Query around metastatic advanced prostate cancer

Best wishes,

Chris

The insurance premium is not necessarily an issue but is it really worth paying say £1500 (I did do a quick google) for something that the insurers might try and wriggle out of.

Realistically we are going to see how husband deals with the treatment as the tickets can be used up until Dec 2022.

I am sorry I am trying to distract myself from all of this by doing what some might see as very mundane things.

Any companies you can suggest or what about a broker?

I am planning to use this forum if I may for some support. This is all horribly new and confusing to me.

Thank you for the quick response. He has advanced prostate cancer spread to lymph nodes and bones although his consultant has said his age is in his favour. I just don’t want to be a widow so young and we were going to do so many things. He looks normal. He has a CT scan next week to baseline him and then start on his treatment.

I am really really scared.

I need to just steer in another direction I guess. My parents are still alive, I thought I was going to go through this sort of thing with them. It’s funny how life has a way of getting its own back when you think you have done it all your own way.

Hi corrie,

This thread discusses the issue. 

https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t21596-Travel-Insurance-so-high

When I suggested avoid the USA, I was going to qualify it "unless you have, family or a compelling reason to go". I decided my post would be a bit long if I did that. 

As a general rule I avoid insurance, but rlast year had a short break in the former USSR state Georgia. It was about a year after treatment and I decided to get insurance and not exclude PC. Now I'm more comfortable with the treatment outcome and no serious side effects for a couple of years, I would be happy to exclude PC and get the lower premium. 

As I said earlier PC is not likely to spring any emergency surprises on you during a holiday. I would say the main reason you need medical insurance on a holiday, is things like road traffic accidents, so if the premium, is much cheaper without PC cover that's what I would get. But if it is not much more to include PC then I would get that, so the insurers have no excuse the try and avoid paying claims if he had a kidney infection, or some other problem they would attempt to blame on the cancer. 

As others have said get yourself on holiday, as soon as you can where ever you will enjoy yourself. 

Hi Corrie ,my husbands cancer is incurable N1M1 Gleason 4+5 .He’s now over 5years from diagnosis,still working and enjoying holidays when permitted ! I’ve just renewed our annual worldwide insurance with Nationwide flex plus account for an additional £132.00 a year .That’s on top of the monthly £13 that covers other things etc .
Best of luck and go out and enjoy your holidays .
Debby

Edited by member 23 Jan 2021 at 07:03  | Reason: Not specified

"As I said earlier PC is not likely to spring any emergency surprises on you during a holiday. I would say the main reason you need medical insurance on a holiday, is things like road traffic accidents, so if the premium, is much cheaper without PC cover that's what I would get. But if it is not much more to include PC then I would get that, so the insurers have no excuse the try and avoid paying claims if he had a kidney infection, or some other problem they would attempt to blame on the cancer."

While it is true that PCa is unlikely to spring a holiday emergency in most cases, there are some things like a bone with mets fracturing unexpectedly - it wouldn't matter whether the bone had been broken in a normal fall ... the insurer would be unlikely to pay out if mets were present.
To me, the most important thing about having full cover rather than with PCa excluded is for the time between booking and travelling. If you have to cancel, you are usually liable for part if not full cost and travel insurance can then refund your losses. If you get cover excluding PCa and then die (even from some unrelated cause but PCa is mentioned on the death certificate), or break a metastasised bone and can't fly, or develop lymphodema and are advised not to fly, or the HT isn't controlling the cancer and the oncologist decides that you need to start chemo 3 weeks before you were supposed to go on holiday, then you have to accept that all the holiday costs will have to be covered yourselves. For some people that wouldn't be an issue but our Sunday paper money supplement is frequently populated with people who had an illness or bereavement and then discovered that they weren't covered for the loss of their life savings on some dream holiday 😥

The last time we took John's mum to Australia before she died, her flight cost £3k and the insurance was a mindblowing £4.5k but we decided it was worth it for peace of mind! The insurance for John and I was less than £100 😂

Edited by member 23 Jan 2021 at 11:06  | Reason: Not specified

Another vote for Nationwide insurance. They covered me for our trip to Australia last year, had to pay an additional premium of £115 on top of the £13 a month.

We were sailing back to Singapore from Sydney but got turfed off in Fremantle due to the Covid shenanigans but Nationwide paid up pronto for our replacement flights.

They quoted me an additional £125 for this year but I've declined as we don't plan to go away until we've both had our vaccine.

I'm in Group 5 my wife in Group 7 so I reckon we've a few months wait then I'll contact Nationwide again.

At the end of the day if they refuse or the extra is more than you want to pay just cancel it .

Good luck

Debby

T4N1M1b.

PSA 136

Spread into pelvic lymph nodes with bilateral obturator and left common ilac Lymphadenopathy and also into the bones of C7 vertebra, sacrum, left ilium and left femur.

Please can someone help me understand this.

Hi Corrie,

I typed the big words in Google and chose to search images. I saw things which look like hip bones and spine bones. I'm not sure if some of OH issues are in lymph nodes near those bones rather than the bones themselves. If you do the same you will get some idea of which bits of his body are affected.

I think your earlier question regarding travel insurance needs thinking about; considering Lyn's statement about breaking a metastatic bone. Well if OH broke his hip or thigh and you have excluded PCa then they won't pay out. I don't know how fragile those bones are? 

"it's bad isn't it..." most posters on this forum are perhaps a bit more sensitive than me and couldn't bring themselves to reply to a statement like that. Well yes, it is bad, but your consultant has said it will be boring for a few years. I think you have to take that at face value. We have had people on here for many years occasionally over a decade with diagnosis similar to OH.

I have done this before and used to have private medical insurance in a previous role. HRT for me with a top specialist. Cost £300 and worth every penny. I wasn’t getting very far with GP who wanted to start me on the cheapest option. A couple of times with a skin condition for son and it was definitely worth it.

Husband is happy with his care but would just like a final check. He is open to a trial and honestly is tackling this in a very positive way. As he has NEVER been ill before I always thought he was going to be a complete nightmare.

Shows what I know...

We can fund if required for things not available on the NHS - is there anything I should be watching out for.

With incurable cancer, I can't see any benefit in going private for treatment although paying for a one off consultation as a second opinion is probably worthwhile. But it depends what you mean about the 'best' ones named in the Daily Mail ... if you are referring to the list of best urologists, that isn't much use to you as they are all dealing with men who are still suitable for surgery - you need an oncologist not a urologist. If you are referring to the June 2020 article on emerging treatments and a couple of the oncos quoted there, go for it.

Hi

My dad got prescribed Abiraterone last summer (after hormone injections stopped working) which he took for 3 months, sadly it did very little for him but made him quite ill (or that could have been the cancer spreading. We are in Scotland so slightly different rules to rest of the UK. I think when Abiraterone works it works really well but sadly not for every man.

i don’t think you can get Abiraterone after Enzalutamide if one does not work usually means the other will not work.

If your consultant recently mentioned HT with Enzalutamide then it sounds like it’s on offer to you?

My dad’s HT worked very well for 18 months, some men do well for years on Abiraterone or Enzalutamide.

anne

x

This shouldn't affect you - men can't have abiraterone after enzalutimide has failed anyway. As I think others have said on your other threads, your OH wouldn't normally have been offered enzalutimide at this stage (like abiraterone it is only approved for men after their normal HT has failed) but during the pandemic, normal practice has been suspended because enza is less risky than chemo. 

Hi Lyn I’m interested in your last comment about Chemo only working for about 50% of men. At what stage? Is that not at all? Only for a bit?  Oh finished in October but we were never told that’s there’s a 50/50 chance of it working/not working.