Honesty.....Brutal or Refreshing??

The Son 1 saga continues....after a month of what seemed like a miraculous recovery, he is sick again this week.  Today brought symptoms that necessitated an ER run, naturally when Doting Husband is 300 miles away, so Son 2 was stuck coming with us.  NOW, I am lucky enough to have several people that have offered to help, but seriously....Son 2 has moderate autism, asthma, and life-threatening food allergies, so I am leery about leaving him with anyone outside a select few people that I know are capable of handling that particular combo.   I wanted to wait to lean on them in the event that Son 1 was admitted.  :)  We have learned that Son 1 internalizes stress and anxiety....FAR more than we ever thought possible, and that contributes to his medical issues.  While in the ER, he started presenting with intense pain which was not present when we walked in the door.  Unlike anything I had since since....oh yeah, the last time he was in the hospital!!  On that occassion, he was admitted and they ran a bunch of tests that were fine, and got him on an appropriate course of treatment.  Today, they again suggested admitting him, in spite of normal tests, simply based on his pain level.  OF COURSE if I thought he needed to stay, I would have pulled out all the stops, called in every favor I had, and asked DH to rent a car and drive home.  As it was, I asked the Dr's (all 4 of them, as he knows how to gain an audience) if I could try taking him home to see if he could be made comfortable in familiar surroundings.  I further explained that being in the hospital alone seemed to be making him worse, and that I would, of course bring him back on a direct admit if he did not improve or got worse.  They asked me to step out in the hallway so we could talk more, and at this point Son 2's cheese was about to fall of his cracker.  He was on sensory overload, hungry, and worried about his brother.  The Dr's wanted to know if he was OK, and I said "I think so.  He has autism, so he's having a hard time with the noise level in the room."  Then one of the Dr's reached over and PATTED HIM ON THE BACK!!  Aaaaccckk!  Son 2 ducked under his arm and screamed like a banchee.  I looked at him and said "DUDE!!  Did I not JUST finish saying that he's autistic?   No touching unless you want him to REALLY lose it."  I got a blank stare.  I further stated "You work in one of the top children's hospitals in the country that has a prestigious autism clinic.  Maybe you need to go up there and get some training."  He apologized and excused himself to go to see another patient.  One of the others looked at me and said "You go girl!  I love moms who are straight shooters!"  I thanked her, walked back in the room, and told Son 1, "We're going home, so you need to get yourself together."  IT WORKED!!!  He's been fine since.....how bizarre.  But hey, we're pretty used to bizarre in this house.