Worried (and Pissed)

My kid brother spent the night in the hospital. He has been having blindingly bad headaches for two weeks, and finally got to the doctor yesterday. A couple of CAT scans and MRIs later, I got a call that he had a brain abnormality and they were going to attempt to relieve pressure on his brain by surgery.

I went to bed worried sick. It was late at night, and the trains weren't running, so there is no way I could have gotten there. And with the flu rampant and killing children, I am not sure I would have taken the risk of dragging my seven and a half month old into an ER setting... But anyway, after tossing and turning all night, my mom called. She and Dad spent the night at he hospital with him, in a panic.

But now the news is, they are releasing him without doing anything. They did want a spinal tap to rule out other things, but my brother refused.

So here I sit, a bundle of nerves, wondering if he is really OK afterall, if he is being discharged AMA or not, and why every member of my family of origin is an absolute blithering idiot when it comes to taking care of their own health!

Why would anyone walk around dizzy, in pain and on the verge of passing out for two weeks without seeing a doctor?

And why, if there was pressure on his brain needing relieving, is it suddenly OK not to relieve it?

And what the hell are the other things a spinal tap would have ruled out?

My first creepy thought is meningitis...

So now I get to worry about him some more, and also worry whether he has a contagious disease that will kill my parents too, because all three of these loved ones are too damn stupid to do the most rudimentary things to take care of themselves and safeguard their health.

ARGH!