OUT TO LUNCH
I’m due for some surgery this week. It’s only an inguinal hernia repair so it’s nothing to get too stressed about. Apparently as we get older the bit of tissue that holds our stomach in place wears a bit thin and, gravity being what it is, bits of us slide down to our groin area producing a rather worrying bulge.
Naturally I Googled “bulges in the groin” as soon as this happened and was considerably better informed in ten minutes than anybody who has spent seven years studying medicine. I also convinced myself that this was a death sentence until I found out the bulge disappeared whenever I lay down on a bed.
Fortunately the subject of inguinal hernias came up in conversation at our regular Friday evening wine club night and I discovered that one of my neighbours had just had an op for that very thing and was well pleased with the result.
So I asked him the name of his surgeon and made an appointment last week to visit him for a consultation. No need for a GP referral apparently so I was able to get straight to the point.
After filling in my medical aid details at the reception desk I went in to see the surgeon and discuss the problem. Obviously I needed an operation but my medical aid scheme doesn’t cover the hospital at which I was consulting the surgeon. Not a problem apparently because he also operates at a nearby day clinic every Thursday and that is covered by my medical aid scheme.