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Coming From Abroad

BenUK
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Hi All,

Background: first time I've had someone who is close to me to have cancer and it's my Father. He was diagnosed with both brain and lung cancer abroad.

My head is all over the place and have tried to come to terms with this recently, as much as I can.

First of all, I'm trying to get my Father back to the UK as he was only suppose to be abroad for a year but the pandemic halted that for an extra 2 years and was originally thought he had a stroke (2 weeks ago) but after MRI & CT scans they found cancer in the lungs and was malignant that spread to his brain (the doctors abroad said it was stage 4).

What I would like to know is what would I need to do when he arrives back in the UK? I wasn't sure If I should go straight to hospital, the GP, etc. Before asking all the questions that I have in my head..

Thank you for taking your time reading this and any help would be much appreciated.

Ben

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    Hi Ben,

     we are in much the same position with my sister in law. She has been diagnosed with Stage 3 endometrial cancer and had been living in Spain.

    The hospital in Spain printed her medical records and put all of the scans on a CD for her to bring home.

    We registered her with the GP surgery as soon as she got here and explained the cancer diagnosis. A two week wait referral was made to our local hospital and although it has taken more than 2 weeks we have now received a call from the oncologist. On the same day the hospital phoned with a CTscan appointment and we are waiting for another appointment for a biopsy as there was not enough info in her medical records. The oncologist assured me that none of this will delay treatment. 
     

    I telephoned both our GP surgery and the local hospital (oncology admin) before my sister in law arrived just to find out how quickly things were likely to be put in place and it has all gone relatively smoothly. 
     

    Our thinking was that there was no way my sister in law could deal with cancer treatment in another country with no family to support her, especially once chemo and radiotherapy were mentioned.

    I hope this helps, I think we are in a fairly unusual situation but hopefully there are others on here that will also have some experience of this. I wish you and your Dad all the best, take care x

  • Offline in reply to NikkiL

    Hi NikkeL,

    Thank you very much for the reply and I'm glad I'm not alone in this terrible situation we are both going through.

    I tried to re-register my Father to the GP as they had removed him from there as he was abroad (due to the pandemic) and they said he must be in the country before we can register him but like you said you registered your sister in law right when she got back to the UK, just frustrating when I'm trying to plan this out for his arrival.

    Again, thank you for your reply it's truly appreciated. And I hope the treatment goes well for your sister in law.

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