I have a (rather amusing) update if anyone wants a wry smile on a Friday.
Last week he had a minor-ish head injury at the gym. Sent me (and everyone else) a pic of his black eye to get sympathy.
He then told me he had spent the whole night throwing up (including in his car) and thought he might have concussion.
I had a bad head injury a few years back and had complications (post concussion syndrome) and advised him to get seen because of the vomiting.
He backtracked hugely and said he didn't have time/didn't want to, and I left it at that.
A whole week later he says to me, 'I'm thinking about getting a scan.'
He freely admits he has no symptoms, the swelling has gone down, he feels better, but for some reason he suddenly 'just wanted to be sure'.
Then the clanger. 'The thing is, I don't have any money for petrol so I wonder if 111 will arrange transport for me there and back'.
I laughed. Hard. It was so obviously a ploy to get me and/or someone else to transfer him some money. If he got three people to transfer him a tenner that's 30 quid in his pocket. I told him it wasn't an emergency and in any case at A&E in our area you'd be looking at a 8-12hr wait. I did suggest he walk the 15mins to minor injuries but he said no, because it was raining and he hadn't been up long.
Miraculously, he did end up going, but drove! Saying he had 7 miles left in his tank so still couldn't go to the hospital further away 'if it's bad'.
Then I get a text saying, 'Nurse says I need an X-Ray, most likely a skull fracture 
)
We have a banterish/straight talking but with kindness type friendship, so I said, 'Don't be dramatic, tell me what she really said. Because I know at most she said, it COULD be a skull fracture and you COULD get an X-Ray to be on the safe side. I hope she also told you it was a 12hr wait and not an emergency. You don't have any symptoms and are better than a week ago so how could she say it's 'most likely' a skull fracture? She has no evidence of that.'
He hinted ALL DAY about not having money for petrol. I just said it was a sad state of affairs that a man of nearly 40 can't scrape the money together to drive 10 miles to hospital when an apparent emergency comes up, having contingencies in place is all part of being an adult.
He took it in good humour but stopped replying shortly afterwards.
As I've written this, I wonder whether he even went to minor injuries and was just making up the fracture part to push me into saying OMG YOU NEED TO GET SEEN I'LL TRANSFER YOU A TENNER NOW.
Incidentally, I still have my 'skull fracture' and the small dent in my head to prove it. And I told him so, so he didn't get the expected response.
But I'm probably going a bit far with my CF theory with that one...