What to do?  

Some of you may remember I found a lump in my upper groin a while ago, as a result of which I had an ultrasound scan which showed nothing abnormnal.  I was told to come back after a couple of months to see what had happened, and the doctor, a different one, sent me for full bloods.  I got the results yesterday and they're all normal which is good.  Then he, a different doctor again, had a feel around and thought he could feel something...  It's really difficult, even I can't feel it all the time but I'm aware that there's something in there that shouldn't be, and at times it's a bit uncomfortable.  Anyway he's referred me for a CT scan and said that he thought it could be a Spigelian hernia, but it could take two months for the test to come through.  In the meantime, if his diagnosis is correct, it's possible that the discomfort could turn to severe pain and I'd have to be admitted as an emergency.  Then there's the 2-6 weeks recovery period....

My diary is quite full, a lot of it could be ignored - I've painted it out above - and some of it could be cancelled without much loss of money.  I could wait for the NHS to give me a scan or I could pay privately.  One thing I can't do is trek the Annapurna Circuit route until this is resolved, that would be stupid.  So I'm waiting for the Nuffield to phone me back as they don't have a price to hand for this type of hernia because it's not very common.  I could go with the NHS and hope to get a cancellation... it's going to ocupy my mind this weekend I think.

Edit: I've been doing some phoning and after ringing Derby Private Health, who apparently receive all the NHS referrals... but then they are based at the Derby Royal, a very helpful man told me that I'd only have to wait a maximum of two weeks for a CT scan on the NHS anyway and to phone him on Monday when my referral should be through.  Result!