First actual appointments
Sigh... Today was frustrating on many levels. It started off with me waking up 45 minutes late, which is always the key to a successfully frustrating day.
I had both of my first Gastric Bypass pre-approval appointments today, one for the psych evaluation, and one with the nutritionist. The first was scheduled at 8:00am, and waking up at 7:45 didn't give me a lot of hope for making that appointment. I rushed to get up and out the door though, and called on the way and they said I would still be able to make that appointment, after a bit of coaxing that is. She had first said the next appointment wouldn't be until the Middle of June or later, which was very disappointing as I am trying to get this all done as soon as possible.
I got there at about 8:30am, and had to fill out more paperwork(at this point, I'm positive they could write my biography with as much information as I have given them.)
The appointment was, well, for lack of another word, frustrating as well. The first part of the evaluation involved her asking questions from a list of questions, about things like my habits, my family life, and my intentions and hopes behind getting the surgery. All of that went pretty well. Then we got to the evaluation of the test results from the test I took last week (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). This is where things got frustrating. I scored "normal" in all of the areas but 2. Those 2 were the physical illness and depression parts of the test. The first one, Physical Illness, she said most people who are getting Gastric Bypass score high in. That one was left pretty well alone. The next was the depression aspect. She expressed a lot of concern in this area. She said that I should meet with my primary doctor about my "depression", after which we will meet again at the psych clinic to evaluate things further.
Now I'm not going to claim to be happy all of the time by any means, but I know exactly why I scored high in that area. There were many true/false questions like "I do not enjoy activities that I once enjoyed anymore" or "I do not have as much energy as I once had", or other similar variations, all which of course could indicate depression, but in my opinion, are open to interpretation. Of course there are activities I don't enjoy anymore, a great example would be skiing. When I'd lost 100lbs on Atkins 7 years ago, I started downhill skiing, and I loved it. Unfortunately I gained the weight back rapidly, and by the next season it was no longer possible. I also used to enjoy biking, going on hikes, camping, and a ton of other activities, all which I don't enjoy anymore for the time being due to the fact I am severely overweight and those activities are hard to do and very uncomfortable. And of course I don't have as much energy as I once had, getting older and 200+ extra pounds tend to have that effect on a person. Does it mean I'm depressed? Sure, I'm unhappy about not being able to do things that I love to do, but the unhappiness comes from not being able to do them, not the other way around. The main reason I no longer get enjoyment from those sorts of things is because of my weight.
I knew what those questions were getting at when I took the test, but I answered truthfully because I felt that during the evaluation of the results by a trained professional, they would try to dig deeper and get to the reason behind the answers. Instead, I felt they just took the test results at face value and tried to go with that. I did explain my point of view, and that I personally am not interested in pursuing my "depression" any further at this time. I am not going through this evaluation to determine my level of depression, I am going through it to deal with my weight problem, and I don't see how any anti-depressant will change anything in this process. Maybe I am wrong, but I'd rather deal with that stuff on my own and get through this process to get surgery so that I can begin losing weight as soon as possible.
Later on in the day I got a call back from the psychologist telling me that her recommendation to the doctors is that I am ready for the surgery, and that I should follow up with my primary doctor, but the process is not going to be held up to wait for those results. I still feel they are outside of their scope, and that my psychological needs should be my own business(After all, I only went for a Psych Evaluation because it is a pre-req of getting the surgery), but I am okay with that result. My main concern at this point is that I get through this process as quickly as possible. I am very tired of being overweight, and anxious to start seeing some results and to start living life.
As for my nutrition appointment, I did end up missing that appointment because it was right after the psych evaluation, which went way over since I was late. The good news is they were able to reschedule that appointment for tomorrow. The bad news is, well, that I have to go back downtown again tomorrow morning. Ah well, slowly but surely I am getting through this. I really hope the Nutritionist gives me the go ahead tomorrow so I can move right along.
I had both of my first Gastric Bypass pre-approval appointments today, one for the psych evaluation, and one with the nutritionist. The first was scheduled at 8:00am, and waking up at 7:45 didn't give me a lot of hope for making that appointment. I rushed to get up and out the door though, and called on the way and they said I would still be able to make that appointment, after a bit of coaxing that is. She had first said the next appointment wouldn't be until the Middle of June or later, which was very disappointing as I am trying to get this all done as soon as possible.
I got there at about 8:30am, and had to fill out more paperwork(at this point, I'm positive they could write my biography with as much information as I have given them.)
The appointment was, well, for lack of another word, frustrating as well. The first part of the evaluation involved her asking questions from a list of questions, about things like my habits, my family life, and my intentions and hopes behind getting the surgery. All of that went pretty well. Then we got to the evaluation of the test results from the test I took last week (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). This is where things got frustrating. I scored "normal" in all of the areas but 2. Those 2 were the physical illness and depression parts of the test. The first one, Physical Illness, she said most people who are getting Gastric Bypass score high in. That one was left pretty well alone. The next was the depression aspect. She expressed a lot of concern in this area. She said that I should meet with my primary doctor about my "depression", after which we will meet again at the psych clinic to evaluate things further.
Now I'm not going to claim to be happy all of the time by any means, but I know exactly why I scored high in that area. There were many true/false questions like "I do not enjoy activities that I once enjoyed anymore" or "I do not have as much energy as I once had", or other similar variations, all which of course could indicate depression, but in my opinion, are open to interpretation. Of course there are activities I don't enjoy anymore, a great example would be skiing. When I'd lost 100lbs on Atkins 7 years ago, I started downhill skiing, and I loved it. Unfortunately I gained the weight back rapidly, and by the next season it was no longer possible. I also used to enjoy biking, going on hikes, camping, and a ton of other activities, all which I don't enjoy anymore for the time being due to the fact I am severely overweight and those activities are hard to do and very uncomfortable. And of course I don't have as much energy as I once had, getting older and 200+ extra pounds tend to have that effect on a person. Does it mean I'm depressed? Sure, I'm unhappy about not being able to do things that I love to do, but the unhappiness comes from not being able to do them, not the other way around. The main reason I no longer get enjoyment from those sorts of things is because of my weight.
I knew what those questions were getting at when I took the test, but I answered truthfully because I felt that during the evaluation of the results by a trained professional, they would try to dig deeper and get to the reason behind the answers. Instead, I felt they just took the test results at face value and tried to go with that. I did explain my point of view, and that I personally am not interested in pursuing my "depression" any further at this time. I am not going through this evaluation to determine my level of depression, I am going through it to deal with my weight problem, and I don't see how any anti-depressant will change anything in this process. Maybe I am wrong, but I'd rather deal with that stuff on my own and get through this process to get surgery so that I can begin losing weight as soon as possible.
Later on in the day I got a call back from the psychologist telling me that her recommendation to the doctors is that I am ready for the surgery, and that I should follow up with my primary doctor, but the process is not going to be held up to wait for those results. I still feel they are outside of their scope, and that my psychological needs should be my own business(After all, I only went for a Psych Evaluation because it is a pre-req of getting the surgery), but I am okay with that result. My main concern at this point is that I get through this process as quickly as possible. I am very tired of being overweight, and anxious to start seeing some results and to start living life.
As for my nutrition appointment, I did end up missing that appointment because it was right after the psych evaluation, which went way over since I was late. The good news is they were able to reschedule that appointment for tomorrow. The bad news is, well, that I have to go back downtown again tomorrow morning. Ah well, slowly but surely I am getting through this. I really hope the Nutritionist gives me the go ahead tomorrow so I can move right along.
posted by Josh at
3:37 AM
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