anyone else getting the surgery in august? mine is august 1/07

Hi,

I think I will be going the beginning of August. I have my psych and nutri eval July 12th. Do you know what kind of questions they ask at the psych eval.

Karen from West Nyack,NY

My date is Aug. 15, 2007. Good luck!

my psych eval is on the 12th too. mine is 3 1/2 hours long which is for some sort of written test. i have to come back a week later for the "verbal" evaluation. it will be wishful thinking for my surgery date to be set for august. i was hoping for september being the earliest...

I just found out today that my date is August 3, I don't know about you guys but it seems like forever to me. As far as the Psych eval, I've never had one but I work in mental health and I have read about a million of them and even done a few for a class I took. They usually do an overview of things such as anxiety level, depression, risk of suicide/homicide, your affect, presentation (eye contact, dress, speech, ability to answer questions), brief family history which I'm sure in this case will focus a great deal on issues with weight. They want to make sure you are emotionally stable enough for the surgery and everything that goes with it. They can last anywhere from 45 min. to 2 hrs. 3 1/2 hours must be for an assessment. I would be interested to know what assessment they give and what they are looking for. By law they must give you all the information about why the assessment and what they are doing with it so don't be afraid to ask questions.

My insurance (BCBS of CA) required the psych eval but had no specific requirements about who did it or what was necessary - just a psych eval for bariatric surgery. I asked my doctor's office for a referral and they recommended a PhD who would do a complete assessment (4 hours of testing and evaluation) for $500. I was ready to sign up but it was going to take a month to get an appointment and then two weeks for the results. I made a few phone calls and found a Licensed Professional Counselor who was experienced with the psych evals for bariatric surgery (one hour eval for $100) and she could get me in the next day. I checked with my insurance and they said the LPC was fine. She got the report in within two days and I was approved a week later. If I'd gone to the PhD I'd still be waiting and I'd be out an extra $400. The moral is, if your insurance and your doc don't require the full blown "assessment" don't put yourself through it.