Updated June 08, 2015.

While I have been unemployed for the past year and a half, I've been asked by significant people in my life why I don't re-consider having the cochlear implant. While I don't guarantee that the CI will bring me a greater sense of employment, I do expect that once employment is gained, I can function better in the world that I live in now. I can perhaps gain more confidence in my hearing abilities.

As a current student at Regis University and while I study for my Masters degree in Management, I expect to see many changes for myself over the next few years too.

My daughter, Samantha, has played a crucial role in the deciding factor because she often tries to talk to me from another room. She is hearing and doesn't always understand my deafness the way she should.

I've faced a lot of miscommunication with important people in my life or feeling like I wasn't there for my daughter the way I should be because hearing aids can only do so much for increasing noise but the ability to discriminate sounds or understand speech is another story entirely and is not helped with my hearing aid in my right ear.

A third friend of mine, someone I've known since I was a young child, recently had a cochlear implant and it has also done a lot for her in the way of her family life and children. I see her today and she doesn't struggle quite so hard to understand speech as she used to. Her positive results have drastically been a final deciding factor for me in deciding to see if I am a candidate for the Cochlear Implant today.

So I recently contacted two audiologists by the name of Gabrielle Simone and Robert Buchanan of Tufts - New England Medical Center to have my questions answered. I am going on May 20th, 2005 to see if I am a candidate.

Q: What do you hope to gain from having an implant?
A: I hope to gain the ability to understand speech far better than before. My audiologists feel the best scenario to expect is to think back to when my hearing was at its absolute best.

If the CI could possibly give me that, then I will know I have made the right choice. But I suppose it will remain to be seen as my CI journey progresses. I try to remain optimistic even though I know there will be "bumps" in the road along the way. For anyone considering the CI surgery, I would suggest visiting and hearing about many different view points before making a decision, because no one's experience is the same and it is a permanent situation unlike hearing aids.

Deciding to get a CI is a personal decision and the reasons differ with everyone; it's never an easy decision to make but I pride myself on the ability to make a decision that can hopefully fit with my future.

(Tammy Gets an Implant Serial)