When 62-year-old ‘petrolhead’ David Welsh from Wiltshire was diagnosed with a hernia, he was told he could face an 11-month wait just to be seen at his local NHS hospital. But with a once in a lifetime USA road trip on his dream Harley Davidson motorbike already booked, waiting was simply not an option.
“The whole experience at the hospital was fantastic…the operation went smoothly and recovery was straightforward…without the surgery, we’d have had to cancel the trip of a lifetime.”
David Welsh, hernia surgery patient at Practice Plus Group Hospital, Emersons Green
Thanks to fast access to treatment at Practice Plus Group Hospital, Emersons Green, David was able to have surgery in time, giving him the all clear to travel confidently and take to the open road he had always dreamed of. David says:
“I’ve been really lucky health wise all my life, no operations, nothing. Then I noticed a lump in my groin and went to my GP, who told me it was a hernia and that it would only get worse.
“When he mentioned there was around an 11-month waiting list at my local NHS hospital just to be seen for hernia repair, I knew straight away that was not going to work for me. My wife Lisa and I had a once in a lifetime holiday booked, riding Route 66 in America on a Harley Davidson, and I just could not risk spoiling it by waiting that long. The reality was that without paying privately for an operation myself to get it sorted sooner, we would have had to cancel the trip.
“The hernia kept getting bigger and, to be honest, it was quite embarrassing. It was in the groin area and there were times I would be out walking and have to stop and push it back in as it frequently ‘popped’ out. It was like stuffing a load of handkerchiefs into your pocket, only more uncomfortable and inconvenient. I felt constantly aware of it.
“By the time we went on holiday, I felt absolutely fine, which made all the difference. Instead of worrying about my hernia, I could just enjoy the trip. It was everything we’d hoped and more.”
David Welsh, hernia surgery patient at Practice Plus Group Hospital, Emersons Green
“I also knew I would have to declare the hernia condition on my travel insurance, which could have caused issues, especially if I needed treatment abroad and had to make a claim. It could have got very expensive. More importantly, I did not feel it was safe to go on such a big trip with it. We were planning to cover over 3,000 miles on a large, heavy touring motorbike. It is not something you can just manage if something goes wrong.
“I didn’t feel it would have been fair on my wife to either just risk it, or to cancel as we had both been looking forward to the adventure for years. After a friend mentioned Practice Plus Group Emersons Green Hospital did more affordable private surgery, I got in touch and was quickly booked in to see a consultant. I explained the time pressure and they were brilliant, fitting me in so I had about two months to recover before we flew.
“The whole experience at the hospital was fantastic. Everyone was very professional and, although I had never had surgery or a general anaesthetic before, the team really put me at ease. The operation went smoothly and recovery was straightforward.
“By the time we went on holiday, I felt absolutely fine, which made all the difference. Instead of worrying about my hernia, I could just enjoy the trip.
“It was everything we’d hoped and more. We flew into Chicago, spent a couple of days there, then picked up the bike, a Harley Davidson Electra Glide, and set off. It took us three weeks to complete Route 66, covering just over 3,000 miles, with me riding and my wife on the back. It wouldn’t have been the same if we’d had to go in a car because of the hernia, for us it was by motorbike or nothing.
“With that kind of journey, you have got to be 100 percent. There is no way I could have done it with the hernia. It just would not have been possible.
“Since then, I have been back to normal with no issues at all. I have even bought a sister model to the one we hired, a Harley Davidson Road Glide, and we’ve already been on another road trip to Spain, which was so relaxing my wife actually fell asleep on the back of the bike.
“I am always on the go, and now I can just get on with things without worrying about my hernia getting in the way. I’m really glad I made the decision when I did, and I’m so grateful to the team for helping me get trip-ready. It meant we did not miss out on something we had waited a long time for, and you only get one chance at trips like that. Life is too short to miss out by wasting time waiting.”
