How long after surgery were you able to eat "normally"? As I understand it the vocal folds retract when swallowing. Could you feel any difference with swallowing.

I ate normally the day after surgery. There was just some mild soreness, also due to the reduction laryngoplasty.

I am not sure about thos pictures - how to interpret them. The sutures are not visible and it is hard to judge how it goes - on a first glace it looks like they did not do the same type of suture that I have seen before or the suture is hidden blow. With the state as it was in the pictures, I am a bit amazed you do not sound hoarse, as there is not really an arch visible there , but rather the vocal chords seem to stretch to a commussure that is below the glue or even below the cutoff of the image? If you ever get pictures again after the glue is gone, it would be great to take a look

Quote from: anjaq on August 14, 2014, 06:10:51 AM
I am not sure about thos pictures - how to interpret them. The sutures are not visible and it is hard to judge how it goes - on a first glace it looks like they did not do the same type of suture that I have seen before or the suture is hidden blow. With the state as it was in the pictures, I am a bit amazed you do not sound hoarse, as there is not really an arch visible there , but rather the vocal chords seem to stretch to a commussure that is below the glue or even below the cutoff of the image? If you ever get pictures again after the glue is gone, it would be great to take a look

The glue is hanging loosely at the moment, and you're right, it is covering the anterior commissure in the pictures. It moves around when I am speaking, and I am hoarse when it comes between the vocal folds.

I exported some more pictures from a video I made at my ENT exam. I filmed it with my mobile phone so quality isn't optimal. I hope you can see better where the anterior commissure is in those. Unfortunately my tongue is in the way most of the time.

     

I can also see in these pictures that I have rather long and thin vocal folds compared to others I have seen - which seems to be good for the outcome of a glottoplasty.

QuoteI can also see in these pictures that I have rather long and thin vocal folds compared to others I have seen - which seems to be good for the outcome of a glottoplasty.

Thats why its important with voice therapy prior to surgery. It helps to elongate the vocal folds. The thinner and longer the better.

It would be interesting to see the end result once all the residue has been cleared away.

What medications were you placed on post-op? You mentioned being treated with antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors. How long were you on these for? and were inhaled steroids also prescribed?

PS
Ive already seen vids on YouTube showing a standard glottoplasty but..
Does anybody know of a link to an actual video showing the wendler glottoplasty?

Quote from: thegreenrabbit on August 14, 2014, 07:16:42 AM
It would be interesting to see the end result once all the residue has been cleared away.

I have a follow-up in three weeks and I will take more pictures then.

Quote from: thegreenrabbit on August 14, 2014, 07:16:42 AM
What medications were you placed on post-op? You mentioned being treated with antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors. How long were you on these for? and were inhaled steroids also prescribed?

Yes, I've been on antibiotics for 2 days. I took the proton pump inhibitors (Pantomed) only for a few days since I didn't tolerate them well. I replaced them with Sucralfat afterwards. I also bought a device to inhale corticosteroids (Celestone), which I did three times a day for about two weeks.

Do you have a photo of the vocal chords before surgery for comparison?

No, unfortunately I don't have any pre-op photos.

Don't worry about your upcoming surgery, three ENT specialists (including Prof Remacle) agree that everything is as it should be. The pictures look gross with all the remaining fibrin glue and sutures hanging between my voal folds. Perhaps I shouldn't have posted them in the first place, but I wanted to document the healing progress. The anterior commissure is not visible in these photos because of the glue and also because they haven't been shot from the right angle. These were made with a normal laryngoscope, not via transnasal fiberscopy. I hope I can get better pictures during my next examination.

Sorry, but I still cannot see a suture there in the pictures. Lets wait for proper post op checkup once the glue is gone, the glue is not the issue - it is only a small patch and cannot cover the suture unles sit is really short. I cannot say anything about the length of the vocal chords, the scale of these endoscopic photos is always different. But if it was not shot from the right angle it may be an explanation. The suture would have to be basically below the lower edge of the picture. If you have 1/3 of your vocal folds sutured as it is the case in most other of these procedures I read about, you would have to imagine the part that is unsutured and then it would have to go 1/2 of that "below" the point where the glue is. This means a huge part of the vocal folds in not in the photos. Thats a bit strange as this would obviously be the part he would have to take a look at mostly? Well - I do not quite understand this but if he says this is as it should be, we can just wait for some more time and see what it looks like once the glue is gone.

Just for comparison how my vocal folds look like (not surgically altered but with my vocal dysphonia which I am working on currently - the folds should close conpletely and not have these gaps as seen in the "closed" picture)
closed:

open:

Quote from: anjaq on August 16, 2014, 02:31:13 PM
Sorry, but I still cannot see a suture there in the pictures. Lets wait for proper post op checkup once the glue is gone, the glue is not the issue - it is only a small patch and cannot cover the suture unles sit is really short. I cannot say anything about the length of the vocal chords, the scale of these endoscopic photos is always different. But if it was not shot from the right angle it may be an explanation. The suture would have to be basically below the lower edge of the picture. If you have 1/3 of your vocal folds sutured as it is the case in most other of these procedures I read about, you would have to imagine the part that is unsutured and then it would have to go 1/2 of that "below" the point where the glue is. This means a huge part of the vocal folds in not in the photos. Thats a bit strange as this would obviously be the part he would have to take a look at mostly? Well - I do not quite understand this but if he says this is as it should be, we can just wait for some more time and see what it looks like once the glue is gone.

You're right, unfortunately the photos are not optimal. I had a strong urge to gag during the laryngoscopy and so the doctor struggled to get usable pictures at all. I've studied the video more closely and I think I can guess quite accurately where the anterior commissure must be. I've marked the inner and outer edges (partially hidden in the pictures) of the vocal folds in the pictures below. The web should be between those points. Let's see if I'm right in a few weeks...

         

BTW, this is how a good result from Prof Remacle should look after healing is completed (this picture is from one of his research papers):

Did they say how much they have shortened the chords? It seems from your guesstimates in the pictures to be about 1/4 maybe?

Quote from: anjaq on August 16, 2014, 05:20:50 PM
Did they say how much they have shortened the chords? It seems from your guesstimates in the pictures to be about 1/4 maybe?

He told me 1/3. But I think you have to measure that when the vocal folds are in speaking position. When they are open or half open (as in the photos) the sutured area looks a little smaller. I will have to wait until I have proper pictures to judge that.

But I did a quick comparison with some post-op pictures from Yeson and it looks pretty similar, maybe a little bit more conservative. If you take the trachea as a reference point, it can be seen very well in these pictures that the vocal cords actually extend far more anterior - but they have to be photographed from further away and from exactly above to see this:

Yes - it makes more sense now. Just odd that he did not take proper photos then. The voice box has a bit of a Y shape as well and not a V shape - so it hides a bit the length ot he suture if one tries to project the lines as a V.

Quote from: anjaq on August 16, 2014, 06:24:35 PM
Just odd that he did not take proper photos then.

These were not taken by Prof Remacle, an ENT here in Vienna took them.

So... I'm very nervous about the whole no speaking for 2 weeks thing.  With my partner and three cats I know I'm going to struggle.  I plan to take 2 weeks off work,  so that helps obviously.   Any suggestions of how I can keep my vow of silence?  I was thinking lollipops,  lol.

Quote from: Kate_H on August 17, 2014, 04:15:06 AM
So... I'm very nervous about the whole no speaking for 2 weeks thing.  With my partner and three cats I know I'm going to struggle.  I plan to take 2 weeks off work,  so that helps obviously.   Any suggestions of how I can keep my vow of silence?  I was thinking lollipops,  lol.

Lollipops could work - I preferred keeping my mouth full with lots of ice cream though...

Seriously, the first few days are hard, but you'll get used to it. Using alternative means of communication helps - writing, sign language, text-to-speech-apps, ...

But prepare to stay silent for more than two weeks - I wasn't able to speak properly before about 4 weeks after surgery, and my voice is still hoarse most of the time now.

It seems that staying silent for a month is perhaps the best advice then slowly begin speaking a few words daily throughout month 2. Better to be on the cautious side than not.

Well, this thread has come as a pleasant surprise. I didn't think anyone comparable to Yeson would be showing up in Europe any time soon.

Grgrglgl. ...  I feel like s****. Lol

Feels like mouth is boxing ring.