hi my name is mary. i live in ga, i'm going to dr antonetti in west columbia' s.c. i'm in the first steps of getting ready to have my surgery.going to psych eval on 8-14-08. don't know what to expect.

The psych evalutation is not always the same for everyone.

For me there were two visits.

The first visit I took a psych evalation test. I spent a couple hours filling in the little dots answering yes or no to statements like "I love my mother", "I want to be a fireman", "I like to torture small animals", "I am a supermodel". The second visit was about an hour. I sat down with her and first she went over the results of the test. She was pretty much able to describe my personality based only on my answers to the questions on the test, it was pretty interesting.

Then she asked me specific questions about Lap Band surgery and how it works to determine whether I understand what I am getting into.

She asked questions about my eating habits to see what triggers my head hunger and gave me tips on how to beat head hunger.

She gave me a food journal and a bunch of brochures on stress and how to deal with it. She had me sign an agreement that if after surgery, my surgeon determined that I needed further counseling to deal with weight loss that I would seek it. And that was about it.

mamary5,

I too am from Georgia and am set to have the band on October 22. I am self-paying and am going to Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver.

Can I ask you why you chose South Carolina? I would really like to stay as local as possible, but I chose Dr. K for his reputation and price. When I saw that you were going from GA to SC, I thought you might be self-pay also and the cost for your Dr. in SC was pretty reasonable.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hello, My wife is using Dr. Antonetti in West Columbia SC also. This is one of the certified lap band clinics and a rough estimate of cost was around $14000. Our insurance covers the process so my wife is 4 months into the 6 month eval period. This is one of only 3 facilities in SC that Cigna will cover.

mamary5,

I too am from Georgia and am set to have the band on October 22. I am self-paying and am going to Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver.

Can I ask you why you chose South Carolina? I would really like to stay as local as possible, but I chose Dr. K for his reputation and price. When I saw that you were going from GA to SC, I thought you might be self-pay also and the cost for your Dr. in SC was pretty reasonable.

Thanks,

Jeff

i'm going to south carolina because my sister live in s.c. i can stay with her and she will help me after the surgery. thank god for my sister. my insurance covers the surgery.

Hi Mary and welcome to LBT!

I wish you the best of luck in your band journey and a speedy recovery.