And now time for a quick trip report on dialysis is South Africa. Last November I talked my wife into heading to South Africa for a quick safari and then some time in Cape Town.
Qatar Airways ("the five star airline") had just joined the OneWord airline alliance so we were able to us our American Airlines miles for a One Word Explorer award, the benefit of this now retired award was that it is distance based and you could do stopovers as you desire as long as you fly two One World carriers. That allowed us to fly business class to Johannesburg via Doha on Qatar, go on a Safari near Johannesburg and then continue on to Cape Town on British Airways. Nothing too complicated for this type of award but still a great award - especially in light of the fact American retired the award as part of their merger with US Airways.
So I booked our flights in November and then in December started dialysis. In February I was able to get my Dialysis in Singapore - which is a very modern destination and found the center very similar to my center at home. But still I had some reservations heading to Africa and getting my dialysis. But from my research and feedback on the forum ihatedialysis.com (
http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=30787.0 ) it sounded like the private healthcare system in South Africa is good - but not the public system. Also throughout the summer I received some calls from the kidney transplant center so I thought by the time the trip hit I'd have a new kidney and need to cancel the trip. So we bought good travel insurance and waited until the departure day.
Using the website globaldialysis.com I reached out to two centers in Johannesburg via email and only FMC Morningside Kidney and Dialysis Center responded (
http://www.globaldialysis.com/compon...ntrez2Id=43038 ). The prices sounded reasonable and they took some orders from my center with out the need for a specific form or an AIDS test like Singapore required. A few weeks before departure the coordinator at Morningside recommended a Cape Town site and I was able to get spots there. In general the centers were very accommodating and let me have my preferred times. I appreciate that since at some centers that means someone gave up a time slot to accommodate me.
Finally the day arrived and we headed out to Dulles and waited for our flight in the stylish Virgin America lounge. The Qatar Airways business class service was wonderful, not as intimante as first class but the food and service was comparable. We arrived in Qatar just in time to do the last free city tour of the day. Braving 104* weather a 8 PM we got to see some of the new downtown that sprung up since 2004. Then when we returned to the airport for a lounge dinner, then headed to the Marriott for four hours of sleep before continuing on to Johannesburg.
Our Doha to Johannesburg flight was on the fairly new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It was a nice flight, but for couples it doesn't really offer close seating, and when in a bed position the window seats have a fairly tight area for your feet. My personal feeling is that for couples the older Boeing plains flying to Dulles are nicer.
Upon arrival to Johannesburg we took the nice modern Gautrain to Sandton and walked a few blocks over to the Hilton. After waiting about 45 minutes for checkin we were offered a decent suite with lounge access. The excitement for the nap was a stewardess entering our room well we were napping - I guess its hard to figure out when you put someone in room!
So the next morning at 5 am I walked over to the dialysis center. It looked to be in a business park connected to a hospital so I entered the hospital and they had someone walk me over through the dark business center to the appropriate building.
At the dialysis center I found very modern facility with newer machines. As in Singapore they provide a drink and a snack during the session, which is quite nice. The snack was actually a grilled cheese. Clearly the labor costs are lower as there are people doing specific jobs, such as serving food, setting up the dialysis machines and cleaning throughout the day. Overall it was a comfortable center and I was done a bit earlier than I expected so I was back at the hotel prior to Susan getting picked up to go on the Safari - which was good as I'd expect the driver would have had a hard time finding where the center was.
We spent three great nights at the lodge and got to see our fair share of animals! The highlight was a herd of about seven elephants visiting the watering hole right in front of the lodge.
After our safari we drove back to Johannesburg and I went directly to dialysis well Susan headed to the airport. Our 7:50 flight had been canceled so we were on a 7 PM flight with me arriving to dialysis at about 1 PM, however I was not hooked up until about 1:45 PM so I quickly realized that I could not do the full 3.5 hour session and cut it short to 3 hours. Even with that the time to get to the flight was very close. After I disconnected and walked out onto the street I experienced my first experience of a bleeding arm, so I had to head back for more tape. Luckily I arrived at the Gautrain just as one was arriving and I got to the airport with maybe 15 minutes to spare.
In Cape Town, I found a smaller facility, but with the same modern equipment. The snack was a cold chicken salad sandwich, apple, and tea. Not quite as good as the hot grilled cheese, but still much more civilized then at home, where nothing is offered. The one downside is the center was about 30 or 40 minutes from City Bowl. Later on the street we saw a dialysis center very close to Long Street and City Bowl, that would have been much more convenient - but harder to schedule since it didn't show up on the Global Dialysis site.
So far I've only seen very good facilities when traveling and see no need to let dialysis keep you at home - as long as your underlying medical issues are stable and you have private insurance that reimburses the session cost.
Once you move to Medicare (after 3 years) they don't cover outside of the US treatment. So far international treatments have been just under $300 per session. (That is about what Medicare pays at home, versus my insurance that is billed $5,400, and then pays a negotiated rate of $1,400.)
In addition to international travel I've had treatments at DaVita centers in Austin, Boise, and Kansas City and they are are comparable to my local center.
(Sorry no photos attached showing the Johannesburg center's checkin, machines, my snack and a few safari photos - because I can not upload the photos - if you want those find my posts on Milepoint or iHateDialysis>)