Quote from: anjaq on February 22, 2014, 04:12:19 AM
Why would they do that then.. I mean if they can go stealth, they should have all kinds of jobs like any woman and not have to go to be in bars...?

It is a difficult question. Korea is basically a very competitive society, and it is difficult for transgender people to get a nice job. Moreover, to undergo SRS, they need a lot of cash, and an easiest way for that is working at underground bars. Even, a detailed picture of everyday lives of transgender people is not well known, despite the huge popularity of Ha Ri Su, the first and probably the only successful transsexual in Korea.

barbie~~

Quote from: megan2929 on February 22, 2014, 10:44:08 AM
I'm leaving tomorrow for Seoul and my surgery is on Wednesday morning

Megan,

The weather here is getting warmer, and temperatures in Seoul will be above the freezing point. I will be in Seoul on February 24-25 to have a meeting near Seoul train station in the Monday afternoon. I have no schedule on Tuesday, but will be back to my hometown if there is nothing to do. I will be again in Seoul, probably on Feb. 28 - March 1 or 2. If you are adventurous to meet me to have lunch or dinner together, please PM me to let me know your preferred area and time of meeting together. I can arrange it for your convenience.

You know where I live.



barbie~~

Hi Barbie
Just PM'd you. I'm looking forward to Korea and it would be really fun if we could meet up while I'm over there!

Hi Megan - Congrats on getting the vfs!  What is your time-line (i.e. mon consult & tests/wed surgery/mon post op visit/tues return home), and how many days are you spending in Korea?  I'm seriously considering the surgery, for my hopelessly male voice, this summer.

Thx!
Kim

Quote from: megan2929 on February 22, 2014, 04:10:34 PM
Hi Barbie
Just PM'd you. I'm looking forward to Korea and it would be really fun if we could meet up while I'm over there!

Yes. I will delay my returning flight schedule by 1-2 hours to meet you. There are one flight in every 5 minutes from Seoul to my home town at daytime.

barbie~~

I have delayed my returning flight by 2 hour at 15:25 on Feb 25. It takes about 45 minutes from the downtown Seoul to Gimpo airport. Usually I arrive at the airport 30 minutes before the departure time. I think we can have enough time for lunch! And there are various restaurants.

barbie~~

Quote from: kimdp999 on February 22, 2014, 10:06:11 PM
Hi Megan - Congrats on getting the vfs!  What is your time-line (i.e. mon consult & tests/wed surgery/mon post op visit/tues return home), and how many days are you spending in Korea?  I'm seriously considering the surgery, for my hopelessly male voice, this summer.

Thx!
Kim

Hi Kim, my timeline is:
Sunday: Leave Vancouver
Monday: Arrive in Seoul (a day ahead)
Tuesday: Consultation at Yeson for tests and payment
Wednesday: Surgery
Next Wednesday: Follow-up
Next Thursday: Fly home

Quote from: megan2929 on February 22, 2014, 10:44:08 AM
Here's a pre-op voice recording so you can compare after my surgery in a couple months:

Your voice already sounds very feminine!  I think you are going to love the results.  I hope someday that I can get somewhere near as feminine as your pre-op voice!

Can't wait to hear the post-op voice

Megan - do you have to use a lot of effort to keep that voice in the video up? It sounds rather ok to me already, bu tI totally get it if this takes effort or is straining the voice or you have to think about it all the time that you do not want to do that anymore and hence the surgery. Or do you actually aim to get a much higher pitched voice than the one in the video?

Congratulations!

Im 3 weeks out and so excited that I cant even imagine how you must feel.

Thanks for the before video. I'll do the same.

Best wishes!

Megan, I wish you the best of luck! Just remember to follow all of Dr. Kim's instructions. If you have any questions while you're there feel free to PM me and I'll try to answer anything if I can. You'll love Seoul, and you'll love your results once you're able to talk again.

I can't wait for the post-op videos :-)

Dear Megan,

I wish you lots of success with your VFS, may all your wishes come true. Luck you won't need, as with Dr. Kim, you're in expert hands. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Amy

Yesterday I met Megan and her friend in Gangnam. They seemed to be a little bit tired from jet lag, but anyway I shopped together with Megan in Gangnam. Lunch was canceled because Megan was to take a blood test in the afternoon.



I am now in Jeju island, and it rains whole day, cleaning up the yellow dust.

I hope the surgery today will go well without any problem. Probably within 24 hours, we can hear from Megan, as she recovers.

barbie~~

All fingers crossed then for the surgery of Megan today

Fingers crossed for you! You're in great hands!

I had surgery yesterday and I think it went well. Dr. Kim seemed happy at least and said there were no complications. I had a vocal tremor so he recommended that I only get 1/3 of my vocal cords sutured rather than the 1/2 that Jenny had. I think most of the girls get 1/3 so I'm not too worried. He said that my original male voice had a fundamental frequency of 118 Hz and he would be able to raise it to around 195 Hz. My trained voice was around 155 Hz. He said that because I'm already comfortable modifying my pitch and resonance that it should be easy for me to adjust after the surgery and get a normal speaking voice in the 220 Hz range.

I will admit that I had a bit of a breakdown the night before the surgery because I was so scared and because I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to figure out how to make my voice sound natural or get it up to the 220 Hz range after the surgery because I don't really understand how the voice works as well as a lot of the girls on this site do. I have no idea what I'm doing now to make my voice sound feminine and I don't really understand the relationship between resonance and pitch. I just know that I use my head voice and make sounds from the front of my mouth instead of my chest, but Dr. Kim said it's not quite the same method after surgery. I think it's just the unknown factor that was freaking me out. He tried to explain something about raising your pitch by tightening your vocal cords, but not squeezing your larynx anymore, and using your chest voice, but I think it's something I'll just have to experience myself and figure out on my own because I can't understand what any of that would actually feel like.

Yeson is great though. Jessie is so good and the rest of the staff was also wonderful. Dr. Kim is really intelligent and a lot of what he explained to me kind of went over my head because I'm not very knowledgeable about voice or music but he seemed really confident that I would get a good result.

My timeline yesterday:
-Arrive at Yeson at 8AM and shown to my private room.
-Change into provided gown and cute slippers.
-Get hooked up to an IV by a nurse and given some medications to prep for surgery.
-Meet Dr. Kim and the anesthesiologist again and sign consent forms.
-9AM: surgery just down the hall from my room.
-11:20AM: woke up back in my room but very out of it for another half an hour.
-2PM: Feeling a lot better. Throat is on fire like a really severe case of strep throat but no longer dizzy or nauseous. They brought me some lunch of congee (rice porridge).
-6PM: meet with Dr. Kim again and he examines my throat and says it looks good. Final instructions from Jessie. Leave hospital.

It's the next day and I mostly feel like I have a normal sore throat like if I had a cold. I'm allowed to eat normally today and they've given me medication to take 3x a day for the next week. I was also allowed to start my hormones again last night so psychologically that makes me feel a lot better!

By far the hardest part is not making any sounds. I accidentally started to whisper something yesterday when my friend and I were watching TV, and I'm pretty sure I lightly cleared my throat a couple times during the night so I'm just hoping I haven't done any damage to the sutures. While it's very nice to have a friend with you, it is also a lot harder to stay silent when there's someone with you talking to you all the time. In a way it would be easier if I was alone and could just stay in my hotel room for a few days. I'm drinking a ton of water (buy bottled water at the grocery store) and I've been stifling the urge to sneeze or cough. A month of this is going to be really hard!

Dear Megan,

you've made it! Good to hear from you!!! I'm sure all will be well and you'll manage to comply with the post-surgical instructions. After all, what you have gained will last a lifetime. I'm so happy for you and can't wait to walk in your footsteps 2 months from now :-)

Take good care, be cautious and don't overtax yourself. Hang in there, and I'm sure you'll love your new voice that will bring you so much closer to our common goal: to just feel normal in our skins just like any other woman, which, after all, we are.

Hugs,

Amy

Quote from: megan2929 on February 26, 2014, 01:58:09 PM
A month of this is going to be really hard!

Indeed. There is nothing easy. For beauty, we always need some pain to endure.

barbie~~

Congrats Megan. I am looking forward to your post op reports then, because i am interested in how this surgery changes the way you use that voice in terms of head voice vs chest voice, trained pitch raise vs original male pitch. 220Hz would be way too much for me lol - I guess if you want you can do that, but I guess you have the option then?  i think 195 would already be great, so I gthink if he can get there with a 1/3 suture, thats fine, why should he do more than that.

So the pitch increase then really is calculated from the trained voice then (150 + 70 = 220 Hz)?

I am sure you will be able to rest the voice. LOL, I tried to practice not-sneezing or sneezing without sound, but I am failing at that. I am sneezing once daily at least now, I wonder if I could somehow manage to avoid this really. Tell your friend not to talk to you that much - if it makes you want to reply.
Have a great recovery, I am wishing you the best in healing and hope you will keep us updated.

Glad to hear it was a success! Don't worry at all about how to use your voice, there is literally no way to not figure it out

At the very minimum you will be in the female range of pitch. And that takes such a huge part out of the voice feminization process that the other parts just come more naturally as you learn how to use your new voice.

You have a long but extremely exciting journey ahead of you- I do know that much!

Just remember: the easier you are on your voice, the faster it will heal and strengthen. In 8 weeks when you start talking again you will want to put it through its paces- but not overwork it (that can cause damage to anyone's voice).

And I wouldn't worry about a throat clearing, a small short whisper or gentle cough. Spare yourself the anxiety. Do follow the post op instructions and you'll be good to go

Jessie is wonderful isn't she?? I really do miss her. There was a quaint kind of calmness and happiness to her that was very pleasant. Please tell her I said hello if you feel like writing something extra at your 7 day check up

Wishing you a speedy and perfect recovery!