While playing tennis with a doctor, Bromley-based Richard Sinclair asked for advice about a medical issue. "He was a young doctor, well youngish, I am 75. I told him that for about four or five years I had found it difficult to go [pass urine]. I found especially that at night I had to go to the toilet two or three times."
He told me there was a comparatively painless procedure which only takes a day. "My case wasn't particularly acute and I had to wait for nearly a year for an appointment at King's College Hospital in London.
On the day of his procedure Mr Sinclair left home at 12.30pm for the King's Hospital day surgery unit. "They gave me a mild general anaesthetic and I woke up after the surgery at 3pm. My wife came to collect me and I was having a cup of tea at home by 6pm that evening. I was fitted with a catheter over night. That was not very comfortable. The following morning I went back to the day surgery unit where they took it out and did some tests. I went home after about two hours and that was it. I had a little discomfort, a bit of bruising and a tiny bit of blood came out. But not much."
It is two months since Mr Sinclair had the procedure. "It has strengthened my stream so obviously the obstruction has been removed. But, regrettably, I am still waking at night. There is marginal improvement, say 25 per cent. But Mr Walsh thinks there will be further improvement. "