I am like you. I avoid ER, hospitals, etc like the plague. Just like a prison is seething with criminals , a medical “HELP” facility is seething wtih germs.
good luck to you. - your ER waiting room experience sounds like a nightmare.. but unfortunately a common one.
Oh yeah. You bet. Couple of months ago my rheumatologist (I have Mixed Connective Tissue Disease - an autoimmune disorder) decided I needed a new medication so he put me on Nifediac. It CAUSED edema which caused blood clots which caused me to go in outpatient for ultrasound looking for blood clots which they found. They told me I’d have to go to the ER. I said, ‘nope’ and I ran off to Chinese lunch. LOL LOL I was found and spent the day in phone calls to my cell phone from four different doctors of mine telling me how critical this was and I needed tests and I had to go in ... I gave in. But it was a horrible, horrible experience and they promised me a direct admit (which it wasn’t) and they promised I’d have no trouble with it only being for the one night (which it was, thank God for having a big name doctor that the hospital KNOWS and respects) but even so, because of the fractured hip and the MCTD, I was in pain for the whole time and the only thing I could eat was a mini blueberry muffin. LOL I’m not in a real hurry to repeat the experience. AND I came home with a UTI. Very common. Nope. Not gonna do it.