Updated June 09, 2015.
Family Relationships
When they visited Tammy's mother and father-in-law, for the first time she was able to hear them speak distinctly. Her father in law has a low voice and yet Tammy could understand him clearly. For the first time, they enjoyed a four-way conversation with no difficulties.

She can hear her child call "mommy" from upstairs. Plus, she no longer has to ask her husband to repeat as much as before.

Daily Life

Things changed in the kitchen. For example, Tammy could now hear the sounds dishes made when loading and unloading the dishwasher. Her husband no longer fears she's breaking dishes. The cooking experience changed as she heard sounds such as butter frying or fat sizzling. Tammy no longer eats spaghetti the way she used to which always became a topic of conversation with her family before. Tammy heard a lobster shell fall to the floor without seeing it actually fall and asked her husband "can you reach that?" He was amazed because he knew she didn't see it fall. She hears the microwave and stove timers going off from other rooms in the house without difficulty now and no longer burns the food. She hears water boiling and the teakettle whistling. She also hears the stove when it is being lit because it makes a tapping sound.

Laundry became easier because she could hear when the washing machine was on spin cycle or off balance. She now hears when someone is at the door when she is in other rooms and when the doorbell goes off.

Going Forwards

Today, Tammy's voice no longer sounds to her like Daffy Duck. It sounds more like "her". Many environmental sounds are exactly as Tammy remembers them from childhood. In fact, she hears the sounds better now because they are not being muffled by a hearing aid. Everything is so distinct and appears to be "right there". Music sounds beautiful to her, though lyrics still sound like Daffy Duck or Minnie Mouse, she expects that to go away too. Voices continue to get clearer, and her understanding gets better daily.
Tone of voices to determine sarcasm, etc. is something she wishes to pick up more through practice in aural habilitation therapy. She still mixes up the sound of letters like p and b, t and th, v and f when listening without lipreading. She knows it will get better from what she has been told and feels confident about the future. She now realizes how easily misunderstandings can happen due to deafness. Simple words like "hair" for example, turned out to be "air."

Aural Habilitation Therapy

Although she mused that she may not actually need habilitation because she is doing so well with her new CI, Tammy will have habilitation therapy three times per week for three weeks. She hopes to learn how to understand the sounds she hears from behind her, to use the phone better and to decipher things through tapes or CD's. Aural habilitation will involve working hard at listening to things such as audio books, reading along with her therapist without lip-reading, and conversing on a variety of subjects.

Tammy and her husband enjoy simple, short conversations that are not face to face. The family is enjoying working together to help Tammy discover more "amazing" new sounds. Many of the sounds she has been hearing are sounds she has never heard. Bob and Dorothy of Tufts NEMC tell Tammy that there will be many drastic changes over the next 6 - 12 months and that things will improve with time and experience. Tammy is always trying to figure out what the new sounds are and where they are coming from.

Tammy declared, "Would I do this again? In a heartbeat!!"

(Tammy Gets an Implant Serial)