Psych Eval

I've found the pre-op assessments to be interesting so far, but it turns out the psychologist didn't find me to be very interesting.  First things first, though.

Before even talking to the psychologist, I had to go through a few tests.  One was to determine my current state of mind; the next, I'm pretty sure, was to determine if I'm retarded; the final had a few parts to it, the noticeable ones being whether I'm suicidal, and how closely I follow directions.  I guess they want to do all they can to ensure that I'll be successful.  If I'm not, I mess up their statistics.  I'm happy to report that I'm not suicidal, nor am I retarded, and I have a low risk for failure, according to my test results.

My meeting with the psychologist was pretty short.  She asked me about my past, which was when she commented that it wasn't very interesting.  Heh.  Really, though.  My parents are still married to each other, there's no history of alcoholism, drug abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, or sexual abuse.  I've never been divorced nor have a lost a child.  I wasn't bullied as a child or suspended from school.  I've never served jail time.  I'm just a normal, average person, which equaled Dullsville to her.  Maybe she was hoping for some traumatic experience to make her job more interesting.  I don't know.

The appointment pretty much ended once I told her I had quit smoking cold turkey a few years ago.  We talked for 10-15 minutes after that, but she had already made up her mind that I was an excellent candidate and a low failure risk.  She kept coming back to the fact that I quit smoking cold turkey any time I expressed any fear of failing.  It was a big DUH to her.  "You quit smoking COLD TURKEY!  OF COURSE you can do this!"

I fear I'm not painting her in a very good light.  I don't mean to do that at all.  She was helpful and encouraging.  Was the appointment worth $375?  Small picture, no.  Big picture, in which her recommendation gets me one step closer to the surgeon deciding I'm a good candidate?  Hell yeah.

I have my meeting with the surgeon on Thursday.  I have a million questions that I've written in a notebook so I don't forget any of them.  My research on the surgeons at this facility (I'm not sure yet which one will be my primary surgeon) tells me that they are very open and patient with questions, and want to make certain you understand everything before moving forward.  That's good to know, because I'm going to have my list of questions in front of me, and don't plan on leaving until they've all been answered.

Tomorrow I'm going to call to find out which surgeon I'll be meeting with as well as what I should expect, and what they expect from me.