I had a few people write expressing their concern over this thread.
I had no idea that when I'd post here that I would get so much
negativity.
It's really kind of sad.  I wasn't going to give it any energy, but at
the bequest of others, I will respond.

Tinnitus Today CHOSE to publish our article in June 06.  We didn't pay
them, con them, coherse them, or scam them.  Let's take this back to
basic facts please.

The first request for us to provide a seminar/tinnitus workshop came in
July.  Then came the requests for an audio recording in Early august.
We went into studio on August 12th to record the audio after recieving
another yet very desperate email by a flutist suffering from Tinnitus
who emailed  "I soo want to get my life and music back".  The plea was
enough to send us into ACTION!  We edited the audio on the 13th.  So
the suggestion on this thread that we scammed the ATA is not only
harmful to our reputation, its simply propostrous and based in
malicious intent.

One thing about human nature is that it's much easier to criticize,
judge, blame and justify ...than it is for one to go out there and take
positive action!

We too used to judge, criticize, blame and be intolerant of people
failing to help us.  But at one point, we just grew out of that
negative space and learned to be grateful for people's efforts.  We
stayed in a state of gratitude vs. being so angry and judgemental.
Gratitude attracted more of what we wanted which was healing, vs. what
we didn't want (negative stuff).

Paul Tobey's case with Tinnitus has been well documented over these
past 7 years with audiologists, doctors, healers, TRT specialists,
music therapists, The Musicians Clinics of Canada, the Canadian Hearing
Centre and many more.  We desperately looked for help in all places. We
travelled all the way to Utah and Japan (from Toronto).  We spent
thousands and thousands looking for the miracle.  Thousands more on
healers, hundreds on herbal meds, thousands on TRT, etc.  You get the
idea.

Paul has walked the razor's edge of suicide because of the Tinnitus. It
was intolerable.  I don't have to elaborate.  Many of you here know
what kind of physical suffering and emotional pain I'm talking about. I
lived with that.  I had to be the partner through that.  I had to be
the strength and be 100% grounded through that.  And as the spouse of a
chronic Tinnitus sufferer, I could say the early years with Tinnitus
were the worst years of my life!

It's not something we wanted to go public with because of our 9 year
old son.  We didn't want to burden him with this truth.  What would the
school kids say?  What would the music media say?  What would our
audiences say?  If people found out our dark truth, how would our
concert ticket sales be affected?

However, we raised our son Adrian with lots of love and trust therefore
we took the leap of faith that this knowledge would strengthen him.
Why take the risk of putting extra emotional burden on Adrian?  Our
journey has been a painful one, but now Paul lives effortlessly with
the Tinnitus.  How could anyone make this up?  We have a healthy music
and film career!  Why would we invest our time and money if we were not
truly touched by other's peoples cry for help?   What does God want us
to do?  Turn away?

It's funny how this listserve comes full-circle for me.  In the early
years, this is where Paul came for help.  In fact, there are a couple
of names I recognize from people offering support in those days.  Part
of our healing process was to stay away from Tinnitus listserves - for
this very reason.  There are just a few people who make the experience
really awkward for the others.

I really am okay with you thinking it's a scam. Or that I spammed. Or
that our intent was not authentic.  I know the truth.  Paul knows the
truth. And Adrian knows the truth.  People we help know the truth.  We
do the hard work.  And in our reality ...that's the only truth that
matters.

Wishing you healing,

Nancy Houle,
Wife, muse, and spiritual partner of Paul Tobey

Look how proud you are of your kill file... It's full, you boast.

This environment is meant to promote the exchange of ideas and opinions
...even ones you find disagreable. It's not meant to be be an outlet
for personality issues. The fact that you have filled up your killfile
is not something to boast about. Quite the opposite. They say if you
cant stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. To stay in the kitchen
only to whine, complain, and attack others only degrades yourself and
the experience of others who function well in the heat. When you see a
cuss word appearing on your screen as you type... you need to stop.
When you see a personal attack taking form, likewise, just stop typing.
Take a deep breath and turn it around.  If you cant frame your
disagreement in polite discourse, then just move on. But you really
need to start trying to be respectful and polite. Loading up your
killfile with names of people with whom you have disagreements is
really not the way to improve your communication skills. It's just an
avoidance mechanism.

Again, I think your opinion that it's NOT ok for Nancy to post 1 link
to a commercial website but it's OK for your buddy Elly to post daily
links to her commercial website; is not well thought out.  If your
response remains as personal attacks and cursing, then so be it.