7 days after tracheal shave—starting to freak out.

Hi everyone, i wanted to vent and hopefully get more feedback about recovery after getting the tracheal shave procedure. I went to an ENT surgeon and had it done through the bottom of my lower gum without any external incisions on the neck (transoral).

The first 4 days were really brutal in terms of recovery. I could not vocalize whatsoever and experienced pain while swallowing.

At one week post op, my speaking voice is incredibly low and raspy. my upper vocal range is 100% nonexistent (i can no longer speak in falsetto).

Pre-surgery my voice passed without hesitation. It was my pride and joy with being a trans woman, and now i can tell that something sounds seriously off and that i can no longer access the parts of my throat/voice that helped me “pass”.

All that being said, I can tell that my throat is still swollen and I have at least another week before that goes down. I’m really trying to maintain optimism but it’s really hard and very isolating (i have been on vocal rest and that makes socializing difficult).

I’ve been reading about other people’s experiences and it sounds like it’s a common thing for people to have impaired voices after a tracheal shave. I am feeling a little hopeless at the moment. it’s crazy how misleading this surgery is in terms of recovery and almost gets treated as if it is a straightforward procedure but no one prepared me for losing my voice. please pray for me.