Firstly, although you will be apprehensive - in retrospect when it's finished you will feel it's no big deal - no worse than a visit to the dentist! Focus on the relief you can expect when the spasms disappear and the effort of speaking goes away.

It's a simple procedure. Here's how it goes for me. I lie on my back, pillow under my shoulders so that my larynx area is prominent. The doctor injects a local anaesthetic to numb the area - quite a bit of gristle there and not a particularly sensitive area painwise.

Then you get the botox. Ask your doctor what dosage you are getting, which vocal cord it is going into (left, right or both) and how many sites are being injected. That is all important information as you may want to compare notes later with other patients (here on the BB or where you live) - and it takes several injections over a period of months before you settle on what works best for you.

Swallowing - not a major issue for most. Swallow liquids carefully at first - you might want to use a straw initially.

Your voice will not be better immediately - it might take 2-3 days before you notice a significant benefit. You will also have a breathy, husky, soft voice for a while - difficult to project over noise. By breathy I mean you may only be able to get 4-5 words out at a time before pausing for an intake of air - the Botox will have semi-paralysed your vocal cords and so you will be wasting a lot of breath as you talk.

Here is a really informative link that explains the procedure better than I can:

http://depts.washington.edu/otoweb/botox.html

Hope this helps, and good luck!