Travel
As much as I was excited about our trip to Europe, I was also very anxious about travelling with my medication and the possibility of having a relapse whilst travelling. Copaxone is a medication which needs to be refrigerated between 2-8 degrees celsius which meant I was faced with trying to keep my medication between this temperature for a long period of time given we were travelling from Australia to Europe.
I contacted the airline who advised me that the aircraft did have a small on-board fridge however they could not guarantee that they would have enough room to place my medication in their fridge. Even if they could guarantee this, there was a risk that the medication would not be kept between the required temperature. Not to mention, even if I was able to place my medication in this aircraft, it didn’t mean that the other flights we had booked could accommodate my medication. Another issue was the 100ml of liquid on-board rule, this meant ice packs over 100ml would not be allowed as they were still considered liquid when they melted. Regardless, there was no way to regulate the temperature of an ice pack to ensure the medication was kept at the required temperature. If I placed the medication in our checked in luggage, there was a risk that it could freeze in the cargo hold and if our luggage was lost, there was a risk that I wouldn’t have my medication whilst travelling which could increase the risk of having a relapse. At one point, I became so stressed that I considered cancelling our trip!
I then decided that I would not allow my medication to stop us from living my/our lives and decided to do some research online. I thought there had to be something out there to assist with these type of medications! I just couldn’t believe that there was no information about travelling with this medication, what did other people do? did they not travel? did they just risk having a relapse and travel without their medication?. After doing much research, I found a company called MedActiv who stocked a range of medicine cooler bags named iCool.
The iCool medicine cooler bags were created for diabetes medication however after reading more about them I discovered that they could also be used for Copaxone. I was right, there was something out there! I recall feeling so happy and crying out of joy! I contacted Medactiv who were so lovely to deal with and were happy to assist me.
iCool medicine bags are available in a number of sizes to accommodate all travel plans. Each iCool bag comes with one or two gel packs (depending on the size) which regulate the temperature within the medicine bag to the required temperature. You can also take them on-board an aircraft as gel is not considered a liquid. Feel free to check out the iCool range here.
We had initially planned to travel throughout Europe for 6 weeks during winter as we wanted to experience a romantic White Christmas however we didn’t really want to wait any longer than we already had. At the time, we only had 3 and 1/2 weeks to play with so we decided to shorten our trip and travel to 2 countries only, Germany and Italy. I actually felt more at ease about shortening our trip especially because it was the first time travelling internationally since being diagnosed with MS.
The next steps were to ensure all of the accommodation we booked had a fridge so that I could store my medication and to contact the nurse at the hospital to request a travel letter just in case we encountered any issues whilst travelling. The letter stated my medical condition, the amount of medication I was travelling with, the reason I was travelling with the iCool medicine bag which contained the gel packs and my neurologists contact details.
The last thing to do was to purchase travel insurance. This was an interesting experience as it was the first time purchasing travel insurance with an existing medical condition. I contacted the travel insurance company and they guided me through a medical assessment which involved answering some questions regarding my condition. They were pretty straight forward however I did feel uncomfortable talking about my condition.
It was now May 2016 and it was time to finally take our trip, we were so excited! We flew to Frankfurt, Germany and travelled from the north to the south of Germany and then throughout the north of Italy, it was such a magical experience! We absolutely loved every moment, I feel so grateful to have experienced this with my husband. All the hotels we stayed at were so accommodating with the iCool gel packs. I would hand over the gel packs at reception upon check in and ask the hotel staff to freeze them for me and I would then ask for the frozen gel packs upon check out. There was small risk that the staff could misunderstand my request however it was a small risk to take and it was a risk that i’m glad I took!
Images from our trip below:
I'm participating in The May 50K with my amazing team the ‘Wellness Warriors'! Yes, we've decided to take on the challenge to walk 50km’s throughout May to raise vital funds for MS Research.
Research is the KEY to changing the future of MS.
You can show your support by sponsoring me and/or my amazing team at the following link:
https://www.themay50k.org/fundraisers/mirellapetrucci
Thank you, your support truly means so much xx