Voice Changes 4.0 - Clip 20

Clip 20: January 21st, 2010 - 32 weeks on T

Voice Changes 3.0 - clips 12 through 19

Here are voice clips 12 through 19. As you can tell there hasn't been much change recently, so I've stopped doing them every week. At this point I've been shooting for about every 3 weeks. Also, starting on November 2nd, I started recording my voice in the evening instead of morning. I think there was a significant difference in how the tenor of my voice sounds.

Clip 12: August 19th, 2009 - 10 weeks on T

Clip 13: August 25th, 2009 - 11 weeks on T

Clip 14: September 9th, 2009 - 13 weeks on T

Clip 15: September 16th, 2009 - 14 weeks on T

Clip 16: September 30th, 2009 - 16 weeks on T

Clip 17: November 2nd, 2009 - 21 weeks on T (This is the first of my evening recordings)

Clip 18: November 18th, 2009 - 23 weeks on T

Clip 19: December 9th, 2009 - 26 weeks on T (This one was recorded one day shy of my 6-month anniversary of starting T)

General Updates

I said I'd try to write more often, so here I am.

This time 2 weeks from now I'll be breast-free. Woohoo! I very excited. Mind you, I'm not excited about having surgery per-se, but I am excited for the end result. I'm also excited that for my birthday in January, I won't be wearing a binder. It's kind of like my first birthday truly feeling like myself. That's one hell of a birthday present.

As I said, my facial hair is growing in which I'm happy about. Unfortunately, it's growing in unevenly. It's annoying, but I suppose it'll get there eventually.

Laura and I have been working out a lot more and I can say that it's exciting to be able to work out and actually see the results in terms of muscle growth. Since starting Testosterone, I've noticed a marked difference in the way my body responds to working out. I love it! I've also noticed that the T has affected how my body distributes adipose tissue (fat). It's not putting it onto my hips so much anymore. I suspect, if I weren't working out, I'd be developing a bit of a gut instead. So, yay! for working out.

I promised voice clips and photos in my last post, so I'm going to try to upload them tomorrow or Friday. My temp job a University of Puget Sound ended without them being able to extend it, so I'll have more free time heading up to Christmas.

Voice Clip 11: 8-12-09

Here is my 11th voice clip. For the previous 10 clips, please see my post from yesterday, August 11th.

Clip 11: August 12th, 2009 - 9 weeks on T

Voice Changes 2.0 - actual sound clips

Okay, so here are the first round of sound clips. I've been doing recordings once a week since I started T. The first clip is from before I started T, just so I'd have a point of reference that was completely pre-hormones. I try to do my voice recordings every Wednesday morning after I've taken my testosterone shot, so there will be a new clip for tomorrow as well.

The first recordings are a little rough and the volume varies a bit initially. At that point I was still figuring out how to use my microphone properly.

This is my first attempt trying to post sound clips, so please let me know if they don't work for some reason.

Clip 1: June 1st, 2009 - 10 days pre-T

Clip 2: June 11th, 2009 - 1 day on T

Clip 3: June 17th, 2009 - 1 week on T

Clip 4: June 24th, 2009 - 2 weeks on T

Clip 5: July 1st, 2009 - 3 weeks on T

Clip 6: July 8th, 2009 - 4 weeks on T

Clip 7: July 15th, 2009 - 5 weeks on T

Clip 8: July 22nd, 2009 - 6 weeks on T

Clip 9: July 29th, 2009 - 7 weeks on T

Clip 10: August 5, 2009 - 8 weeks on T

Update 8-3-09

Wow! So, it's already August. What the heck happened to the summer. There's so much I still want to cram into it. Sorry, just surprised at how quickly it's gone by...

At any rate, it's been a while since I've posted. There hasn't been a whole lot to post in regard to changes. My voice is continuing to drop. I know I said I'd be posting my voice clips soon, and I haven't, but I will... promise. All told, they're not very interesting anyway. Just me saying the same thing every week. Plus, since they're weekly, the change is heard very gradually (with a couple exceptions).

I'm starting to grow facial hair (and more body hair in general). It's actually been coming in for a little over a month now, but as with teenagers, there's nothing impressive to see just yet. I have been taking photos every one-two weeks right before shaving, just to have a documentation of how quickly (or slowly) it's growing. It is growing sufficiently enough, that if I don't shave, it just looks really stupid. Mostly it's blonde, soft, wispy stuff, though it is coming in pretty densely. Kind of a weird combination.

I've also started talking to a surgeon about getting top surgery (chest reconstruction). His name is Dr. Brownstein and is based out of San Francisco. His website is www.brownsteinmd.com if anyone is interested in checking out his work. He answers a number of questions about surgery options and procedures, and also has a good collection of patient photos for those who are curious what the results look like.

There are two types of top surgery, one is called keyhole, the other is a double mastectomy. I will be getting a double mastectomy. There are several reasons why I think this is the best option for me, which I'll go over at another time. The most important reason is that keyhole surgery is really only an option for transmen with very small breasts (i.e. size A or smaller.) I'm not a size A.

You may be wondering, "Why all the way down to San Francisco?" Good question. There are probably a couple surgeons up here who will perform chest reconstruction for FTM's but they don't have nearly the experience of Dr. Brownstein, who's been doing FTM chest reconstruction for over 35 years. In fact, he's one of the most experienced surgeons in the country. A friend of mine also got his surgery from Dr. Brownstein and is pleased with the results. I'm pleased with the results too!

Right now I'm looking at either December 30th as a date or January. We'll have to see what works out in terms of scheduling, since I know both my parents would like to be there and I know I would appreciate the support. I'll go into more detail about my surgery as I find out more information. For now, I just invite you to check out Dr. Brownstein's website.

Voice Changes 1.0

My voice has started to drop. I wasn't sure initially, since I didn't hear any change until after working my booth at the Seattle Pride Festival on June 27th. I almost talked myself hoarse. For the first couple days I just attributed the change to the festival. Certainly, some of it was the strain on my voice from the Pride Festival, but not all of it. I think I can safely say at this point that my voice is starting to get lower and roughen a bit. I don't know how low it'll go. There are many transmen out there who's voices don't drop very much, but rather who's voices just get gruffer. Of course, I also don't know how high their voices were to begin with. Ultimately, it's all just up to our individual biology.

I actually noticed a difference in how my throat felt within a few days of starting Testosterone. The closest feeling I can liken it to is how your throat feels when you're about to lose your voice from a cold or from yelling a lot. But there was none of the discomfort of having a cold or having talked my vocal cords raw. All told it was a bit of an odd feeling. I don't know if this is how it feels for cisgendered (non-transgendered) men when they go through puberty. If any of you remember how it felt, I'd be curious to know.

On a related note, I'm going to start posting my voice recordings shortly. I'm trying to find a way to upload them or embed them into these posts so you can listen to them. At the same time, I want them to be secure, so not just anyone can download them. If anyone has any suggestions on this front I'd appreciate them. As far as I can tell Blogger (the blogging tool you're viewing right now) lets you upload videos, but not sound clips.

That's all for now!

Starting T

Yesterday, I started taking testosterone.  There's really not much to tell about this, since it's pretty straight forward.  I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, during which my doctor walked me through how to self-administer the injection.  I'll be injecting .5cc once a week.  1cc every other week is a more common dosage, but it can lead to more significant ups and downs in mood.  I've opted to play it safe with the moods and just poke myself twice as often.

Obviously there won't be any changes for a while.  My voice will probably be the first change that I or anyone else notices.  I'm going to be recording my voice each week.  However, I won't post any recordings online  for about another month, since there won't be any changes to be heard any earlier than that.

Anyway, just thought I'd share with everyone.  In many ways, this is the biggest step in transitioning.  More than any surgery I might get down the line, the testosterone will be responsible for most of the changes I go through.  I'm very excited to be starting on this journey finally.  I'm glad you all get to watch the proverbial grass grow with me.