Thanks.  Only two days post op and so far no real progress, but I'm certainly not expecting things to turn around overnight and Dr. Haben advised at least two weeks for the swelling to go down.  Still hoping for the best.

Hey Kwala,

How are you doing sweety? I started following this thread as I'm considering Haben vs Yeson. I think you learn the most about people when you see them deal with a difficult situation. I'm pulling for you and watching to see if Haben rises up to the challenge of corrective surgery.

Cute name BTW. In my mind it's like Koala but 2 syllables instead of 3

Hope all went well with your second surgery, Kwala! Looking forward to hearing your new voice!

I am sorry to say this but I would NEVER consider a surgeon who would make me pay a FULL PRICE for a corrective surgery. By his own admission, he seems to have messed up the surgical site in the first place.

Well, we must have totally missed our paths because I had mine done with Dr. Haben on the 25th, too, Kwala.  Mine was 8:30am.  I hope yours turns out good this time.

^I hope your surgery goes much, much, much, much better than mine, Ainsley.  Sadly, I have no progress whatsoever to report at the moment.  of course, it's only been 12 days but I assume that much of the swelling has come down since this surgery was much less intrusive and all of my previous problems are still present.  According to Dr. Haben this was my last option so if things don't improve over the next few months I may have lost my voice forever.

OMGoodness, that is so sad to hear, Kwala!  I hope things improve soon for you.  I am trying to not talk, but I have made sounds as of late and I sound like a girl with a hoarse voice.  I dry heaved after surgery, had coughing fits, and sneezes, so I hope I have not torn the stitch or webbing.  I have to be patient.  I would like to say you should be patient, too, but I am sure you have heard enough of that talk.  Do you have a speech language pathologist to work with?  Mine has been emailing and communicating with Dr. Haben for the best course of therapy for me when I start to use my voice.  Also, did you notice a change in you'r taste after the surgery?  So far food does not taste the same.  It doesn't taste bad, I would say it is more bland than anything.

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread, and I really do hope you more recovery to come with your voice.  It makes me sad to hear a possibility of permanent voice loss.  We go to such lengths to make the changes we NEED in this process and negative results are devastating.

Quote from: kwala on June 06, 2016, 02:08:42 PM
^I hope your surgery goes much, much, much, much better than mine, Ainsley.  Sadly, I have no progress whatsoever to report at the moment.  of course, it's only been 12 days but I assume that much of the swelling has come down since this surgery was much less intrusive and all of my previous problems are still present.  According to Dr. Haben this was my last option so if things don't improve over the next few months I may have lost my voice forever.

OMG Kwala. I was worrying after reading this thread. Give it some more time(I know it's been forever for you) to heal. The body is pretty amazing at adapting. *hugs*

Ainsley - The pressure from the instruments used in surgery on various parts of you mouth will mess up your sense of taste. Taste buds regenerate in six weeks to three months so expect your sense of taste to be out of whack for a while. The strange thing is I seem to be able to detect metallic tastes that I didn't notice before. It's not a problem but every so often I get a mouth full of something and what's that taste?

Kwala - I am not sure what Dr Haben told you the healing time would be but I suspect the area where the cords were separated will take a while to heal and return to their final shape. This will be more than a reduction in swelling so I am guessing it might be a month or two before we can get an idea what's going on.

Quote from: ainsley on June 06, 2016, 02:34:32 PM
OMGoodness, that is so sad to hear, Kwala!  I hope things improve soon for you.  I am trying to not talk, but I have made sounds as of late and I sound like a girl with a hoarse voice.  I dry heaved after surgery, had coughing fits, and sneezes, so I hope I have not torn the stitch or webbing.  I have to be patient.  I would like to say you should be patient, too, but I am sure you have heard enough of that talk.  Do you have a speech language pathologist to work with?  Mine has been emailing and communicating with Dr. Haben for the best course of therapy for me when I start to use my voice.  Also, did you notice a change in you'r taste after the surgery?  So far food does not taste the same.  It doesn't taste bad, I would say it is more bland than anything.

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread, and I really do hope you more recovery to come with your voice.  It makes me sad to hear a possibility of permanent voice loss.  We go to such lengths to make the changes we NEED in this process and negative results are devastating.

Not worries, you aren't hijacking!  I never noticed the taste difference, but others have mentioned it- though I belive they all said it went back to normal.  I wouldn't worry about the small noises, I'm sure you're fine.

Well, Dr. Haben's time frame for healing has been a moving target.  First it was 2 weeks, then a month, and now he's saying three months.  What worries me is not so much that my voice sounds bad, it's more that it's the "same kind of bad."  It actually felt the best the day after surgery (Yes, for this procedure I was encouraged to speak after only one day).   Right now, it feels exactly the same as before only the base pitch as a few notes lower.  I'm going to wait a few more weeks before seeing another ENT but I am beginning to suspect the web is not the problem and that somehow my vocal cords were just too scarred during the first surgery to vibrate properly.  I sent an SOS email to a few renowned ENT's in my area and one of them already responded saying the case is too complicated for him.  I truly hope this is not the end of the road for my voice.  These past 8 months have been so depressing.   

Thanks for the support, everyone.  If there are any changes at all I will definitely share.

Quote from: Ritana on June 06, 2016, 11:51:33 AM
I am sorry to say this but I would NEVER consider a surgeon who would make me pay a FULL PRICE for a corrective surgery. By his own admission, he seems to have messed up the surgical site in the first place.

I actually sort of agree with this, but I figured since he created the web, he might be the best person to fix it.  He took no responsibility for what happened and says he "can't control the way people heal."  Of course, I don't know for sure exactly why this was such a failure but I'm very interested in getting another expert opinion the next time I see an ENT.  What makes me angry is that I asked point blank before agreeing to surgery, "What's the worst case scenario?" and he said not to worry about it.

Quote from: kwala on June 06, 2016, 02:08:42 PM
^I hope your surgery goes much, much, much, much better than mine, Ainsley.  Sadly, I have no progress whatsoever to report at the moment.  of course, it's only been 12 days but I assume that much of the swelling has come down since this surgery was much less intrusive and all of my previous problems are still present.  According to Dr. Haben this was my last option so if things don't improve over the next few months I may have lost my voice forever.

Kwala,

First of, **** hugs***

My heart goes out yo you, kwala. I know daunting it Is to go through the process of uncertainty over recovering one's voice. I will keep my fingers crossed for you, sweetheart, but please keep being positive, it can.only help.

Ritana

Dena, I told my wife and daughter what you said about the taste buds and they said that is what Dr. Haben told them in the waiting room after my surgery.  I guess I was too loopy to remember them telling me that after surgery. LOL

Kwala, I guess we are playing the waiting game.  Only time will tell from here.  I remember Dr. Haben being very evasive about time frames for healing and result because, as he says, everyone heals differently and it is not the same exact modification for everyone, since we all have differing physiques to deal with.  Each case he is challenged with takes a specific approach to meet the needs of the shape, size, and vocal quality of the cords being altered.  I am not defending him, necessarily, but just pointing out why he says what he says when he is asked about healing and results.  When I uttered two different words to my wife yesterday I told her it sounded bad to me.  She said no and said the pitch is definitely higher.  I am going to have to just wait and see.

It's sad to say, but unless girls who have really deep voices need dramatic pitch increase via the CTA, I would not recommend Haben again--it would be Yeson all the way.

Kwala, it is such a shame that you had to go through all of this. It seems like between you, I, and a few other girls during that time frame, I suspect he was trying a different way of completing the surgery which might be why he had higher failure rates. Regardless of all that and my suspicions, the only thing I want is for you to recover!!

<3
Audree

Quote from: audreelyn on June 11, 2016, 07:19:23 PM
It's sad to say, but unless girls who have really deep voices need dramatic pitch increase via the CTA, I would not recommend Haben again--it would be Yeson all the way.

Kwala, it is such a shame that you had to go through all of this. It seems like between you, I, and a few other girls during that time frame, I suspect he was trying a different way of completing the surgery which might be why he had higher failure rates. Regardless of all that and my suspicions, the only thing I want is for you to recover!!

<3
Audree

Thanks, sweetie!  I hope your voice has continued to improve, I remember it sounding much, much better the last time I heard an update.

I agree with you on the Yeson recommendation.  You will never see me in Dr. Haben's office again.  I don't think he's a bad person, but I don't think he's as experienced (particularly with this procedure) as he claims to be and I've found his instructions and advice to be so inconsistent and in many cases completely contradictory that I, personally, would not feel comfortable recommending his services.  I should have sought help from another source after the first failure, but my thinking was- he created this so he may he the only one who can set it right.  My focus now is on finding a new set of doctors and praying they can salvage what's left of my vocal cords.  I'm determined to explore every avenue to restore basic vocal function even if it bankrupts me or drives me into debt.   

Paying the full price for two consecutive surgeries and still ending up with such voice issues is so regrettable. You are right in wanting to have your vocal cords checked out by a third party specialist to ascertain what may have gone wrong. Any surgeon who uses the the excuse « I can't control the way people heal» as an.exit strategy is not a.trustworty one in my opinion. Depending on the findings of an independent ENT, I would consider taking the matter further.


I hope you will be able to regain a clear voice again.

I'm so sorry for your experiences kwala. I wish you all the best in your next step to recover your voice.

This has turned me off going to Dr Haben altogether!

Quote from: kwala on June 12, 2016, 03:49:34 PM
My focus now is on finding a new set of doctors and praying they can salvage what's left of my vocal cords.  I'm determined to explore every avenue to restore basic vocal function even if it bankrupts me or drives me into debt.

Oh this sounds horrible - I hope you can find someone to help. I hear Dr Thomas in Portland is really good af fixing voices that have previously been surgically altered. Did you get details on what went wrong and what he did to presumably correct it?

Well, I saw an ENT today.  No signs of swelling and no granulation tissue this time and yet my issues persist.  he also remarked that he has seen a dozen or so patients who have undergone this surgery and has never seen a web this large, despite me just having surgery to reduce it in size.

Anjaq, my first surgery somehow resulted in a Web that was extremely large, probably 60-65% of the cords.  Dr. Haben claims this is due to the "way I healed."  I agreed to have a second surgery where he could reduce its size, hoping that this would fix my lack of volume and inability to produce a single pitch (my voice box since the first  surgery and up to this day produces multiple sounds simultaneously when I speak above a whisper).

I did send an email to Dr. Thomas two weeks ago and have not gotten a response.  The ENT I saw today basically said this problem was out of his league, and to seek a true specialist.

This  is such a sad and unfortunate vfs experience. I would never have undergone vfs had I read this story. Luckily mine didn't result in anything close to this.

My heart goes out to you, Kwala. I will keep my fingers crossed for you so you can regain your voice hun.

Ritana