Living Without HepC

A few weeks ago, I referred to booking a break in Spain. The time came last week and we were off. I had planned to continue my blogging while I was away - but a complete break from everything was too tempting.

So this is to say I am now back - and blogging! Although it was cold for Spain, we enjoyed mid-days sitting in the sunshine. Apart from the last two nights when I didn’t sleep as long as I would have liked, I feel rested and relaxed. And it was good to catch up with friends and relatives in Spain and hear their news.

I think I even took a bit of a break from being “on treatment” - yes, I took my meds, of course, but didn’t spend much time thinking or talking about my various symptoms and side-effects, as there was so much else to focus on. I felt like I had joined the rest of ‘ordinary life’ for a bit and this was enjoyable.

On a practical note about travelling while on treatment, airline regulations require passengers to declare they are travelling with medications such as injections. They also require a letter from the doctor stating you need to take the medications you are carrying. It is necessary (with the airline I flew with) to let their staff know when you check in and have the doctor’s letter ready.

Because Pegasys needs to be stored at a cool temperature I took it in a cool bag in my hand luggage (where temperature and air pressure are controlled). I also took the medications leaflets for Pegasys & Copegus with me - in case of medical emergency so full information about my meds would be available. Needless to say, I also took a yellow sharps box with me. I also took a ’spare’ injection of Pegasys with me in case something went wrong (I remember the time I couldn’t get rid of a large air bubble in the meds syringe) and extra Copegus.

I was apprehensive how this would work on the day - would security pick up the needle while x-raying my hand luggage etc. However it was no problem in the event, travelling both to and from London. Only thing I can add is to advise others who are travelling during treatment to check with their airline about their requirements when tickets are booked.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 11th, 2005 at 10:02 am and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.