Opinions solicited ...

Not really hypothetical: So is it serious if it’s dark because the porchlight was out and you trip and pitch headfirst over a potted plant at your mom’s and land hard on the driveway a couple feet lower down, mostly on your left hand and left knee, and you’re all sputtering and surprised when it happens and your elderly mom cries because it scared her so bad when you fell all of a sudden and damn, that was just how your dad died, from a freak fall, but of course he hit his head and was on Coumadin so it started a bleed in his brain, and that was what actually got him, not the fall, and you aren’t on Coumadin and you didn’t hit your head but you sure felt bad for scaring your mom so you said you were just fine to calm her down and reassure her but your knee sure did hurt and so did your hand, because the ring and middle fingers were curled when you hit but then got bent backwards at the knuckles where they meet the palm but you could still move them just fine and they weren’t even grazed, so you drove on home and they hurt but not all that bad, and the next morning your hand was puffy and swollen around those knuckles but they weren't bruised and you could still use the hand and fingers, it just hurt some and making a fist wasn’t so easy and anyway the next day the swelling went down a little and it still didn’t hurt as much, but now it’s six days later and that hand is still swollen around the knuckles and those two fingers and the whole thing still hurts, more today than yesterday ...

So should you spend big personal bucks on doctors and x-rays and possible treatment without medical insurance or should you just wait and see if your hand heals? Thank you.