Not looking for medical advice just overall experience.

Ask your doctor as everyone has a different treatment and response to cancer treatment. Also, can you push the trip up a month or so?

did you do any google? I bet cancer treatment and travel is quite a common topic. also depending on your insurance you may or may not be covered since it will hinge of the definitions of things like sickness, illness, treatment, etc.

Hi Kathleen,

First off, may I say how terribly sorry am I am to hear your health news and wish you a full and speedy recovery. As regards travel, I think you need to be guided first and foremost by your doctors rather than any well meaning advice you might receive on this forum. And of course, everyone is different, so there’s probably no general rule of thumb. I would also consult with your travel insurers even if given the thumbs up from your medicos. They need little encouragement not to pay out on any possible claim, especially if they feel you’ve not been entirely honest with them.

I hope you do make it to Scotland, even if the clever money says postpone it for the immediate future. I hope your grandson even at his tender years would be more concerned about your health than undertaking a trip against professional advice and/or perhaps risking your recovery. And, obligingly, Scotland will wait for you if necessary.

Good luck with your treatment.

Ian

Let me say I am sorry to hear of this diagnosis and wish you a complete recovery. But also that you will allow yourself to adequately heal.
There are times when kids need to learn life lessons and expecting a grandma to travel so soon after chemo may be too much coddling. Also, depending on his age, will he be stressed to feel responsible for you when traveling, or worried something will happen to you with you both far from home?
Travel insurance may allow you to cancel based of medical recommendation, but medical insurance while traveling may have stipulations of what they will cover should you become ill with the cancer or chemo while away. It may depend on dates of purchase and dates of diagnosis. They may also consider earlier doctor appointments that lead up to this diagnosis as defining it as 'pre existing conditions and not cover it. Bes to review all the pages of fine print.
Perhaps if you decide to cancel those dates with your grand son, you have arranged alternate dates in a few more months so he knows it isn't fully off the table. And do something close to home for the dates you had Scotland planned.

Thank you Ian for your kind words. He would understand it was just the perfect time for several other reasons. Ah, those hiccups life likes to present. Yes, Diane I will talk to doctors at my visits. I realize everyone is different was just hoping to hear some success stories. I purchased the travel insurance months ago when I first purchased the plane tickets. So no deception there.

Kathleen -

You need to tell the insurance company about your diagnosis, treatment and prognosis when established. I speak from experience, having to take permanent medication for crummy family blood which makes me prone to DVT’s, and gout. Also I am the proud owner of a new ceramic hip with an arthritic original one on the other side - I make sure my travel insurers know about these in great and tedious detail, whether they want to or not! This leaves them zero wriggle room in the event I need to make a claim (God forbid, but you never know….) and they can never say “well, you should have told us about that when taking out your policy” as I know some at least would do!

Ian

With cancer, I would say the sooner the better to do the trip.

A neighbor went on a European cruise and had a heart attack and needed to have the paddles to have his heart started again. I think it's a good idea to bring your medical records in case you need to talk to a doctor somewhere. My experience with doctors in a few places is that there is usually someone who speaks English but be prepared with google translate - maybe with prepared commentaries in the language of the country. Also check your health insurance. I think some of them require you to pay cash out of hand for emergencies or emergency transport back to the US and then ask for reimbursement

I apologize if this is not the type of advice you are looking for, but if you have not received a second opinion on your treatment, I urge you to do so. My sister and mother are both cancer survivors and I cannot stress enough the importance of getting a second opinion.

I wish you the best.

Kathleen, my insurance comments were not to intimate you were trying to deceive anyone...but to not give the insurance company more fuel to deny any claim you may need to make.
For all our comments, however, everyone is different, and with your current diagnosis and not yet starting treatment, can you wait to decide until after treatment is done? I would assume that cancellation for medical reasons can be done until close to the actual travel date.

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I love this forum for just these sincere types of responses. I guess in my heart I know this is most likely going to mean a delay. All very new and yes, I am scheduled for a second opinion. I appreciate all the tips.
Kathleen

Kathleen, perhaps your doctor would be the best source of guidance. I'm looking forward to your trip report!

Hi Kathleen, sorry to hear this and I hope you make a speedy recovery.

It is best to seek your doctor's advice and also any medical insurers you use.

NHS Scotland has this site and a fact sheet for overseas visitors as to what and what is covered if you fall ill in Scotland. NHS treatment available roughly the same for travellers from some countries as local residents, but not others and one of the big others because of the US system is the US.

You will have 5-6 weeks of treatment to assess whether or not you will feel up to the trip. Then once over, what does you doc say about such a trip? What happens after such treatment?
It seems it would be dependent upon how you feel, physically. What is the usual course of reaction to such treatment, and after?
This is a time of your life where you have to balance fear and hope. My feelings would be that I would not want to corner myself by the fear and not go on that trip. It is easy to pass on a trip, but you set a precedent for yourself. See it as a stand up and fight moment. You will have a month of no treatment after the last of your chemo. Self assess. How do you feel? Anything that happens at home could happen on a trip. Can you deal with it? Surely in that month you can figure this out.
I would certainly get travel insurance in case of cancellation. Then you have your fallback. But I see you have all that already.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/cancer/practical-issues/travel-and-cancer

Ask the oncology nurses who will be giving you the chemo and radiation about recovery time and what it's like. And fellow patients as well, if there is a support group. Our family experience was that they knew more of what to expect during recovery than the docs.

Kathleen, I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s hard.

Unfortunately, i don’t think anyone here can give you meaningful feedback because everyone’s experience with cancer treatment is unique to his or herself.

I have been through both chemo and radiation many years ago, and could have easily traveled a month after completing treatment, but likely my diagnosis, specific treatment, and physical condition are different from yours, and it is this combination that will determine how you feel when it’s all over.

Talk to your oncologist.. In my experience, he or she will be very good at predicting your capabilities both during and after treatment.

And, as another poster suggested, I would get good travel insurance and hold off on making a decision until as late as possible. You just never know how you’re going to feel after going through something like this. It would be a shame to cancel early and miss the opportunity to travel with your grandson if you wind up feeling capable.

Best of luck to you! The next few weeks will be tough, but I hope you are healed and feel good after it’s over.

Thank you all for the kind thoughtful suggestions. This has helped me a lot. Good advice all around. As I said, it is early days and I can cancel up to the first of May. Getting my second opionion March 13th and will be looking for a support group.
Kathleen

Like DebVT I felt wonderful after chemo and radiation, a month before travel plans after having had chemo then radiation over 30 days.
In 2018 after chemo ended I reserved and paid for our Europe trip, purchased travel insurance that had the pre existing coverage benefit. I asked the Dr. if radiation could start as soon as possible as I had a trip planned two and half months away. I felt wonderful after radiation ended, full of energy, no side effects, just a little tired at times during the process.
Three days before the trip my husband had stomach discomfort, probably food poisoning so we had to cancel and ended up submitting the insurance claim for spouse illness! Well in 2019 at ages 66 and 78 we not only took the trip but traveled for three weeks instead of the two planned in 2018.
All good advice given in this thread, just think positive and take it day by day. I would talk to the Dr. now to help with the decision to hold off canceling until treatments end. You’ll succeed too !

Hi Kathleen, I should add if you do come and need emergency treatment, this is generally free for all at outpatient (A&E/the ER). Not as an inpatient.

I was treated for breast cancer several years ago. Four months of what they call dose dense treatments every two weeks. The weeks that I had treatment I would be tired, and have joint pain that kept me from walking too much, but then the following week I would be fine. I did not need any radiation, though, and people who have had radiation say that is what made them continually tired. The bigger problem with chemotherapy is what it does to your brain. I really felt slow, mentally, and it was quite frustrating. But, your treatment sounds like it is quite different from what I had, so you really should talk to your doctors, and maybe read some cancer forums where you will find other people who have had the same treatments. I wish you luck with everything, and hope you don’t have to cancel your trip.