 Here I am at the Cochlear Implant Centre in Bradford. It's been the final appointment here before I have the operation next month and to have the implant fitted. The assessment involves three parts. The patient sees the audiology team, they see the rehabilitation team and they see the consultants. The rehab team look at the patient's communication skills to manage their expectations of a cochlear implant as a consultant checks that they medically fit and organises and assesses the scans. The audiology team, so my role would be to do the patient history. We do some middle ear tests, look at the patient's hearing thresholds and then we assess their ability to understand speech. So we've finished the assessments and we're good to go. We've got a few weeks before we go ahead and do the operation. The incision is going to be behind your ear. It usually takes about two hours. So basically the plan will be to keep you in for one night and then all being well home in the afternoon. I need to mention a few complications, risks. Any major ear operation you go near the nerve that moves the face but it's a really rare risk. You can get a funny taste on your tongue. Depends on the position of this little nerve but that can occur. It usually settles down over a period of months and it's very rare is it a long term problem. Other complications are tinnitus. Now do you get tinnitus? Do you get noise in the ears? There's a general rule a cochlear implant can help that but we have a few patients occasionally see it where tinnitus can get worse but that's not common. Balance is another thing that we need to talk about because the organ and balance and the cochlear, the organ and hearing are all related so it isn't unusual for people to have some balance problems and be a bit unsteady after the operation. Again that's usually a temporary thing that settles down often within a few days or a week or so. I'm sorry about this long list of complications we have to go through but that's the way it is. The other thing to mention is that these are electronic devices. They're very reliable and well made however occasionally they can fail. So if that occurs we have to then get you back in and replace them. I think that's most of what I would say in terms of complications. After the operation you go home the following day and then we just leave things for a few weeks to settle down. Right this is a consent form. You need to sign. It's talking about putting in a right cochlear implant to give you access to sound. Those are the complications that I've mentioned to you. That's just saying you've been given lots of information from the team here. You need to sign there if you're happy to go ahead. So your general health's good. Basically that's it now and I'll see you 12, 12, 30 on the ward. So if there's any last minute questions. I can ask you then. You can ask me then. The plan would be to get you home. Bandage off the next morning. X-ray home the following afternoon. Any final questions? Does that all make sense? Good. I'll see you in a few weeks. I come in to have the operation in just over a month's time. And then I'm expecting, hoping that the cochlear implant will be switched on sometime in December, sometime before Christmas. Coming up to the operation now it's only a couple of days away. And for the first time I've started to feel a bit nervous about it. Not in a major sense but just for a long time it was happening in the future. And it was like oh great I'm having this operation. And now it's oh I'm having an operation on Thursday. You inevitably start to feel a little bit nervous about it. That's all. Are you wanting to... Roger Pan. Expectant and hopeful and nervous all at the same time. Are you receiving me? I am. I am. Good. Right. We're off. I'm looking forward to hearing my husband. In a natural way. Not a strained, you know, he repeats things three times, rephrases in some sort of way. I'm looking forward to chatting with more than one friend at once. That'll be good. I'm looking forward to looking forward to being me again. This past year being me has sort of trickled away. And I've become so dominated by not hearing things. And I've lost so much confidence as a result of that. I'm looking forward to getting back the person that I used to be. There wasn't that much hesitation in me. In fact, to be honest, I don't think there was any hesitation in me. It was if, okay, if that's it with hearing aids, then I'll go for an implant. So I was just so relieved this year when they said that I now met the threshold. I was eligible to have the implant and there was no hesitation at all. It was just, okay, this is, you know, an amazing opportunity. The plan is to insert a synchrony, a Flex28 Electrode. And we want to use an electrode that's very well-designed, soft. The other thing, of course, a Flex28 will, should be able to get a full cochlear coverage right through the middle turn of the cochlear. It's now one day afterwards. She had the surgery yesterday afternoon. She's already walking around and in her normal clothes. Well, what we'll do is we'll take this bandage off. That might feel a bit more comfortable. Just turn your head across. That looks fine. Good. A little bit of bruising, but there's no swelling or anything like that. So that's great. So we just leave that open now and let everything settle down. So the only thing now we need to do is get the x-ray. How long should it be before the pain and the nausea stops? A few days. A few days. The wound usually heals up pretty quick actually. Okay. And you know, you're doing well. You're only one day morning after an operation yesterday afternoon, I think you're looking all right. Do you want to see it? Yes, I would like to see it. I'm going slowly. Basically, I've just seen her now. And I'll tell the nurses she can go home now. So it's less than 24 hours after the surgery. She can go home and she needs to take it easy for a few days and recover in that respect. But she'll be going home very soon. That's all right. I'm very happy to thank you very much. Cheers. You can go home. And we'll see you soon, okay? Excellent.