The Games Begin!

Well, today felt like the first official day in the lead up to my brain surgery. Being quite a major operation, I have a few tests and consultations to attend in the next few days. They are:-

1. Consultation with a clinical psychologist
2. Consultation with a neuro psychologist
3. Consultation with neurologist
4. Sedated MRI
5. CT scan

So today I trotted off to the clinical psychologist. I was sort of crabby before I got there as I already see a clinical psychologist, and I couldn't see the point in consulting another one. I would have thought that a report from my psychologist would have been enough, but the surgeon insisted I saw theirs, so off I trudged. After 15 minutes looking for a parking space (then giving up and going to the secure parking) followed by 45 minute wait for the psychologist, I was a little cranky.

But finally I got in to see Victoria Miller, a smartly dressed, professional looking lady, but at the same time a very friendly, comforting and disarming demeanour. My first impression was that she was very good at her job, and she didn't prove me wrong. Seeing as though I had struggled to see the relevance of this consultation, my list of questions that I had prepared was relatively short. They were:-

1. What do you wish to achieve from this session?
2. Is it really necessary?

I asked the second question first. I wanted to get it out of the way, but I did not want to appear cynical. So I asked if this was something that my current psychologist could do and did I really need to be here? Her answer was that she probably could, but Precision Neurosurgery like to get their own assessment. So what was the purpose of the session?:-

1. Make sure I have no underlying undiagnosed mental disorders like Bi-polar or depression. Since I had already been diagnosed with depression, this really was not much of an issue. They needed to know I was being treated, and as I was there was no need for concern.
2. Make sure I had a strong support network of family and friends and offer an extra avenue of psychological support if needed. I have a very supportive wife and a close family, and if that failed I still had a good network of friends I could rely on, so not as issue for me.
3. Make sure my expectations from the surgery were realistic and what if it failed to work or went wrong. Well I will focus on my fears from the surgery another time, but I fairly sure she was happy with my answers.

So the big question is was the session necessary? I would have to say yes, it was, but probably not for me. The doctors need to find out these answers, and if I gained anything from the session, it was the comfort that the doctors were being thorough, and they cared about my general health (both mental and physical) as well as simply trying to cure my tremor. I guess that in itself was simply enough to make the consultation worth while.

Well, tomorrow it is off to the neuro psychologist. Rest assured I will let you know how it goes. Until then, stay well:)