I'm curious why you felt you lost face by having your bid for sympathy turned down, that seems to reflect poorly on the other person, not you.

I felt like I lost some face, because they were rude to me and thus revealed the friendship was not that sincere, etc; but mostly I felt that I was creating a situation where they lost face because I'm sure they would rather not appear rude, but I didn't leave an easy way out.

...This is why I actually stopped telling people I was in the tornado -- it is very difficult for a friendly person not to offer some support, as you just did. Fortunately, I've had lots of time discussing all the details with other people that are fascinated by weather, and now my emotional state has just modulated into an interest in all kinds of extreme weather.