If you do manage to get accepted for proton treatment in America, you will need to plan ahead.
- You will not be able to get travel insurance coverage for the person with cancer but the accompanying family should do so.
- You should contact the American Embassy and ask them for the correct entry visa into the United States, remember that people from all over the world go there for medical treatment and basically they will want to know how long you are going to be there and where you will be staying.
- Make sure that when you are fundraising that you calculate for the following:
- Living expenses- food, clothing and accomodation.
- If the patient is a child, ask the proton centre about staying at a Ronald McDonald house, they are usually located near a children's hospital and are geared up to accommodate neutropenic children plus they are only about £50 pounds per week per family and the accommodation is of a high standard.
- Work out what it would cost you here per week and then multiply that by the number of weeks that the treatment lasts for. If you are not a child, the proton centre usually has a "social worker" to help you set up accommodation before you arrive. Social worker just means case worker and they have extensive local knowledge and can usually advise you on local amenities.
- Travel- when you book your flight try to keep your return open as the proton centres shut for public holidays and there may be days when you will be delayed having your treatment. The gantry's that deliver the protons can occasionally break down, but generally you will receive your treatment from Monday until Friday. They can schedule your treatment times from 6am when they open until late at night depending on their workload.
- The public transportation system is a bit more limited than ours, so you may find that you need to hire a car. Shop around on line for this or ask your social worker for a particular company that they recommend. Make sure that you take your drivers license with you as ID is asked for in many instances(ie when you use your credit cards)
- Because you cannot get insurance for the person with cancer, make sure that you have extra funds available should that person become ill and have to be treated at the local hospital. This is very expensive, so if you can increase your limit on your credit card, that could be one way to pay if the patient becomes ill.
- You will have the weekend off and part of the day, make sure that you ask your social worker about the best attractions in the area, hopefully you will find some of them are free. For example, when Alex was not on treatment, I took him to one of the beautiful beaches in Jacksonville for some fresh air or we went to the park.
- Try to enjoy your stay there and turn it into a positive experience, remember that the treatment itself is painless and make the most of your opprtunity to be an American for a couple of months.
- Eating out is relativley cheap but may not be that healthy so try to find a good local supermarket nearby and make sure that you eat a balanced diet.
- You can use your switch card over in the States if its got a Cirrus, Maestro or Delta symbol on it and you can withdraw cash from the cashpoint with it (they are called ATM's ) I don't advise that you try to get cash out from your credit card as this is expensive.
- Do you need to have any other treatments whilst you are there? Alex had to have his particular tumour removed followed by prompt proton treatment two weeks later, which meant that he could not have the surgery in the UK because you cannot fly within six weeks of surgery. This was beyond our budget but you can arrange an easy payment plan with the hospital in advance if necessary.
- Do you require chemotherapy at the same time as proton? this can be arranged with the help of the proton centre but will require additional money.
