以下是来自Tammy的一些提示，他接受了双边耳蜗植入物来治疗她的感觉神经听力损失。她有助于朋友和家人，有很多关于你可以告诉你的朋友和家人的信息。
Tammy的听力损失
它可能是一种自身免疫内耳病导致我的感觉内听力损失，而我诊断后的几个月我收到了助听器。然后在接下来的六年里，我继续失去听到听证会，直到2014年的一个非常紧张的9月，让我失去了一大块听证会，我留下了剩下的东西。助听器不再有帮助，我知道我需要做点什么 - 有些东西是耳蜗植入物。
从来没有想过，我只会在一只耳朵里植入耳蜗植入。他们都很糟糕。我的医生和听力学家都非常支持，但我不确定在我的植入和激活后会发生什么。虽然我很兴奋的可能性，但我让我的期望相当低，因为我已经挣扎了这么久。一个人永远无法知道他们的结果是什么，即使阅读了所有伟大的成功案例，所以我不想大大失望。
我可以告诉你我的结果一直很棒！我的听证会比与助听器更好，我的耳蜗植入植物植入一年多。这并不完美，但我知道会继续改进。
Changes Due to Hearing Loss
我的生活急剧变化;从社区，学校和社交活动中兼顾，成为孤立和害怕任何社会互动。由于听力损失，我有一些人从我的生活中脱离。我的孩子也很难，因为他们不得不经常重复自己，他们会告诉我“从不介意”而不是在第三或第四次重复自己。
That was one the hardest parts; asking people to repeat themselves and feeling like it was burdensome to talk with.
我认为，当我开始听力损失旅程时，我的大多数家人和朋友都不知道该怎么办。它尽可能多地让他们感到惊讶。随着其他健康问题，以及社区中缺乏专业护理，没有人真正知道该怎么办。
获得耳蜗植入物
我不得不从阿拉斯加到西雅图旅行，让我的手术，我的朋友和家人是如此支持和鼓励。My husband took off work during the busy fishing season, my in-laws took care of me and my husband while we were in Seattle, my friend’s daughter came to the hospital and stayed all day even though I told her she did not have to take off work to do so, and my son and his girlfriend came for my surgery.
After my surgery people were excited. They could see how much my implants were helping me to hear again, and they were thrilled for me. I also think they are in just as much awe over the technology—”miracle”—as I was. Most people don’t know about cochlear implants and they are interested to know about them and how they work.
朋友和家人可以做些什么
虽然我很兴奋地与其他人一起，但我肯定会教育尽可能多的亲密朋友和家人。I told them this would be a continuation of my journey, and I wasn’t suddenly going to have normal hearing when they flipped the switch. I was going to have some struggles and adjustments as my brain and ears worked out this new way of hearing. Because of this they were all pretty grounded in their expectations, I think.
I think the biggest thing I appreciate is that those closest to me know that我仍然需要一些嘈杂的环境或某些声音的视觉线索。我所知道的人是非常的，非常耐心，有时我仍然可以拥有的局限性。他们会重复他们所说的，拼写一句话，我需要帮助理解，因为他们正在发言，甚至写下东西。
我主要是尽量不要让任何善意的，但是无济于事，事情让我打扰了我。人们尽力做到最好，他们只能做他们所知道的。所以如果我能为他们提供帮助他们帮助我的信息，我会。I mostly find it difficult when people insist on calling me even when I request email or text because the phone is still difficult for me. An example would be standing at the airline counter after my flight was cancelled due to weather; they keep telling me to call reservations for my new flight, andI keep telling them I don’t hear well on the phone because I am deaf and have cochlear implants,他们看着我，就像我疯了，因为我没有“看起来或声音”聋。
我的学校董事会成员在会议期间非常符合，并在我要求他们时发表讲话并重复任何事情。它们非常善良和体贴。当人们有幽默感时，我喜欢它当我完全脱离了关于所说的痕迹 - 有时我可以离开。
Also, my husband Jack has been so supportive, accommodating, encouraging, and just plain patient. He looks for ways to make anything I am struggling with easier. He knows that it is hard for me to have a conversation while playing Scrabble if the CD player is going,所以他即使他喜欢音乐，他也会关闭CD播放器。It’s just the little things like that which help me out.
Thanks, Tammy!
