Hello,

My Dad (70) has recently taken a trip to New Zealand to see his Daughter (My Sister) and their family for Christmas and his Birthday (Feb). After a few days there he experienced a seizure (1st ever afaik) and was taken to hospital. He has since been discharged but they found a mass on his chest (~3cm), inflammation around his heart lymph nodes as well as blood clots. The suspicion is the mass is cancerous and has caused a Pulmonary Embolism which in turn caused the seizure.

This is obviously very shocking for the family and I have some concerns given he's currently on a trip to New Zealand. Health insurance won't pay for a biopsy whilst he's there, he can't travel back safely with the blood clotting (probably this side of Christmas, he's been prescribed blood thinners) he will be in touch with his GP in the coming days but I'm wondering how urgently we should treat this, he's a little bit stuck time wise as he needs to get the blood clots under control before he can fly home and the cost of a biopsy in Auckland is at least £2k (with a 4 week wait anyway). I think we'll try and get him home in January but its all very shocking and really I'm just having a vent.