Not Quite as Bad as the Chinese Earthquake, but Still Dreadful

Like many people around the country, I was shocked and unsettled to hear that Ted Kennedy's recent seizure was the result of a brain tumor. I've known at least four people who have died of brain tumors in the past twenty years--two in fact were co-workers at the same place.
And, like lots of people, I'm just enough of a hypochondriac that any weird change in my functioning makes me wonder if I've got one (when it isn't some other nasty possibility). Incoherent without drugs or alcohol? Must be a brain tumor. Dropped something yet again? Must be a brain tumor.
I hadn't realized, however, that brain tumors tend to be hard to detect, that there are more of them than there used to be, and that it can be hard to get the real prognosis out of the medical people. Susie Bright's comments (her father died of one) are enlightening.
Note: I wouldn't say I have been exactly obsessing about brain tumors of late, being too busy with my various projects. But it's better to know about these things.