Blog 8. Pre-Op

Had the pre-op today.  Tina was the nurse doing it and she was clearly used to implant patients – I could lip-read her easily.  A lot of the usual medical questions were asked and answered, a sample of blood taken, an ECG given and for good measure I was weighed and measured. All was well so all I’ve got to do now is worry about the actual operation, parking on the day and the lack of an O2 mobile signal to call home. Lisa was a mine of information. She covered everything I could expect to happen on the day, so no surprises.  They will do up to four implants on the day so I could be called early morning or around lunch time. I will definitely be staying overnight because they want to x-ray me to make sure the implant is in the right place. Because I can’t hear there will be no soothing nurse’s voice to wake me but instead a tweaked cheek.  Although my hearing aid has to be removed during the operation they will replace it before I do wake up so perhaps I will hear the soothing voice. I was told that I should not experience much pain but there could be transient head pain and perhaps tinnitus.  There is a chance that a facial nerve will be affected leaving me with some tingling on my face.