Pre-Op Appts. 5 & 6 - Psych Eval & Sleep Apnea

Nov 09, 2010

Pre-Op Appointment 5 - Psychological Evaluation
After completing the standard paperwork with my personal and insurance information, I was taken into another room. There were two other individuals in that room taking a bubble test and certainly neither of them needed bariatric surgery. I learned later that they were taking pre-employment psych tests. My test was a bubble test too and it was super long. There were like 400 questions on the main test and two other tests with about 15 questions on each of those.

The main test was simply a list of statements and you answered True/False. But some of the statements were interesting and I caught myself giggling during the test:
"I often hear voices that others around me do not hear." 
"I frequently want to hurt small animals."
"Someone is following me."
"I secretly want people I do not like to fail just to see them suffer."
"I suspect someone listens to my personal conversations."
"I feel that someone is out to get me."
"I see special things that others do not see."

Maybe giggling through my test was a sign that I really AM crazy....or the voices were just telling great jokes. Ha!

The second and third tests were more complex. They were more like problems you had to figure out.
The second test was fill in the blank:
AZ  BY  CX  D__
1357  24_8

The third test was multiple choice and focused on vocabulary. They would give you a word and you had to choose the synonym (most similar word).

After all three tests were complete, I met with the psychologist for about an hour. My experience was a bit different because I had gone to this psychologist before for my weight concerns so she had a bit more insight on my situation. But overall, the questions were basic and she simply wanted to know how I felt about the surgery, how I would handle life after and if I had any major concerns. It was super simple and painless and she told me right them that she would give the okay for me to have the surgery.

All in all it took about 4 hours, including the wait time when I arrived, the wait time after the tests and filling out the paperwork. Good luck and just be yourself.

Pre-Op Appointment 7 - Sleep Apnea Evaluation
When I made this appointment, they mailed me a packet of paperwork that needed to be completed prior to my appointment. It included a sleep log and insurance paperwork. The sleep log included what time you went to bed and woke up, any time you woke up during the night, the amount of caffeine you consumed, and how long it took you to fall asleep each night.

I turned in my sleep log and paperwork when I arrived for my appointment. They weighed me and took my height measurement. Then the nurse took my blood pressure and pulse. When the doctor came in, he listened to me breathe then we sat down and chatted. Once he saw that the request came from my bariatric surgeon, he wasn't as concerned with me actually having sleep apnea since he knows it's just a standard test they have to do in order to submit the request to insurance.

So he wasn't all that interested in my sleep log and mainly wanted to know if I had any major problems sleeping. I snore, wake up often and have to go to the bathroom at night - all of which are signs of sleep apnea and being overweight. So he wants me to wear a monitor on my finger tomorrow night and it will record my sleep patterns. Then when I return it to his office, he will download the info and decide if I need a CPAP. He said that if my surgeon wants me to use it before surgery, he would let me know. Then most people don't need it after surgery because they start losing weight so fast, but it will be up to me if I use it after surgery.

That's it. I will wear the little monitor tomorrow night and be done with this part of the pre-op hooplah.

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