Hey Maaz (which is what my friends affectionately call me), got a minute?”A frizzy-haired school friend had called to ask about her mother. “Mom’s got this back pain going down the leg for the past few days,” she narrated, sprucing up the account with how her mother had had a small operation for a deviated nasal septum a few weeks ago, and why her stomach was hurting as well. “It’s probably just sciatica,” I said, disregarding it while in the midst of something else.

A few days later, she called back saying that the pain in her mother’s leg was better, but that the leg was slightly swollen. I promptly removed my ‘friend hat’ and put on the ‘doctor topi’. “Why don’t you bring her to the hospital, we’ll take a look,” I advised, switching from dismissive to cautious. She was there within the hour, holding by the arm her mom, who was walking with a limp. I gently lay her down on the examination bed and ran my hands on the back of both her calves. The left one was distinctly taut, while the one on the right was soft and flabby, as it usually is for most septuagenarians. This was clearly deep vein thrombosis that I had initially brushed aside. I got a doppler to confirm the diagnosis and directed her to a physician, who started her on the right medication.