Give Me a Break

So, guess where I spent most of the night last night? The emergency room--Yaaay! It was super fun and suuuuper helpful!!! :o(

My leg pain got progressively worse over the weekend and I really started thinking it could be stupid to "wait it out" as per doctor's orders in the case that there might be a clot (and I'd already been told three times it might be a clot). I was tired of the quacky advice I'd been getting. I was tired of doctors telling me they were scheduling tests for me and never hearing from them again....Sitting disgruntled on my couch with my leg propped up, I finally decided that having a pulmonary embolism while home alone with a three year old was not something I wanted on my agenda for the day and took matters into my own hands. Sure I felt dumb sitting in the emergency room until the middle of the night for mere leg pain when everyone else was bleeding or looking miserably ill, but I was finally going to have some answers and some peace of mind (I mean, where better to go to get answers than the hospital?), so it was worth it, right?....WRONG! It was a total and complete waste of time and money (even if it turns out I have the biggest DVT in world history). Here's what happened:

I got into the room, put on the little gown and sat talking to my mom until the nurse came in (yes, I said nurse--there was no doctor there, just a nurse)--She glanced at my leg for about two seconds and said it didn't look like a textbook DVT (swelling, bright redness, etc.), but that it didn't mean I didn't have one and that I definitely should have a scan done because of the red vein and pain. She then proceeded to tell me that they didn't do ultrasounds after hours or on weekends in the ER....SERIOUSLY??!! What was I there for then? And what happens to people who really do have DVTs? I just want to rule this problem out--why is that so difficult? ANYway, they ordered a blood test called a D-Dimer to check my blood for the existence of a clot, talked to me about Coumadin and Prednisone shots and then told me they were going to give me a slip of paper that would get me in for an ultrasound the next day. This was faster than how my family doctor was moving so I said okay and took the slip....On my way out, they said, "Well, if you're having an ultrasound tomorrow, then the bloodwork we just did was totally pointless!" So was my trip to the ER.