Visiting Oxford

Last week was quite a strange one for me. While I managed to finish off my personal statement and fill in the vast majority of my UCAS application, my steroids meant that I was on edge, fidgety and prone to losing my temper a lot quicker than usual. However, I channeled most of that aggression into going to the gym and exercising, which helped more than I thought it would as I was too exhausted to argue with anyone!

On Friday evening, I drove about an hour and a half to Oxford with a friend to visit one of our mates who'd just moved into the Brookes University. He'd been there for about two weeks and seemed pretty settled in his new surroundings. The trip, which was really good fun, has made me look forward to University even more than before! At the moment, it's all I can really focus on and so I'm working my absolute hardest to give me the best possible chance of getting into the places I want to go. All my friends last year said that talking about University takes over your life and you find yourself not really thinking about too much else and I now know exactly what they mean, sometimes I have to stop myself from rambling on about a "new course I've found" or "types of accommodation" to my poor family, who are quite probably getting sick and tired of it all by now!

Anyway, I've got to keep remembering to put everything into some sort of perspective as there are other things that I need to focus on too, for instance, being nice to people when I'm on my steroids!

Not Too Much News To Report

I've now had nearly two weeks back at Sixth Form with my new year group and although it feels strange being back at a place that is so familiar to me, but where I now know very few people well, so far it's hasn't been the horrendous experience that I was maybe expecting. I've now settled into something of a routine, although this is easier said than done because at the moment my lessons are a bit all over the place! I don't have vast amounts to report this week hospital wise, but one thing that did make a change was that on Tuesday, after my Lumbar Puncture, instead of rushing home and feeling ill, I slept for another few hours and woke up feeling far better than I normally do. It's something I've always fought against, determined to get out of hospital as quickly as possible but in future I may rest for a bit longer after so much treatment.

Over the last couple of weeks I have kept myself busy whilst my friends depart one by one off to University. Therefore, since I've returned school, I have cracked on with writing a personal statement, joined a gym and even spoken on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust at the St. James' Place's Annual fundraiser, thanking them for their continued support for the charity. All of this has made me feel more secure about how this year will pan out and I'm now trying to look forward to getting my University Application sent off, getting the ball rolling for my last year at Sixth Form.

The Medical Side

As promised last week, in this post I'm going to write more about the medical aspects of my trip across Europe. The first thing I had to do before I left England was plan my route so that I could buy the travel/health insurance that would encompass all the countries that I planned on visiting. This was an aspect of the trip that was a difficult to stomach as naturally the insurance quotes I initially received were sometimes in excess of £400 and yet my friends were only quoted to pay £10! However, my consultants recommended a few insurers that have specialised policies for people with cancer and a whole list can be found on the Macmillan Cancer Support website whose link I shall leave at the bottom of the page. After calling all insurance suppliers that were recommended to me, my best price was quoted by Freedom Travel Insurance at just under £150, which, while still expensive, was the cheapest policy by almost £70, again, the link to their specific website is below.

After securing extensive health insurance, I then made sure that I had enough chemotherapy with me on the trip to last all 21 days and that I had a few extra "spare days" just in case of an emergency. I was a little unsure whether airport security would question my multitude of unmarked white tablets, but I wasn't stopped or questioned in a single country. However, just to err on the side of caution, my consultants at Gloucester Hospital had written letters for me in 2 or 3 different languages which explained my treatment and what to do in case of an emergency.

My consultants had also wanted me to take a blood test while I was away, to make sure that I suddenly hadn't become neutropenic and become more susceptible to infection and illness. Therefore, my friends and I planned the first half of our trip meticulously so that on the morning of the 6th day, I was in Berlin and could get the results I needed. However, I would urge people who are being told that they similarly need to take a blood test abroad to do 2 things. The first being that it is very important to take a European Health Insurance Card as without it, the blood test would have cost me in the region of £350. Secondly, call the hospital prior to visiting. I didn't call ahead and just turned up at the first German hospital I could find, which actually turned out to be a sexual health clinic so was told to go across the road to the main building! Once I was in the right place however, my results for one finger prick took 6 hours to arrive which I could have easily avoided by calling ahead.

Daunting though it may have seemed at first, I would strongly urge people not to be put off by insurance companies and other obstacles when planning trips abroad, I still had a fantastic time away despite the extra precautions due to my health.

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Livingwithandaftercancer/Practicalissues/Travel/Companies.aspx

http://www.freedominsure.co.uk/