ok so me (as well as 2 others) had th Open" Feminization Laryngoplasty Crico-Thyroid Approximation"CTA done on yesterday and all went well. i opted to stay the night in the hospital as i traveled alone. oh! when i arrived on Tuesday morning the ride to the doctors office was like 10 minutes at the most. really close. i spoke with him for a good 30 minutes about the procedure and the non CTA methods and how my results would differ if i did that option. h was very honest and asked me what my expectation are for the surgery and told me the limitations of the non CTA as well as the possible cons of having the CTA option. I felt pretty good about my choice to go all in and do everything so i could have the best possible out come. he game me pre and post op pictures. which look pretty good. im on my strict vocal rest. i did take my own pre surgery voice clip and will most likely upload it. Um at this point im not really sure what all to post? i had the feeling at first like i needed to clear my throat and cough. also the hospital staff was super nice and used proper nouns when addressing me. same with everyone at haben practice and in Rochester in general. i really liked the atmosphere of treatment. (not so much the temp and snow though ) as far as the post op instructions he went over those and made sure to remind me things likes not smoking, drinking alcohol. all the other stuffs like strict no using voice for certain amount of time. and told me how not fallowing results could and would mess up my results. i really liked the way he expressed the limitations of the non CTA option as each surgery component takes care of half the process and the other takes care of other process.


http://vocaroo.com/i/s0JlHWhbMIVx

oh im going to upload the file of pictures once i get home and can scan them. he said everything looks really well so im super excited. even had lunch with the other two older ladies today

So I am curious, what were his opinions about the limitations of the non CTA methods?

Congrats Warmbody

The no talking period is pretty hard and Im sure you will slip up, dont worry too much about that...
It will be over before you know it and your gonna be happy

I found that lots of ice water was best and sugar free cough drops also were a big help

Can I ask what you think of the incision???

Quote from: anjaq on February 19, 2015, 11:39:25 AM
So I am curious, what were his opinions about the limitations of the non CTA methods?

Im curious to hear this too... I can tell you that without the CTA in my case I can still go too deep and it may always be that way... I was told that 1/2 of his patients do the CTA either all at once or they come back to have it done...

If you add his 75hz increase to a 100-110 hz baseline I can see why.... I go back and forth about the CTA

Since I doubt Im gonna have Dr Speigel doing mine, If Im still not happy once fully healed Im thinking Dr Brassard can do it with my GRS hopefully in the fall of this year

i was surprised by the scar to be honest. i thought it would be longer and slightly larger. but he put it in a creasing area of the lower neck. that was kinda cool in my book. also the way he explained the surgery to me was kinda good. he really put it in terms i could understand. he went over the info he had on his website but made sure i understood it better. like with the glottoplasty. how it has less pitch elevation for people who smoked. i didnt quite get what he was saying until he told me about the pitch being higher (to a point) but not fine tuned. which is the point of his version of the CTA that he does.  he raises the pitch, fine tunes it. and also does your trech shave for you ( redo if you previously had it done). he also talked about how the CTA takes away the lower range of the male voice. not completely but it takes away some. its hard to type but in going to make a video about it. we went over alot of information about the surgery and the need for a few lessons with a good speech language pathologist afterwards. he really seemed to know hos stuffs. but yes the not talking, coughing or anything for 8 days is tough. getting back on my own without talking was a real challenge. im still high from the drugs so what else is everyone else wondering? i know one of the other two older woman that was there are also planning on making a video too
oh and the temp change in taste of food must be noted.

Yes for sure the whole altered taste deal sucked for me, nothing tasted good It was a solid two months before it got back to normal for me... I got used to it but its all back to normal at three months now...

Yea I liked him too, Im really looking forward to hearing your results 

I am very happy for you, warmbody, and thrilled that you are willing to share your experience with everyone.  Wishing you a healthy recovery and hope that you achieve a fantastic result. 

im not sure how to post my pdf file online of my vocal cords? anyone know how to do this? im surprised at how well im still feeling. im keeping in contact with the other two and they both seem to be feeling well also. i know sometimes i feel the need to cough but i just drink some water and the feeling goes away. im trying not to take the cough suppressant anymore since it can kinda lock you up and make you a little high. oh yeah swallowing feels ok now too for the most part. like the first day or two it feels..idk funny? but now its feeling more normal again. i cant wait for the first 3 months to be done and over with though. most of the internal heeling will be over by then to get a good feel of my long term results. oh and for a chatter box like me not talking has been a challenge. i am pretty much communicating constantly through text with people standing next to me. oh and on my way back home it took me 6 trys to rent a motel (i was driving through small towns and locals were like from Bangladesh or India and couldn't read simple English). so i broke down and used my phone to book at a nice hotel. its amazing how limited communication can be with those who cant read English. anything you wanna ask post away.

I was so worried about the numb tongue or alteres taste sensation as well before my glottoplasty at Dr Kim's, but to my surprise it is all normal. I cannot manage to stop my coughing always. water helps, but if there is stuff to be coughed up, it is no use to supress the coughing really, one can only try to make it "soft" - and even dropped a few words by accident half sleeping despite this being strictly prohibited. I hope it still all goes well.
I still wonder why Dr Haben combines both methods. Is there some advantage to it?

Quote from: anjaq on February 26, 2015, 02:32:32 AM
I was so worried about the numb tongue or alteres taste sensation as well before my glottoplasty at Dr Kim's, but to my surprise it is all normal. I cannot manage to stop my coughing always. water helps, but if there is stuff to be coughed up, it is no use to supress the coughing really, one can only try to make it "soft" - and even dropped a few words by accident half sleeping despite this being strictly prohibited. I hope it still all goes well.
I still wonder why Dr Haben combines both methods. Is there some advantage to it?

I wonder about this, too.  I plan to have a consultation over the summer, and if I like what he has to say, I will undergo the procedure in the fall (the only time I can get enough time off of work).  I currently have a strong feeling to do the glottoplasty only, but I will certainly hear him out on why he thinks results are better when combined with a CTA.

Also, I wouldn't worry about a few slip-ups post-op.  Seems that everyone has made some.  We are only human, and should definitely try our absolute best to follow the after care instructions but some of this stuff is done so subconsciously that it's impossible to be perfect 100% of the time   Glad your tongue and sense of taste are holding up

i worried about those kinds of things too and talked with him about it. he told me the little tips for avoiding coughing 90% of the time. its been weird because im the kind of person who always swells more than the average person after surgery so i knew it was coming. any who i have been silent and all till today. recorded my voice for yall even know i have a cold (playing in the snow to much). its weird. at the 7 day mark the voice is starting to come back some. but like he said after 7 days the voice will sound much worse and it does. not sure if its the cold? but i am starting to feel better. depending on your pre voice and what kind of post op voice your trying to get will depend on if you should do the CTA or not. i will say with the CTA the scar doesnt seem to be very big and after 6-12 months you can laser that beast away anyways.
oh and getting use to the new way of talking will trip you up at first im still trying to wrap my brain around it. 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s05GV58iet53

Quote from: warmbody28 on February 26, 2015, 05:47:14 PM
i worried about those kinds of things too and talked with him about it. he told me the little tips for avoiding coughing 90% of the time. its been weird because im the kind of person who always swells more than the average person after surgery so i knew it was coming. any who i have been silent and all till today. recorded my voice for yall even know i have a cold (playing in the snow to much). its weird. at the 7 day mark the voice is starting to come back some. but like he said after 7 days the voice will sound much worse and it does. not sure if its the cold? but i am starting to feel better. depending on your pre voice and what kind of post op voice your trying to get will depend on if you should do the CTA or not. i will say with the CTA the scar doesnt seem to be very big and after 6-12 months you can laser that beast away anyways.
oh and getting use to the new way of talking will trip you up at first im still trying to wrap my brain around it. 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s05GV58iet53

I think you sound pretty good for just one week!  Did he say how much you are allowed to talk at this point?

he said to talk lightly today. and i can do more and more every day. I have to admit im still excited about it. i talke to one of 2 of the other girls today. well skype with text. she sounds better than me

Quote from: warmbody28 on February 26, 2015, 07:25:57 PM
he said to talk lightly today. and i can do more and more every day. I have to admit im still excited about it. i talke to one of 2 of the other girls today. well skype with text. she sounds better than me

I'm very happy for you (and the other patient)!  You sound very feminine presently even at a low volume and still recovering.  Based on your pre-op recording I can already hear a major upward shift in pitch.  I think your result is going to be fantastic! 

ok so i thought i would post another update. my voice is still recovering but its easier to talk now. sorry for the crappy audio. im outside and the wind is blowing

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0V0vUl1FC9a

Quote from: warmbody28 on March 05, 2015, 08:36:06 AM
ok so i thought i would post another update. my voice is still recovering but its easier to talk now. sorry for the crappy audio. im outside and the wind is blowing

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0V0vUl1FC9a

Sounds pretty good here and it should just get better with time and learning how to use it

Quote from: warmbody28 on March 05, 2015, 08:36:06 AM
ok so i thought i would post another update. my voice is still recovering but its easier to talk now. sorry for the crappy audio. im outside and the wind is blowing

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0V0vUl1FC9a

Sounds great so far, especially considering you are still so early in recovery!  Now that it's been about two weeks I'm curious about how your voice is doing! Any updates? Thanks.

ok so another voice recording. 3 weeks

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1McDZ5r9iVz

Sounds great Congrats you have to be happy with that result??? Ive noticed as the swelling is going down from my FFS that I can really see my adams apple now

My 3 month result was only 6 notes higher with the web only but it comes and goes and I was having a bad day when I sent Dr Haben my recording... My pre/post recording showed my voice started very deep centered at 100hz, my trained voice was about 170 hz with some effort, post op voice is a lot like my trained voice but effortless... I can do 175hz pretty easy most of the time and it works for me but I can also do 120-130hz way too easily... Dr Haben suggested to me that a CTA and possibly redoing the web longer would get me to 190-200hz... That sounds to me like another $7300.00 and at least three months to recover from though

Its a hard decision to make, Im 4 months post op today, Im thinking I should wait a while and hope for more pitch increase...

You sound really good for 3 weeks post op, I could hardly talk at that point, my voice was very weak and monotone....