Lily Hynes has two voices - a mechanical, monotonous one which she uses on the telephone; the other is more natural, if a bit hoarse and raspy.
Both are different to her pre-throat cancer voice, but she's happy to be able to speak at all, and now her husband Joe affectionately describes her as a female Micheal O'Hehir.
After surgery in January 1996 in Dublin's St James's hospital, in which her larynx (voice box) and pharynx (the muscular tube extending from the beginning of the gullet up to the base of the skull) were removed, she couldn't talk.
"Prof Timon came in to tell me everything went well, when who arrived in only a speech therapist with an artificial voice box. She told me: 'this is going to be your new voice'."
It took six weeks of perseverance and lots of love and support to overcome the frustration of re-learning how to talk, says Lily, now a grandmother of five, with another on the way.
"I can't thank my speech therapist, Noreen O'Regan, enough. She gave me back my life."
Lily is adamant the service she received, from Prof Timon to the tea ladies, was excellent.
After six months she had a further, short operation to insert a valve which allows her to speak without the artificial voice box, now reserved for phone calls.
Lily, who has never smoked, had no symptoms other than a stinging throat when she drank tea.
A three-week course of antibiotics made no difference so she was referred to a surgeon in Waterford and from there to St James's, all within a week.
She underwent seven-hour surgery by two teams of surgeons a short while later.
Inspiration from a woman who underwent a similar operation helped Lily recuperate and regain her quality of life, which includes a passion for dancing. "The only thing I can't do is swim."
In general, people are kind and understanding of her strange voice, she says, although one incident sticks out in her mind.
"I was in a restaurant in Dublin with my sister shortly after the operation and someone asked 'is she for real?' when they heard my voice.
"I didn't hear her directly but my sister told me. I said: 'I'm for real alright'."