Hi Magna  -  I have decided to fund my treatment from my pension lump sum.
I made this decision after being told in March that a uro-dynamics test
would take anything up to a year to arrange through NHS and that I was well
off as in some areas the waiting list was two or more years.  At that time
(March) six months had passed since my acute retention, and after six months
of self catheterising I still had no idea whether my problem (retention) was
being caused by a stretched and malfunctioning bladder or BPH or a
combionation of both.  After six months the only test I had received was a
digital rectal examination at the time of retention and a flow test four
months later.  My wife and I decided that we had better start pushing things
ahead, even though we were obviously going to be financially the poorer.
When I asked if I could pay for the uro-dynamics test I had it withing three
weeks and although there is an element of guilt that I am queue jumping, I
think I'm doing the right thing. When I saw Mr Muir he was able to show me a
scan of my prostate illustrating the exact problem within two minutes.  I
don't know if my local health authority even have such a machine.

I will be interested to see what the answer to

It occurred to me after I had replied to you that when I had the AUI that
led to my acute retention, I was given Cipro by my GP.  This was because I
am very allergic to penicillin (skin peels off etc) and I had no problem
with it, possibly because I was in England and not in bright sunshine.  I
think my reaction in Nepal was exaggerated because of the altitude, sunshine
and cold wind.  I'll still mention it however.

BTW, how do you (and nambucca?)

I use the newsgroups function of OE6 and downloaded the list of groups from
my ISP.  Posts appear within a couple of seconds of hitting the button.

Regards
Huw