I'm suppose to be going to Japan in May and have to pay my balance in two weeks ££££££. to the agent we've booked through. I am so worried about this virus and don't know what to beleive or who to trust with advice. It goes from one extreme to the other, some cancelling and others not thinking twice about still travelling to Asia and calling people alarmist that are worrying travellers. I've travelled to Europe a lot since my diagnoses 5 years ago but I've not been on a long haul flight. I try not to let ET restrict and worry me in any way normally but this I am concerned about and have just discovered I doubt we'll be covered by insurance as we didn't take out the extra cover for health outbreaks arising in the country we might be travelling to. Who would think you'd need to do that to visit a clean, sophisticated, orderly country like Japan. Take this as a warning if you have travel insurance, check it out. Is anyone else in this travel predicament of not knowing whether to go to Asia?
Scared: I'm suppose to be going to Japan in May... - MPN Voice
Scared
Hi Linda, , boy what a predicament you are faced with. . I must say straight up I don't know what option you should choose. But I certainly wouldn't call it alarmist being concerned about going anywhere at present. Like you I too am worried that if I fall prey I may not survive it given my compromised immune system. I wear a mask when visiting clinic in Manchester Royal or attending my GP surgery due to increased chance of catching a cold or virus so I don't think I'm being alarmist just realistic given how this virus can also be carried and passed on by asymptomatic people.
Apparently there are 9 reported cases in the UK to date. Let's hope it remains low risk as I don't want to quarantine myself but I will if needs be.
I've just spent 10 minutes looking for advice and found that Japan tourism is indeed suffering with some normally busy tourism hot spots very quiet. So that might be good if there are fewer folk about. There is also a Japanese (available in english) visitor hellie. And advice about travel on the Govt website along with advice to check with your agent, insurers etc. On one Japanese site it said it would be expensive should you require hospitalisation. .
Obviously only you know how much you potentially stand to lose should you cancel and can't convince your insurer to reimburse you, , maybe on grounds of your existing ET, , doubtful I know.
Im no statistician but I would say the odds of contracting Covid must be greater travelling around than staying close to home ? Today I town in Italy is on lock down according to the news.
I'm sorry if I'm a tad doom and gloom but it's a very difficult topic you've raised and I'm sure we're not alone in our concerns , ,
Do as much research as you can in the time left before your balance is due.
Good Luck whichever way you choose to go.
Regards Chris
It would be worth contacting your travel agent and explain your concerns. They might not be contractually obliged to help you but there is no harm in trying for a postponement to a later date. They can only say no.
Depending on your medications you might be able say that your immune system is compromised and you are at much greater risk from the virus. Not good PR for the agent or the travel company.
If things get worse in the region you might find the trip gets cancelled and you'd be due a full refund.
It might also be worth checking with your insurance company. They might take a view on the potential of a claim for a long hospital stay against the cost of paying your cancellation fee.
Hi Linda
I am traveling to Japan and Taiwan in May and June. Some airlines are offering refunds or rebooking options
I will hang on and see as the numbers are very low most seem connected to the cruise ship. Japan has 125 million people But l totally understand originally l was going to Beijing but the airline allowed complete cancellation - it’s a difficult one and especially if your on meds
Do you take Heparin on long flights l find this a nightmare especially in Japan
Been four times and always questioned abt syringes
Never anywhere else.
I would definitely take out medical insurance regardless of the Corona.
Thank you all for your wise words, I am going to call the insurance company today and we're going to read their 72 page cover more thoroughly than we did when we took it out at Christmas. I've learnt a lesson from this. I hope you get away Dovme and all is ok. I've not been on a long haul flight since being diagnosed. I'd been recommended to inject myself with a blood thinner before both flights. I understand I'll have to carry a letter with me to verify the complaint, drug and syringe. You obviously like Japan, I've just turned 70 and it was my present to visit for the first time this year. I'm more than a little upset about it. I have been reading official sites and Trip Advisor comments, a lot from people living in Japan but sometimes too much information makes one more confused. I will discuss it with my haematologist next week, that and what the insurers say will make up my mind.
The situation is very precarious at the moment....I think the insurance companies would be honour bound to repay any deposits paid. This is a world wide concern. I personally would not go anywhere near an aircraft at this time. I feel sorry for those of you with upcoming special trips .....but is it worth the risk of exposure ?
Regards Sandy.
Hello Linda, I just thought my experience with insurance might be of some use. I was diagnosed with MDS/MPD last June, low risk - on aspirin and watch and wait. My partner and I are due to travel to Morocco in March. He phoned them and our regular travel insurers said they wouldn't cover me for my condition. I am not particularly worried about that, being low risk and not having any medication to speak of. But the important thing is that you declare the condition to your insurers because non-disclosure might render your policy void if you do contract anything unrelated while abroad.
Thanks for that but I have declared both our medical problems and medication. They make it quite clear in the policy though, in big bold letters, that its a holiday insurance cover not a medical one so I'm going to look into that a bit more. Good luck with your holiday plans, I find the Telegraph website on holiday info very informative.
Well yes I agree, I'm actually in bed now getting over the worst cold I've had for years. I went to the Canaries on the 4th Feb. Goodness where I got this, could have been a flight, there was lots of coughing. This has made me more anxious about Japan, I think I may be getting too worked up about it. Can we worry too much about our health though, I don't think so. We have to be realistic and sensible. The young and fit are braver, I was in my 20's 30's etc but something happens when you get older, sometimes irrational fear.
The last time I was in Morocco I got the most awful flu (before my MPN was diagnosed). It was at the end of the first week but it left me really weak with a very bad cough and found it difficult to breathe walking any distance (could that have been the start of my MDS/MPN? Maybe). It's quite possible that I took the virus with me or that I caught it on the plane going over. Perhaps we should all start wearing masks on flights, wherever they are heading. They are supposed to fumigate the cabin after a flight but it's suspicious how many times people catch something when in flight.
A friend always uses First Defense(most chemist should sell this) up her nostrils for a few days before a flight and swears by it. I'm going to from now on.
Thanks for that. I take Rosehips every day and they are very successful, but for a booster, I will see if I can get hold of that.
When I asked 5 years ago if they knew what caused my ET I was told it was most probably a virus, if it's a particularly virulent one the body goes into overdrive to get rid of it and never goes back to normal, they don't know why this happens. Maybe that's what caused yours.
That's very interesting, Linda. However, I have an MDS as well with my haemaglobin not being properly produced by the bone marrow, so I doubt my haematologist will even consider it. But now that you have mentioned it, I had very little wrong with me until I got that flu. Then later I was diagnosed with OA in one knee and I am sure it is spreading to other limbs. And then I got the shock diagnosis of MDS/MPN, weak from resting my leg, and now I'm just below par physically, almost as if I never recovered totally from the flu. This is all within the last two to three years. I've got a cough now that shows nothing on x-ray but I suspect it is in my throat rather than my lungs and I don't want to travel with something minor like this that could turn nasty in a different climate. I still think you could be right about a virus, especially as I haven't been told which gene, if any, has mutated. Could a virus cause a gene mutation ... ? I have yet to find out how flying affects me now that things are different.
Thank you for bringing this up, you are prompting me to do some more thinking.. I have PV (Jak2) and am also planning to travel to Japan, in April, to visit our daughter who is out there for a few months. We have already paid the full amount on our flights and I don't believe having PV affects my travel insurance ( nor local medical costs). So far I am not too worried about the coronavirus as issues typically tend to get pretty blown up in the news and sound a lot worse than they are - but that is obviously a very personal point of view which you should ignore if you are worried. Should the situation change (e.g. a massive increase of cases in Japan) of course I would reconsider travelling (and be worried about my daughter ...) . During the past year since my diagnosis, I have been on a couple of long-haul (12 hour) flights (plus several shorter flights) : I make sure I stand up every hour and walk/exercise a little, wear compression socks and drink a lot of water. I also make sure that I have my blood checked a week or two before I travel and get all values in order (phlebotomy only so far). Am on daily low-dose aspirin only. and have had no problems so far from flying. As you may have guessed my PV is not causing me too many problems (I am 58 and in good physical shape so considered low-risk) and my idea is that I want to do all these things now whilst I can as the future is uncertain...
Hi please don't let my fears concern you too much, I don't want to be responsible for causing mass hysteria on this forum. I was just interested to know if anyone was in a similar position to me. I suppose having family there helps you can get first hand and truthful feedback from someone living there that you can trust. If you don't feel you're in an at risk category, feel healthy and can cope with tourist spots and sites possibly being closed, as you will presumably mainly be visiting family, you should be ok. You might be interested to read the Trip A forum on the subject, the common thread is take your own masks and plenty of hand sanitiser and above all else make sure you're insured as hospitalisation could be expensive if the worst happened. I hope it goes well for you.
Was just listening to BBC radio 4, the Today programme had experts on to answer questions about corona virus concerns from listeners. One expert said to consider not travelling unless essential if you are elderly or have a compromised immune system/ are on treatment that suppresses the immune system, and included Japan in that. Obviously that is only one expert opinion, another said the riskiest part of any travel is going through a busy airport, and recommended face masks before entering busy, international travel places.
They also said that viral outbreaks are generally seasonal, and they think it is likely to be peaking around now. The last one, the chicken virus, died down swiftly once the 'virus season ' passed.
I thought of you as I was listening.....I hope you do manage to go, I've always wanted to go to Japan. Am crossing my fingers for you!
Ps, if you're in Britain you can listen to the programme on the BBC iPlayer,it's at the end of the programme,in the last 10 minutes
Thanks I'll listen to that tomorrow. We've already decided to cancel, well postpone, our trip until next Spring. My travel agent contacted me and said America is advising the elderly and people with any illness affecting their immune systems not to go. She thinks the UK will follow and soon possibly advise against non necessary travel eventually.
Than you for the advice . I do hope you will be ok. Will you loose lots of money if you cancel.If you do It could be the lesser of two evils just for peace of mind.
If you go ahead try and have a wonderful time.
Im assuming you are keeping an eye on gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic... which currently doesn't say you can't travel but does say symptoms could be worse in older people or those with preexisting medical conditions. The UK has increased its risk level so probably no worse off going abroad. There are various precautions that can be taken to reduce risk, which probably worth looking into. If you aren't sure if your travel insurance will cover you then that would be my red flag, it's probably not worth it just in case you do have an issue, nothing worse then being lumbered with medical bills. If you know that your insurance will cover you then ask your medical team if they advise you cancel otherwise in 4 months it could all be gone & you have a great holiday to look forward to. If the government change advice to stop travel later on you will be covered & get your money back or a change in destination is often offered.
Morning !! I would not go If I were you. The new flu has spread and with so many people travelling back and forth, the planes will be unsafe places and the airports too.
I normally ignore warnings 
Have always been a daredevil, but one has to think about the fact that even if most of us won't catch the flu, we can still be carriers of it and cause damage and misery to other people.
The flu is not a "social disease" like TB and the pest but it still catches most violently in crowded areas, esp. factory centers, and if your immune defence is lowered, you could be one of its victims.
You should understand that if it takes its grip on our food factory centers, we will get something like famine. Maybe not the ones of us who can afford fresh food every day, but the ones who mostly rely on canned, prewrapped and processed foods !!
Sorry for the doomsday prediction.
Yarrowleaf
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