Why is my brother so stupid?

LibraryLady

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LibraryLady
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The rest of us are reasonably intelligent. In fact, my other brother, now deceased, was actually a genius.

My survivng brother is deathly allergic to nuts and seeds. When I say deathly, I am speaking quite literally. He goes into anaphylactic shock. You would think this would cause him to take basic precautions about it, wouldn't you?

About thirty years ago, he was having dinner with his wife and my smart brother in a restaurant. He ordered the salad with the house dressing, which turned out to have walnut oil in it. His esophagus swelled around a piece of meat and he nearly choked to death. Luckily they got to the hospital in time. You would think this would make him cautious about restaurant salad dressing, wouldn't you?

About ten years ago, my sister and I bullied him into getting an Epipen, so that he would have Epinephrine handy anytime something happened. You would think he would have it handy, wouldn't you?

Now we come to last Friday. He and his significant other were having dinner in a restaurant and, of course, he ordered the SALAD WITH THE HOUSE DRESSING. No inquiries about ingredients. His s.o. had never seen one of his reactions, so she didn't think to ask either. The dressing had POPPY SEED OIL in it. He went into anaphylaxis. He complained of not feeling well. His five years out of date Epipen was AT HOME. His s.o. started to drive him to the hospital. On the way he started having trouble breathing and his eyesight faded. She got stuck behind a bus. She called 911 to ask them to alert the hospital that they were coming and the operator announced they don't do that.*

Finally, they got to the hospital, got him into the emergency room, where staff surrounded him instantly and saved his life. He's fine now, aside from some muscular pain. I called him and yelled at him and my sister plans to do the same today. I didn't even know about this until yesterday, probably because his daughter had already yelled at him and he didn't want to deal with more angry relatives. They didn't even call his daughter until 8 hours later--her husband reports that she was throwing things, she was so angry.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF ED WAS HE THINKING????????


*The operator didn't offer to send out an ambulance, which strikes me awfully strange.
 
Without even reading the OP the answer is obvious to me - you got all the brains!
 
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I mercilessly avoided hazelnut for about 10 years. Caused a sore itchy throat along with a "mucus attack" if you will. Lol.

Anyways, it wasn't a potentially fatal condition. Point is though, I always made sure that whatever I was eating didn't have Hazelnut in it. But I can understand how he could occasionally forget to check.

But seeing as the condition can be fatal I guess that changes things a bit.
 
Brain damage as a side effect of his first encounter with anaphylactic shock.

(Hey! Don't hit me!

Ouch!

OW!

HEY!!

)
 
Both my mother and mother-in-law have walked around on broken legs because they didn't want to bother anyone. Another time, my mother-in-law left her Life Alert (a pendant that can call an ambulance) in the house because she was just going out in the yard, and spent 24 hours on her back in the rain because she couldn't yell loud enough to alert the neighbors.

I could go on, but I can already feel my blood pressure rising.
 
Your brother and my brother must be twins separated at birth! My brother is deathly allergic to bee stings - he almost died once from multiple stings but was just able to get to the phone and dial 911 before he blacked out. He refuses to carry an Epipen even when he's outside clearing brush or painting the house (situations which are almost guaranteed to expose you to bees/hornets/wasps). I don't think they even have Epipens in the house. His wife is just as stupid because she doesn't insist that he carry one.
 
If there's one thing we can learn from this forum it's that people do stupid things. You'd think that someone conned by a psychic wouldn't go straight to another one to throw their money away. You'd think that someone allergic no nuts would try not to eat them. You'd think that someone who nearly dies throwing themsleves off a waterfall wouldn't keep doing it. Rumours of our intelligence have been greatly exaggerated.
 
LibraryLady said:
The rest of us are reasonably intelligent. In fact, my other brother, now deceased, was actually a genius.

My survivng brother is deathly allergic to nuts and seeds. When I say deathly, I am speaking quite literally. He goes into anaphylactic shock. You would think this would cause him to take basic precautions about it, wouldn't you?

About thirty years ago, he was having dinner with his wife and my smart brother in a restaurant. He ordered the salad with the house dressing, which turned out to have walnut oil in it. His esophagus swelled around a piece of meat and he nearly choked to death. Luckily they got to the hospital in time. You would think this would make him cautious about restaurant salad dressing, wouldn't you?

About ten years ago, my sister and I bullied him into getting an Epipen, so that he would have Epinephrine handy anytime something happened. You would think he would have it handy, wouldn't you?

Now we come to last Friday. He and his significant other were having dinner in a restaurant and, of course, he ordered the SALAD WITH THE HOUSE DRESSING. No inquiries about ingredients. His s.o. had never seen one of his reactions, so she didn't think to ask either. The dressing had POPPY SEED OIL in it. He went into anaphylaxis. He complained of not feeling well. His five years out of date Epipen was AT HOME. His s.o. started to drive him to the hospital. On the way he started having trouble breathing and his eyesight faded. She got stuck behind a bus. She called 911 to ask them to alert the hospital that they were coming and the operator announced they don't do that.*

Finally, they got to the hospital, got him into the emergency room, where staff surrounded him instantly and saved his life. He's fine now, aside from some muscular pain. I called him and yelled at him and my sister plans to do the same today. I didn't even know about this until yesterday, probably because his daughter had already yelled at him and he didn't want to deal with more angry relatives. They didn't even call his daughter until 8 hours later--her husband reports that she was throwing things, she was so angry.


WHAT IN THE NAME OF ED WAS HE THINKING????????
*The operator didn't offer to send out an ambulance, which strikes me awfully strange.
Click to expand...

If it was in Baltimore, I don't understand that call in or ambulance part. My wife used to work Red Cross, was in the first group of non-medical personnell to be trained in Heimlich, by Heimlich. All in the area. Does not make sense!!!
 
LiberyLady, your brother is of a youthful spirit. He's got that childlike quality of blithe invulnerability, impervious to motality. He'll enjoy life right up to its sudden end. Be happy for him.

;)
 
supercorgi said:
Your brother and my brother must be twins separated at birth! My brother is deathly allergic to bee stings - he almost died once from multiple stings but was just able to get to the phone and dial 911 before he blacked out. He refuses to carry an Epipen even when he's outside clearing brush or painting the house (situations which are almost guaranteed to expose you to bees/hornets/wasps). I don't think they even have Epipens in the house. His wife is just as stupid because she doesn't insist that he carry one.
Click to expand...

Mabey she just wants the life insurance.
 
fuelair said:
If it was in Baltimore, I don't understand that call in or ambulance part. My wife used to work Red Cross, was in the first group of non-medical personnell to be trained in Heimlich, by Heimlich. All in the area. Does not make sense!!!
Click to expand...

Um, this does not make much sense what is the Heimlich supposted to do for anaphaltic shock?

But the operator was clearly an idiot, and should be fired for gross incompetence.
 
Frankly, he's lucky that, with his rather head-buried-in-the-sand approach, he made it this long without another exposure.

He needs a friggin' Epipen and a fat wake-up call (perhaps this was one?).
 
I can sympathise with your brother LibraryLady. It seems like he and I are of the same breed - willful idiots.

For me stupid risks are one of the really great things about life, however. And yes, if you were a loved one you would be entirely justified to scream at me for some of them.

Edit: mind you, even I would carry an epipen in his situation!
 
Honestly, I can't be suprised about your brother's behavior. I know it sounds cynical, but I've concluded that people are more often at least slightly stupid than not. If you are lucky enough to have just one stupid person in your family, I seriously envy you. I had to move clear across the country from my family before constant exposure caused me burst a vein in my head. I love them all, really I do, but small doses of them are all I can handle.

I have Celiac Sprue, which means I must avoid all wheat gluten. All. Even the teeniest bit. The effects of eating wheat are serious, painful, dangerous and long lasting for a Celiac. Even given that, I've encountered plenty of my fellow Celiacs that just aren't careful about ascertaining what is in food before they eat it. Hell, I've seen them deliberately eat stuff just because they want it, knowing they will be sick for days or weeks. Rank stupidity, just breathtakingly rank stupidity.

In speaking to others about Celiacs and how you must avoid all wheat gluten, their first comment is commonly "oh, I couldn't do that." Pointing out the serious consequences of gluten on Celiacs and how ill you are for how long after even a small accidental ingestion will usually elicit "yeah, but I still couldn't do that." Okay, at that point, I've got to wonder how they've avoided killing themselves by sticking their tongue in a light socket, but whatever turns them on.
 
I hope your bro knows that pesto contains pine nuts... I learned that the hard way because I let my guard down once. It was not a pleasant experience but then, I'm not that allergic, though I always carry my Epipen. I have yet to use it after 18 years of carrying one (are they allowed on board planes?). And I tell everyone I've never had dinner with before about my allergies.
 
ponderingturtle said:
Um, this does not make much sense what is the Heimlich supposted to do for anaphaltic shock?

But the operator was clearly an idiot, and should be fired for gross incompetence.
Click to expand...

A) both times
Heimlich might have popped the food his throat tightened around out - but it actually was mentioned toward the pont that in the Baltimore (and D.C.) areas, there is a high level (or used to be anyway) of medical response/preparation. So, if this happened ther, I would be very surprised at either the level response had dropped OR the incompetance of an individual operator!!
 
fuelair said:
A) both times
Heimlich might have popped the food his throat tightened around out - but it actually was mentioned toward the pont that in the Baltimore (and D.C.) areas, there is a high level (or used to be anyway) of medical response/preparation. So, if this happened ther, I would be very surprised at either the level response had dropped OR the incompetance of an individual operator!!
Click to expand...

What food? He was not choking, his throat was swelling shut, so unless you can use the heimlich maneuver to pop out someones throat, it wouldn't do much good.
 
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