Hi Mark,

She did not ask me to fill out a questionnaire. The local clinic previously asked me to fill one out but it was short and looked like it was designed to show depression. For the fistula problem, the hospital did a CT-scan, an MRI, a CT-angiogram, and finally, a cerebral angiogram with coil embolization which lasted 6 and a half hours or more. So I was under anesthesia for several hours.

My impression is that she was defending the procedure, saying that there was nothing in the scans to indicate any damage to my brain. Well, she said the intervention radiologists still want to do another cerebral angiogram to check that the fistula is completely healed, and I said I had my misgivings with all that radiation (it had caused hair loss, too). She said she would inform IR about it.

So I have to be careful about the next steps. I'm rather miffed at not getting into what I feel is the right clinic. On the other hand, if this is really depression, it will go away with time without meds. I also have to step carefully with asking my doctor for referrals, as this is a public health program and he has his limits.

Thanks for the suggestions and the MMPI information. It's good to know this stuff.