Thanks for the suggestions and links. Believe it or not, according to the US News link, the closest recommended hospital for both neurology and rheumatology to where I live IS the Mayo Clinic. On the Neurology Association site, there is no one listed for South Dakota, Nebraska or Iowa, and the only one for Minnesota is in Minneapolis, which is further away than Rochester, where the Mayo Clinic is.

There is no support group for Sjogren's in Sioux Falls, no South Dakota doctors listed with the Sjogren's Foundation, and when I inquired about rheumatologists with Sjogren's World awhile back, no one knew of any near me.

Each time I went to a rheumatologist in Sioux Falls, I gave them all my rheumatological medical records so they could be reviewed prior to my appointment. One of my docs in Denver was Stuart Kassan, who does international research and has edited and contributed chapters to The Sjogren's Syndrome Handbook and is a celebrity amongst Colorado Sjogren's patients. He went so far as to write to one of the Sioux Falls rheumys to explain sero-negative Sjogren's, but it seemed to make no impression.

I suspect there may be some professional jealousy going on here. All three rheumatologists I saw in Sioux Falls were very arrogant when they found out someone else had diagnosed me. One of them snarled at me, "So what makes you think you have Sjogren's?" and I had to tell her she was holding the lip biopsy report in her hand!

I asked the Denver rheumatologist I saw most recently if he could refer me to someone in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska or Minnesota. He didn't have any ideas as he's from back east and all his professional connections are either on the east coast or in Colorado. Maybe I should write another letter to Dr. Kassan and see who he knows.

I'm hesitant about going back to my primary care doc as she is the one who referred me to the first two rheumatologists I went to here. There are only two rheumatology offices in Sioux Falls, so the choices are slim to begin with. And there seem to be a lot of "bugs" here.

But I know I can't put this off forever. Especially with the recent increase in neuropathy symptoms. In the past, there have been occasions where this has lead to stroke-like episodes, and I don't want my first intro to a new doc to be taking place during one of those if I can help it.

I know this has gotten ridiculously long, but I forgot to ask before: where in the spine is C6/C7? Just for future reference.

Thanks for your help!

fanfaire