Travelling abroad with PCcycles

Typo - ignore the ‘cycles’ in the title pls

Hi Meg Mac

I understand your fears but of course I can't link in with your emotions. Nobody can. I'm 73yrs an old bugger. And I  don't know how old your Mum and Dad are. For what its worth I would go along with parents wishes despite the cost of insurance although I would recommend taking out insurance that covers all eventualities including flying dad home with medical care for what what ever that reason  if God forbid it comes to it. My Anne has had a life threatening disease called Lupus and prior to her pancreatic cancer. We did many cruises beyond the EU's protection but were well insured.,You might find that  your dad's insurance could well exceed a few hundred pounds. But its well worth it provide you hold nothing back.

Hope this gives you some guidance.

Hi

Whilst I have no experience of travelling abroad with PC I thought you might benefit from joining the travel insurance group. Clicking on the link I've created will take you there.

Once you have joined look for the thread called 'Recommended Travel Insurance' (it's usually on the first page) as it's where we try to keep recommendations from other forum members who have obtained reasonably priced travel insurance.

You are right that it can be more difficult to find reasonably priced travel insurance when you have had a cancer diagnosis. Your dad will need to have permission from his team to travel and will need to make sure this is recorded in his notes in case he needs to claim.

It is best to phone the travel companies rather than try and do online quotes. Make sure your dad has all the dates of his treatment to hand along with details of any medication and any future planned treatment. Unfortunately, the insurers will need to know your dad's prognosis to provide a quote but if your dad doesn't want to know then maybe either your mum or you could phone up for quotes.

I do hope that your parents can get insurance and that they have a great time.

x

Hi Meg Mac

Thats great practical advice from latchbrook. I just wanted to tell you our experience. When my mum was diagnosed she was told probably weeks rather than months. Later she was told with chemo 6-8 months. She had Gemcetibine which I assume looking at your dads cycle could be what he is on. Her oncologist recommended she didn’t travel abroad but didn’t ban it. My mum was a huge traveler all her life and she hated the thought of never going on holiday again. We decided that we would leave it until after chemo and reconsider. She had 5 cycles of chemo and was so fit and well during it we could easily have gone away on her weeks break. We had lots of little trips and days out but no holiday. After chemo she had a couple of terrible months until she went on steroids and had a few fantastic weeks and her oncologist cleared her to travel “sooner rather than later “. We had a trip to France to my sisters house planned and she really was looking forward to it. 

We never made it to France. A particularly nasty infection quickly followed by both bile duct stent and duodenal stents blocking had her going downhill very quickly. Soon after she had a stroke and that was the end. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is if it’s important to your parents and his Oncologist approves then what the heck. If nothing else they will get pleasure from planning it but hopefully will go and have a fabulous time. Sorry to waffle. I hope it works out well x

Hi Meg Mac

When I started reading your thread I hoped that Latchbrook would comment on the discussion on travel insurance and you’ve had the bonus of Geoff and Kate commenting. I’d just like to pick up something Kate mentioned which was about her Mum’s planned trip to France. Something I learned in the PC experience was that actually doing things didn’t matter, the p,erasure was often got from talking about it and planning. Just a thought.

Squeaky

Thankyou all so much you are amazing!

dad is 81, Mum 80in Sept.  They had given up on holidays abroad due to mobility issues mainly so this is a surprise.

I would love them to go and it be a success, but only yesterday Dad was still recovering from Tuesdays chemo ( yes it is gemcitabine) and a bit under the weather and my Mum is unable to rationalise this in order to cope. She was telling my dad not to get depressed - he was a bit down because he felt uncomfortable, but not what I would call depressed. It’s because she, herself cannot cope, not Dads well being.  I have tried to talk to her and suggested she needs to give my dad some rope.  She ran back into the house crying. She wouldn’t allow him to try one of his anti sickness drugs ‘because he didn’t feel sick just uncomfortable’.

Mum suffers from anxiety when she can’t control the people and things around her. She won’t visit her GP but it can and does make life very difficult at times. It’s this that worries me most of all. Should Dad be taken I’ll whilst they’re away, she will not be able to handle the situation without support.

we have spoken with Dads GP about this but unless Mum will engage with them, there’s not much they can do.

I will take a look at the travel insurance pages - thankyou, and I think I need to talk to Dad about taking out the insurance and offer to do it on their behalf.  

Thankyou again

mm

Hi Meg Mac

a belatedly response to the travel insurance question

in the daily telegraph [other newspapers are available] some months ago there was an article about which companies they recommended for those with cancer. I haven't got the date but it was a Saturday edition so a trawl through that papers web site may help. it was headed Checklist : Insurance and Health Matters by Sophie Butler

good luck

Kevin

Thankyou Kevin, I will look for that.

very much appreciated.

mm