An Adelaide Girls VFS surgery

[LizK]

Here we go again...more surgery although this one is not quite as extensive as the last one but certainly as important and life changing.


After working on my voice for over a year I managed to get my average pitch up to about 170 if I concentrated really hard on it. The moment I became emotional in any way that would all go out the window.

Whilst certainly not a beauty queen by any stretch of the imagination I do kind of pass in many circumstances until I speak. Up until I do people are not sure if I am trans or not at first glance and the moment I speak in comes the hesitation when speaking to me. Phone can be a hit or miss and the other day the guy came to the door to deliver the groceries and I spoke to him...he could not see me and addressed me as sir...can't blame him he only had my voice to go on.


Today I received my paperwork for surgery next week to be at the hospital 7:30 am 1 Feb with a planned overnight stay. I have to remain silent for 3 days and then I can do some talking,. He suggested I will need some voice therapy after this which is fine. I have no doubt this will help stop the hesitation and help me feel more confident. I am really looking forward to it. I was surprised that I had to have an overnight stay but such is life.

Will update again after Surgery next week

Till Friday

Liz

[Michelle_P]

Wow!  Another round already!  You and @Kendra, charging ahead...

Liz, it sounds like you've done your homework, and with your previous voice work, I bet this will get you the results you desire.  I look forward to hearing how you are doing (once you can speak for a while, of course!)

I hope all goes well, with no last minute glitches.  Smooth all the way!

Hugs
Michelle

[Laurie]

Already?

  That is quick. There must be less gate keeping and hoops for VFS there than here. I'm glad for you Liz.

[LizK]

Already?

  That is quick. There must be less gate keeping and hoops for VFS there than here. I'm glad for you Liz.

To be honest my experience has been NOhoops to jump through at all and NO gatekeeping behaviour. I did expect it however when I told him I was going for GCS in December he kind of shrugged his shoulders and said he requires nothing. I am not sure if it would have been different if I had not already had surgery.


Could be a few weeks until we can have another talking skype....but will keep you updated.

Liz

[LizK]

Wow!  Another round already!  You and @Kendra, charging ahead...

Liz, it sounds like you've done your homework, and with your previous voice work, I bet this will get you the results you desire.  I look forward to hearing how you are doing (once you can speak for a while, of course!)

I hope all goes well, with no last minute glitches.  Smooth all the way!

Hugs
Michelle

Thanks Michelle yes I have done the voice work which I found to be quite depressing to hear myself drop all my good work the moment I became emotionally stressed. Despite my work I barely achieved the lower end female range and that was in a quiet room fully engaged and concentrating on what I was doing. With all your public speaking experience you know that speaking in front of others, is a very different and far more difficult scenario.


The only thing about this that surprised me was the overnight stay in hospital.

Liz

[Michelle_P]

 Voice is a real bear to get right at all times. We have a default voice that we slip into when distracted.

The only way I know of to feminize that default voice is to practice using our feminine voice and only our feminine voice. Any use of male voice reinforces that as our default.

I've been at this about two years and it finally seems to be becoming my new default. My speech therapist told me when some one cuts me off in traffic and I cuss them out in feminine voice that I'm there!

The surgery will definitely help get the pitch right, without the damage some of the "quick fix femme voice" stuff on YouTube can cause. I did the pitch the old fashioned way, therapist work and practice, practice, practice!  Every morning I'm alone it's "Eeeeeeeee", "Oooooooo...",  breath and scales with a pitch app, then spoken passages into a frequency analysis app. I've slowly moved into the feminine pitch range.

Singing hymns in church is still really rough as a "learned alto"!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[echo7]

Hi Liz, best wishes on your upcoming surgery!  Can you please share the name of the surgeon you are going to for your voice surgery and the technique he will use for you?  Thank you.

[Northern Star Girl ✅]

@LizK
Dear Liz: 
I have been anticipating when you were going to go for VFS...   
... and as some of the other replies mentioned, WOW, this is quick!!!  
and just an overnight stay, but the big issue for me is not talking for however long the surgeon specifies...
I immediately have a problem with "not talking"  ....  I am told by my friends that I can talk the ear off of a brass monkey!!... so perhaps that is why I am posting here a lot...  I can talk with my keyboard too!!!

I will be eagerly following your thread for surgery updates before, during and after.
Congratulations to you for going taking another big step and going through another gauntlet in your transition journey.
I am so very happy for you.

Hugs and best wishes...
Danielle

[Maid Marion]

Best of luck with your surgery!  May you have a speedy recovery!

[LizK]

Hi Liz, best wishes on your upcoming surgery!  Can you please share the name of the surgeon you are going to for your voice surgery and the technique he will use for you?  Thank you.

Hi @echo7

Dr Theo Athanasiadis

Adelaide Hills ENT

PM me Telephone number

KTP Laser - Restylane web gloyyoplasty He used laser and a surgical glue to "shorten" some of the vocal folds...that is my best description going off what he showed me he will do. I have a couple of trans friends who have had this procedure and in every case they have been bought into the correct vocal range and from there is is about speech patterns etc which is why I will be returning to my speech therapist. Hope this helps

Liz 

[LizK]

@LizK
Dear Liz: 
I have been anticipating when you were going to go for VFS...   
... and as some of the other replies mentioned, WOW, this is quick!!!  
and just an overnight stay, but the big issue for me is not talking for however long the surgeon specifies...
I immediately have a problem with "not talking"  ....  I am told by my friends that I can talk the ear off of a brass monkey!!... so perhaps that is why I am posting here a lot...  I can talk with my keyboard too!!!

I will be eagerly following your thread for surgery updates before, during and after.
Congratulations to you for going taking another big step and going through another gauntlet in your transition journey.
I am so very happy for you.

Hugs and best wishes...
Danielle

I never really considered this to be all that quick as we had to plan around my other surgery. But I guess being 51 days PO it is quick. I really wanted it done last year but my surgeon did not want me intubated for as long as I was going to be  for GCS, on a freshly healing throat. Hence why it is now because I have yet another surgery due in the next 3 months (depending on GCS healing) for my hip replacement.

I will keep everyone posted and do a before and after recording which I will post a few weeks after surgery. Thanks @Alaskan Danielle for you unwavering support. 


Liz

[LizK]

Voice is a real bear to get right at all times. We have a default voice that we slip into when distracted.

The only way I know of to feminize that default voice is to practice using our feminine voice and only our feminine voice. Any use of male voice reinforces that as our default.

I've been at this about two years and it finally seems to be becoming my new default. My speech therapist told me when some one cuts me off in traffic and I cuss them out in feminine voice that I'm there!

The surgery will definitely help get the pitch right, without the damage some of the "quick fix femme voice" stuff on YouTube can cause. I did the pitch the old fashioned way, therapist work and practice, practice, practice!  Every morning I'm alone it's "Eeeeeeeee", "Oooooooo...",  breath and scales with a pitch app, then spoken passages into a frequency analysis app. I've slowly moved into the feminine pitch range.

Singing hymns in church is still really rough as a "learned alto"!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have yet to do more work on my speech patterns however having only to concentrate on the pattern and not having to worry about pitch should make this job ea bit easier but I am under no illusions that it will take time and practice. I should be able to avoid the obvious "male sounding voice" misgendering on the phone and like what happened at the door the other day even without training. I have heard how this proceedure turns out and I would not be unhappy with the results "straight out of the box"...so to speak

One of the things I wanted to avoid was the sometimes disingenuious sounding voice that some trans women have from poor training. Thanks for all your support


Liz

[LizK]

Best of luck with your surgery!  May you have a speedy recovery!

Thankyou @Maid Marion I appreciate your support and thankyou for the kind words


Liz

[LizK]

Confirmed the type of voice surgery I am having and will drop in some comparison recordings when I get a chance.

The Procedure name is

RTP Laser + restylane web ghottoplasty

Confrmed with my insurance that this will be fully covered with the exception of the $500 payable each year for hospital stays. My out of pocket total for this is $1100 comprising of the hospital excess, Surgeons excess $500 and Anesthetist Excess $100.


Admission time is 0730, 1st Feb



Liz

[Lynne]

Thank you for sharing and good luck with your surgery!

[Northern Star Girl ✅]

@LizK
Dear Liz:
I will be eagerly looking for your updates... as always your thread is on my list to always check up on whenever I login.

Wishing you the best and good success with your medical procedures.

Many HUGS and warm wishes for the  C O L D  north.
Danielle

[Wendi]

Best of luck with your procedure. It would be nice to have a nice pleasant sounding female voice coming out of my mouth.

[Laurie]

 Always wishing you warm happy things and good luck.. Nothing but happy thoughts and great results allows.

[Jessica]

Tick, tick, tick.  That's the sound of progress.
Good luck on Friday Liz!

Big hugs, Jess

[Michelle_P]

Liz, you are going to have no problems, great results, and an easy recovery. You are an old pro at this now.

Happy thoughts, happy dreams, and a pleasant recovery!