Is a bad bruise very serious?

Early this morning when it was still dark, I fell and ended up with the back of my thigh hitting the leg of a speaker stand. It was pretty painful so I put an ice pack on it and went back to sleep with the pack on it, (and forgot about it.)

A few minutes ago, I tried to sit down after a lot of cleaning and noticed it hurt to sit. I had shorts on and asked my step daughter to look and see if it was bruised and she looked shocked. I got a mirror and finally saw it and it's a really dark dark purple. It's about 1" wide and 3" long, and I'm wondering if I need to see a doctor. I don't have the money to see one, so if I don't have to, I'd rather not. I know health comes first, but it is just a bruise, and we are severely in debt already. I had some medical training a LONG time ago (I'm 51), but forgot a lot of it. My pharmacist happened to call today, and I even asked him and he said don't worry.

I guess what I'm asking for is a little more reassurance. It just shocked me to see it so dark, and I'm quietly freaking out over here. I have more ice on it now. I'm wondering if it even was bruised earlier because I looked and didn't see it then (I may have missed it because I wasn't all the way awake). Can a bruise be delayed by several hours and if so, does that mean something bad? Thank you ahead of time.

Calm down, thats just muscle, I mean I'm here with a sprained ACL and knee.... well to the point, Just ice it, elevate it a little bit with a pillow under so just sit on the couch. Get a lot of rest, wrap it up and compress it and in a few days it should be back to normal. After a couple of days when it doesn't hurt to bad try to stretch it a little bit and if your feeling stiffness in the morning put a heat patch at night. Remember ice it first to stop swelling and bruising, heat later to prevent stiffness.