I shouldn’t have called the CIGNA 24-hour nurse hotline for advice. Of course they would tell me to go to the ER. I should’ve just gone to bed as I had planned. But the swollen leg veins just didn’t seem right. The paranoid internet bulletin-board-posters assume they will have an imminent blood clot. The nurse was more concerned that, with my immunosuppressants, I might have an infection.

I have never had anything but a terrible experience at the Duke ER. But better safe than sorry! Well, I got triaged fairly quickly, but I just got asked some questions. They didn’t even look at my leg to assess the severity of what I was reporting. Two hours later, and one hour after I was told it should be soon, I hadn’t been called back, and I decided that if triage hadn’t been alarmed by what I was reporting enough to get me back there, I could go to sleep at home and be confident I’d wake up in the morning. So I left. From experience, I could’ve easily been looking at 2+ hours in an exam room. 4-6 hours if they had to run a test and wait for a specialist to look at the results. Not worth it.

If I succumb to a blood clot overnight, my stupidity will be the reason. And I should’ve gone to urgent care before they closed at 8. Otherwise, I’ll post more Tulum pictures tomorrow.