2nd...really 3rd Part of Psych Eval Done.

Apr 05, 2012

Another hurdle cleared. I am officially not crazy and I have been cleared for surgery! I met with my psychologist today for what they call the 2nd part of the psychological examination but lets be honest, it's really the 3rd.

Phase 1: A one hour interview with questions about mental illness history, abuse of any kind, how you deal with stress, religous/spiritual beliefs, family, eating habits, etc.

Phase 2: A questionnaire consisting of no less than 500 true/false questions. It took me 2 1/2 hours to complete which I am told was rather quick. Some of the questions were pretty obviously meant to weed out people with some serious mental illnesses. Other questions were more subtle.

Phase 3: A follow-up in which my psychologist went over the analysis of my questionnaire. One red flag that was raised for me with the psychologist was T/F I sometimes adjust the dosage of my medication if I do not feel like it is working. I answered true, chosing to read the question literally and thinking about when I take a couple ibuprofen for a headache and it doesn't work so I take more. She warned me to be aware of the signs of depression once I am post-op and also to get used to the new attention that will be coming my way. She encouraged me to send her updates'questions (she reminded me that I could send positive ones). I was given some literature on books to read not just about bariatric surgery but also about accepting your body no matter what.

All in all, it wasn't as bad as I was building it up to in my mind. So my next step in the process is to get insurance approval. They will submit my packet next week or the week after. I'm still pretty pessimistic about this part but why worry about it today when it hasn't even been submitted yet?

I have been doing a couple things over the last few months in order to prepare for the changes in post-op life. I gave up caffeine first about 5 months ago. (NOT EASY) Headaches and withdrawls ensued. The next thing to go was Diet Coke, my drink of choice. I used to mix it with this Organic Italian Lemon Juice from Costco and it was so YUM! That was even harder to give up than the caffeine. It took a couple tries to stick. I had one in Mid-March on my birthday but didn't feel like I needed another. It was actually hard to get through one 12 oz. bottle. The newest thing I have started doing is taking daily vitamins. I was already taking a Vitamin D3 supplement at the advice of my doc. I have chosen to add a hair/nail/skin supplement that has biotin in it since I already have super thin hair that seems to fall out all day, everywhere. I added a B Complex mix that has 5 different kinds of Vitamin B in it. I'm hoping it will help with the afternoon blahs that hit after lunch. Finally I added calcium citrate. I don't drink milk and use Silk sparingly so I'm sure I could use a little extra :)

That's pretty much where I am at for now. It's totally cart before the horse but I also took some photos this weekend in different outfits. I am a photographer so this thing is going to be allllll about the photos for me. I'll post those soon.

More to come when it comes....

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