posted on: August 20, 2008, 09:13:08 PMThere were some initial problems after I uploaded the recent recordings.  I think I used up the daily bandwidth to upload bunches of audio files.  But the site seems to be working again.  Please listen and vote!

[Dennis]

Passes as female, no question for me.

Dennis

[April221]

Passable, B and C are very good.

[carol_w]

Both Pre- and Post-Femlar fall into the passable category, but not NEARLY as well as post-revision, which is VERY feminine in my opinion.

Carol

[glendagladwitch]

Thanks.  I'd like to ask for clarifications though.  Please post your votes in a format like this:

Pre-FemLar: A
Post FemLar:  B
Post Revision:  C

The votes above would tell me that you thought it was not passable before surgery, then borderline after the first surgery, then passable after the revision.  If you thought it was borderline the whole time, then the votes should be:

Pre-FemLar: B
Post FemLar:  B
Post Revision:  B

Additional comments are all welcome, but I'd like to get the votes too.  Thanks.

FYI:  The surgeon was Dr. Thomas in Portland.  The revision added in the THE surgery, which changes the pharyngeal portion of the vocal tract length.  There was also some more pitch tweaking.

[Nero]

Added poll.

[glendagladwitch]

Thanks!

Posted on: August 21, 2008, 07:48:42 PMI've been getting some PMs, so here's the skinny.  Dr. Thomas's website is voicedoctor.net.  He posts a lot of voice samples here.

http://www.voicedoctor.net/media/cases/pitch/index.html

I think he has some of his best and worst results up.  He said case 1 was a problem because it was his first attempt and he used the wrong stitching technique. 

He said he had some early infections that caused post op breathing emergencies, but none since he changed antibiotics.  He said he had only 2 cases where there was no improvement at all, and one was fixed with a revision and the other not.  All others have been successes, although that does not necessarily mean it was everything the patients hoped for.  This info is a bit out of date.  I have not talked to him in nearly a year.

The initial surgery was a little over seven thousand.  The revision was about two thousand.

The FemLar involves cutting off the front of the voice box and discarding it, so you get the ultimate trach shave free with the FemLar.  The THE is also free with the FemLar.  You can get the THE separately if you want.  There are no clips on Dr. Thomas's website of just the THE, but a friend shared hers with me.  I posted them here, along with FemLAr clips for another friend:

http://www.geocities.com/glendagladwitch/Pre_And_Post_Short_List.html?1188609575286

Posted on: August 21, 2008, 08:01:08 PMUnsightly bump.

I know it's rude.  Sorry, especially to those of you who replied and are now getting this bump as a new reply to a thread in which you've posted.  But I only have 5 respondents!  Extreme measures must be taken.  Plus, I checked the site rules and terms of service and saw no prohibition against bumping.

But I did see a site rule against posting links to other websites as advertising.  So I guess I could get busted for posting a link to Dr. Thomas's website.  I'm a bad girl? 

[vanna]

thanks glendagladwitch

im at work at the moment so i cant vote, im glad this has been posted up however i came across this technique a few weeks ago off the yahoo voice group.

It looks like a very worthwhile thing to consider, i know ive added it to my ffs and srs list. I didnt know about the free tract shave though, i had planned to schedule with Dr Z when i saw him in september so thank you for that money saving piece of info.

Please keep this thread gonig it will defo benefit alot of us looking for that extra help.

Hugs"

[icontact]

I thought even the pre-op voice sounded like a middle-aged woman's voice. I heard no difference between the post-op and post-rev track other than your voice was rough in spots in the post-rev.

[soldierjane]

At work too, but will check out.

Can you sing?

[Janet_Girl]

Glenda,

Now that I can get to hear the samples, I have a question.  Why did you have the surgery?  To me they all sound very feminine.  The first sounded more middle ageish but still feminine.  But then it was your choice, as all of the things we go thru is.
Janet

[soldierjane]

Meh... I'm kind of asleep and voted all wrong, I thought A was 'passes as female'. Correct my vote to B C C.  You sounded good before and now it's even better, your voice has more of a female edge to it.

Better life through surgery

[Keira]

The only quibble I have with the post voice is that it seems to have lost power.

Is it just how you talk, or could you fill a room with you voice without tiring, say a long meeting
or be a teacher.

Myself, I can fill an auditorium with my female voice without amplification or shouting.
Is this possible with this technique.

[glendagladwitch]

As far as loudness goes, there is a significant loss at first and the voice gains strength over time.  At 8 months, I could certainly speak up loudly enough to teach a class in a normal sized classroom.  I don't know if I could do it in an auditorium.  A lot depends on auditorium acoustics.  I bet it would hurt and lose power if I did it a lot.  But Dr. Thomas told me the voice continues to recover for well past a year, so maybe it will just get stronger and stronger.

[vanna]

And what voice training had you done prior to the Op glenda,
any particular courses or did you take speech therapy.

[glendagladwitch]

Other than my sister, who is a speech therapist, and Dr. Thomas and his speech therapist, I did not have any professional coaching.  But all of these people said I was doing properly all of the techniques that are useful in obtaining a more feminine voice.  The only exception is that the speech therapist at Dr. Thomas's said that I could benefit from opening my mouth more when I speak.  Dr. Thomas said that my vocal chords were unusually thick.  I sang bass at age 13.  My voice broke at A4, even after I did everything I could to raise my break.  And I lived fulltime for well over ten years.