lump near belly button

I've had a firm lump to the right of my belly button for several months now.  It is more noticeable when I stand up--the normal oval shape of my navel suddenly looks like a bite's been taken out of it as the lump pushes into the belly button area.  Sometimes I feel it just above the belly button, but most times it's just off to the right.  Recently, the whole area just feels very firm and taut compared to the other squishy areas of my abomen :P

During a regular checkup, I asked my doctor about it.  He felt it and said it felt like swelling, probably from surgery.  I did have a laparascopic surgery (done by my ob/gyn) to remove a paraovarian cyst, but that was two years ago.  Four months later, at my next regular checkup (I go every 4 months to monitor blood pressure), I brought it up again but the doctor couldn't feel anything until I stood up and pointed it out (I had been laying on my back when he did the abdominal exam).  He felt the area and said he didn't know what it was.  He said it was most likely a hernia, but he said they usually hurt, and I felt no pain.  It's not bothering me in any way except that I notice it's hard.  So he just told me to keep an eye on it and if it ever hurt, I need to come in and they would probably have to do surgery to remove it.

It's just alarming because sometimes I feel it very easily, and sometimes I have to feel around for it.  Sometimes it feels very firm, and sometimes it's just a hard area.  I haven't figured out the pattern or what makes it the way it is.  I can't tell if it's growing because sometimes it feels small and sometimes it feels like the whole area and then the next day it goes back to being small again.  It's really weird.  But as my doctor didn't seem too concerned, i tried to brush it off, but it still comes back to haunt me whenever I feel it, which I subconsciously do every now and then.  Any idea what it could be?

Background info--I am 44, morbidly obese, have high blood pressure/high choloresterol, and prediabetic.  I have had a laparoscopic surgery 2 years ago, a d&c last year (I do have a uterine fibroid), and a c-section 15 years ago.  I take 2 medications for the cholesterol and high blood pressure.   

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