"You're going to die within two years or possibly 10 years".   That was the best case and worst case prognosis Gary Walton was given by his urologist upon being diagnosed in 2004 with an aggressive prostate cancer.  

Walton, a resident of Rodeo, California, was 64 years old at the time of his diagnosis.  Since then he has rebounded from that dismal prognosis and is retaining the richness of his life with alternative treatments that offer far less negative side effects than any of the treatments recommended by his U.S. doctors.

"It was devastating to get that diagnosis," said Walton, "It was presented by the doctor like a death sentence.  We asked him what kind of negatives would introduce at that time, and his response was, 'there's a lot of things that can happen, but you just have to understand that this is the only way that you can go.' 

All the doctor wanted to do was to surgically take out my prostate.  It was pretty much a given that after surgery I was going to be incontinent and impotent." 

"Prostate cancer is devastating to a male because it attacks the male testosterone and the male physiology and consequently that's all devastating mentally as well as the physical problems," said Walton, "Men in their late 70's and 80's may have only slight sexual urges.  But when you're in your 50's and 60's and still virile, it's absolutely devastating."

The Walton's researched alternative treatments, insisting on referrals to physicians specializing in Brachytherapy seed implantation and radiation.  "Because of my Gleason number, I was told I was not a candidate for seed implantation" so I started radiation treatments.   At no time did any of the doctors we saw give us any indication that there were other alternative treatments," said Walton. 

I was prescribed Lupron for about four months and the side effects were just horrendous.  "Lupron has tremendously negative side effects for men.  The side effects are that you lose bone mass, you lose muscle mass, you lose hair.  You get heavy in the hips, your breasts enlarge.  Your whole physiology changes from masculine to feminine.  It is medical castration.

I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror.  I couldn't even recognize myself.  I was also fainting so I couldn't even trust myself to drive.  I lost all kinds of energy.  It was just totally devastating.   "I joked with my wife, I said, honey "don't throw any dresses away, because you married a man but you're going to end up with a sister."

After my 40 radiation treatments my PSA had gone down and it stayed stabilized for about a year, year and a half, but then it started doubling.  We were very concerned that the cancer was returning with a vengeance.  

I woke up one morning after a sleepless night and I told my wife, "you know this is a big wide world.  In Europe, in Asia, in South America and in Canada, there must be some research going on that maybe we don't know about here in the U.S., so one of the first places we went to was WHO, The World Health Organization.  They suggested HIFU and Dendritic treatments.   

That's when the Waltons chose to travel outside the U.S. for the treatments they required.  "I could have gone to Canada, but because it was February, we chose Mexico."  Their research started by contacting HIFU in Charlotte, North Carolina.

HIFU has a contract with San Javier Hospital, Puerto Vallarta, for Dr. Morales at The IIB Clinic for Dendritic and for the HIFU procedures.  Robert Johnson, VP of Operations for HIFU, arranged everything for us including air and hotel accommodations and no-cost shuttle service daily from hotel to San Javier Hospital. 

Between my first and second trip to Mexico for Dendritic treatments I had not taken any additional medications or treatments suggested by my doctors in California.  I knew that since my PSA had been level for almost a year that it had to be due to the Dendritic treatment. 

Walton said there are clinical trials of Dendritic treatments going on in the U.S.  "I sought the opinion of Dr. Lawrence Fong, University of California San Francisco Medical Center.  He is a specialist in the Dendritic area and feels there were worthwhile clinical trials going on showing positive proof that Dendritic treatments would be a good treatment procedure for all kinds of cancer. 

Walton has made three trips to Puerto Vallarta for treatment.  Based on the predictable results, the Waltons anticipate maintaining his PSA level by making annual trips to Puerto Vallarta for the treatment.  Each trip takes about week.  The treatment procedure at IIB consists of four sessions that Walton describes in detail in a separate recorded interview. 

"The cost of the HIFU treatment was $25,000.00.  The first treatment of both HIFU and Dendritic in February 2007, cost $50,000.00.  The last two Dendritic treatments have each been approximately $13,000," said Walton.

 "At all times we were treated with the upmost respect and professionalism.  For a very difficult experience, in a strange country, everyone made us feel comfortable.  We had an English speaking interpreter with us at all times during the treatments and available 24/7 for our calls and questions" said Walton.

"I truly feel that a doctor who has signed the oath and knows that there are other treatments out there that could be extremely beneficial, and if they don't give you the information and allow you to know that and their patient dies, I think that is the most cruel thing that any doctor can do." said Walton.

For the last three years, 78 year old Walter White, an expatriate living in Antigua Guatemala, had been steadily losing his ability to walk as a result of Parkinson's disease.

In July 2008, White underwent stem cell therapy at the IIB Clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  "I was headed for a wheel chair when I arrived in Mexico," said White.  "In order to walk I had to have a cane in one hand and a person on the other. 

White related that his father, who suffered from Parkinson's disease' had been in a wheel chair for a couple of years before he passed away, "and I didn't want that to happen to me so I took a chance on stem cell therapy.  It was kind of scary," he admits. 

According to White, the stem cell therapy consisted of taking bone marrow out of his legs for five days and then re-injecting marrow back into his body.  "They never used a knife," said White, "They used needles and I had local anesthesia for both operations.  I never felt a thing." 

"They kept me in intensive care for a day and a night just to be on the safe side," said White, "the whole treatment took about two weeks.

White said Dr. Raul Morales thoroughly explained everything about the procedure to him and to his wife.  "Dr. Morales had a team of four or five doctors, and they checked me out beforehand from head to toe, including my heart," said White.

After two weeks of stem cell therapy, White's leg bones were strong enough to walk on his own.  "Now I can walk without help and without a cane," said White.  The cost was $23,500.00

To research more options for living abroad and global healthcare options, visit Travelingforhealth.

 

Mexico Is Our India for Medical Tourism and A Strong Contender for Baby Boomer Retirement Destinations.

Mexican hospitals are equal in quality to the medical tourism hospitals in India, and Mexico has the advantage that it's closer to home which translates into less stress of travel for American medical tourists plus, overall, a more sustainable senior health care resource for baby-boomers considering the cost savings of retiring abroad.

Mexico has several hospitals staffed with American and American-trained physicians and surgeons as well as American owned and run hospitals, like the AmeriMed Hospital Group, as well as private medical clinics for urgent care that have sprouted up recently in many of the most popular Mexico coastal towns. 

So the big picture being painted here is that the same places you might go for surgery or a medical vacation in Mexico are popular retirement destinations for baby-boomers and for the same reasons; the health care experience and the feeling that you're on vacation.  Plus, there's an abundance of American communities; neighborhoods where you'll feel at home.

New neighborhood, same friends, is Mexico's allure for baby-boomers looking at retiring abroad for the obvious savings in cost of living and for the high standard of living and choice of locations that feature accessible health care in terms of hospitals, urgent care and alternative care.

After all, how many times a year do you go to the hospital compared to how many visits you make to the chiropractor, the dentist, and to your physicians for common ailments and to specialists for your individual health care needs?

I'm not minimizing how important it is to have a good hospital accessible, but it does mean accessibility to urgent care, family physicians, specialty physicians and alternative care is what's going to sell the homes for the community and resort developers in Mexico looking to incentivize American Baby-Boomers to retire abroad

So it's the sustainable medical care in general that allows seniors to maintain a high standard quality of life, and that's what matters most to retirees when picking a retirement destination.

More good news for seniors, is that American insurance companies offering expatriate medical insurance for American retirees are now facing stiff competition from private Mexican medical providers offering very affordable urgent care insurance to foreigners in popular Mexican coastal and resort destinations, and soon to offer full-coverage health care insurance for a fraction of the cost of a comparable insurance policy in the States. 

Competition between the U.S. and Mexico in the health care and medical insurance industries bodes well for baby-boomers looking to sustain their quality of life upon retirement without depleting their financial nest egg for medical care.

Check out an example of affordable urgent care insurance available to foreigners living in the popular Mexican resort town of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point, Mexico), by visiting Mexican urgent care insurance at Travelingforhealth.

 

This interview is with BOOMER Carol Stanley, public speaker and author of a new book, being released Sept. 1^st, on the subject of creating new directions in your life as you approach your 60's. 

TravelForHealth interviewed Stanley so that people could hear her talk about her background, get a feel for the 'person behind the book', and learn how one BOOMER, working in retirement, turned her passion for building relationships into a global lifestyle business of writing and reaching out to others via her website and blogging.

In her book, entitled, "For Kids 59.99 and Over" available in stores and online, Stanley shares tips on how to evaluate your lifestyle, take stock of your eating habits, and what to do to make your life fun and exciting.

Listen to Stanley describe the ways to get a book published and learn what method she chose and why. 

In this interview, BOOMER Carol Stanley, author of Kids 59.99 and

Older shares how she got her book published.

TravelingForHealth is focused on connecting people with the idea of living wherever they want on the planet.  And many retirees are attracted to the idea of turning a passion into a revenue stream; a lifestyle business – like writing a book and getting it published. 

Listen to Stanley describe her BOOMER lifestyle and what prompted her to turn her passion for relationship building into a lifestyle business.

 

In this interview, Rudy Rupak, co-founder and CEO of PlanetHospital details the vetting process his company goes through to locate the best doctors and put their seal of approval on foreign hospitals listed, by country, at Traveling4Heatlh.

"Finding the right doctor is more important than finding the right hospital," said Rupak, "our company is not hospital centric; it's doctor centric.  A building doesn't cure a person; a doctor does." 

"We focus on hospitals that attract the best doctors," explains Rupak.  "we've visited every single hospital and met with the doctors personally; interviewing them and doing peer reviews and background checks. 

I was frankly surprised, when researching for stats comparing the quality of health care by country, that I found no such statistics at the usual respected sources such as the Kaiser Foundation.

"There really isn't that kind of data available in published form, but we're going to do it ourselves," said Rupak, "It's a legal challenge.  Some of these hospitals have given us data, but it's for internal consumption only and we can only share it with individual patients, but we can't publish it."

"The problem is the hospitals are competing against one another, and they don't want their data to be made public especially to the other hospitals," said Rupak, "They're sensitive about that.   So although we have the data available, we cannot put a comparison sheet together just because of our convenance with each and every hospital."

"We have destination managers located in every single country that we do business in, and one of their main functions is to visit the hospitals and make sure that we get all the data that is germane to the care we're providing.  The data collection is set forth by our Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer who put together the standards for our data collection," he said.

View the list of hospitals along with contact information and links on the Healthcare abroad section of Traveling4Health.com.

Traveling4Health founder, Ilene Little, speaks about the cost of health care in the U.S. and other countries, and illustrates how BOOMers save $28,000 a year by living in desirable destinations in Mexico.

 

She also speaks about the pain points of moving out of the country and how Traveling4Health ("T4H") increases the comfort level of people considering living abroad by providing direct communication between consumer, providers and expat populations. 

T4H is the enabling technology building bonds between consumers and professional and personal contacts abroad. 

Go to http://lifestyles.traveling4health.com/ to view the graphs referred to in the pod cast that show:

Per Capital Total Health Care Expenditures, U.S. and Other Countries, 2005.

Looking for Relief -  Cost of Living Comparing Seattle, WA. to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2008.

Financial Burden of Medical Bills by Insurance Status, 2005.

 

American retirees living abroad are blowing the lid off the myth that medical care in Mexico is necessarily inferior to what you can get in the States.  Many Americans who routinely visit Mexico rave about the doctors they've found and tell entertaining stories about what makes the experience both different and in many cases superior to their medical experiences in the States.

 

Washington State baby-boomers Randy and Nancy Krause spend several months a year in Mexico.  They chose Puerto Vallarta as their home-away-from-home largely because of the standard of health care abroad so vital to maintaining their active lifestyle.

 

The Krauses had no difficulty finding a qualified Mexican dentist and a chiropractor in Puerto Vallarta.  "One morning my husband woke up with a tooth ache, so we had no choice but to go to a dentist, and as luck would have it the dentist shared his office three days a week with a chiropractor who turned out to be Dr. Oscar Margain who is about the only U.S. Palmer trained chiropractor in Puerto Vallarta," said Krause.

The Krauses felt comfortable with the quality of  dental care in Mexico, and were also entertained by the cultural experience in the dentist's office. 

"The office looked just like a dental office in the States," said Krause, "He was set up to look at our x-rays on his laptop.  The only difference was that, while he was working on my husband's tooth, two or three of the dentist's friends hung out in the doorway talking to him."

Krause recommended the dentist Dr. Benjamin Vargas. The affordable price of dental care is also typical; a crown for $350, and $275 for a root canal that probably cost $1,500 in the States.  The dentist

The chiropractor they met through their dentist turned out to be the best chiropractor they'd ever gone to, according to Krause.  "Between me and my husband we probably have 60-70 years experience with chiropractors," said Krause, "and Dr. Margain is the best we ever worked with."

"Their whole philosophy in Mexico is so different," explains Krause, "certainly in the case of my chiropractor, Dr. Margain.  His philosophy is to get you well in four or five visits, and he will say, 'let me work on you and if I don't do you any good don't pay me'.  Well that never happens in the States."

"When we were down there this last time I had some medical problems, so Dr. Margain pulled out some forms from his desk, and he sent me out to the lab to have some tests," said Krause, "I just walked into the lab, gave them the piece of paper Dr. Margain gave me, they did the tests, and three hours later I had the answers."  "That cost me $78," said Krause, "That's better and faster service than in the States."   

"I know enough people, besides myself, who for one reason or another have had to go for medical treatment not to have qualms about being able to get quality medical treatment in Puerto Vallarta Mexico," said Krause. 

For example, Krause tells a story of a woman who had a life-threatening experience due to an allergic reaction to noseems, and the good care she received at a hospital in Puerto Vallarta. 

"She was in real trouble and was admitted for emergency treatment in a hospital in Puerto Vallarta for four days," said Krause, "She had a private room and a private nurse.  She thought the treatment was great, and the whole medical experience cost her $700.00 Here you might have to sell your house to pay for it."

 

To listen to live interviews of baby-boomers describing their lifestyles abroad, and view phone numbers, addresses and other helpful information, visit Traveling4Health. 

Don't you often wonder what the American expats who live in Thailand think about the glitzy medical tourism hospitals, like Bumrungrad, and about the quality of the healthcare experienced by the people who live there?

Your healthcare experience living in Thailand "is just absolutely convenient and inexpensive," says American expat Cynthia Crowder, "the doctors even work on Sunday."

And although Crowder has medical insurance through her husband's U.S. employer, healthcare in Thailand so inexpensive they rarely bother with the paperwork and just pay out of pocket. 

Crowder says walking into Bumrungrad Hospital is "like walking into a five-star resort.  There's Au Bon Pain, Starbucks; it's absolutely gorgeous."  And there's no long wait to see a doctor.  Usually you can go in the same day you call for an appointment. 

"If you go to Bumrungrad for a doctor appointment you may have to wait 15-20 minutes, but you won't have to wait much longer than that," said Crowder, "They get you in, they take care of you, you pay your bill, they give you the drugs right there, and you're on your way." 

"I'm taking my daughter to a specialist today for a sinus infection," said Crowder, "She'll go in and maybe have an X-ray done of her sinuses, and then a scope, and then she'll probably get an antibiotic, and we'll walk out of there for less than $100."

Crowder said people who have been in Thailand for a long time often go to Samitivej Hospital instead of Bumrungrad, "just because maybe the prices are a little bit higher and there are so many people who are coming in to Bumrungrad from around the world, said Crowder, "It's kind of a 'tourist' hospital. 

"The tourists come in and stay at resorts and have all kinds of things done," said Crowder, "You see a lot of Middle Eastern people at Bumrungrad.  So in that way it may be a little busy and hectic, but nothing compared to how hectic hospitals are in America." 

Listen to Crowders lifestyle experiences as an American expat living abroad.

You can live a very simple lifestyle in Thailand and still enjoy a lot of amenities.  "A lot of people come to visit and then figure out a way to stay," says American expat Cynthia Crowder, "and most of the expats that live here came to visit and never left."   

Living in Thailand is inexpensive.  Renting a 3-bedroom house with maid quarters and a cute yard might cost you 8,000 BOT (about $800/month).  Eight-to-five domestic help, five days a week might cost you $300/month.  A nice apartment living in downtown Bangkok might be $500 â�� $1,000/month.

A lot of people start working in Thailand by teaching English.  "Another thing that is really enticing here, said Crowder, is it's a Buddhist country; not a Muslin country, so the political climate is quite mild. 

"There's not a lot of crime in the city," said Crowder, "and safety here is a big plus."  "Compared to the big cities in the States I've lived in; Seattle, Dallas, New Orleans and Houston," she said, "I've felt much, much safer in Southeast Asia then I ever did in the U.S." 

Listen to Crowder's 1st-hand account of healthcare in Thailand.   

The enriched world view, the access to quality health care, and the downside of living out of suitcases during summer school breaks as they return to the States to visit extended family.  This is the 1st-hand report of an American expat Mom raising a family abroad.   

Since 1991, Cynthia and Scott Crowder have lived in Sumatra Indonesia, Ho Chi Min Vietnam,  three years in Paris France, and now Thailand for four years.  Their teenage kids grew up as '3rd culture' kids more at home with foreigners than in their home country. 

In this telephone interview with Cynthia in Thailand, she talks about some of the other countries they've lived in, how they managed their healthcare and which countries they would consider returning to for another assignment or to retire. 

To hear more about the Crowder family's experiences living in Indonesia, France and Viet Nam, tune into her live pod cast interviews posted in the lifestyles and living abroad sections of traveling4health.com.  To hear more about the healthcare in Thailand tune into the pod cast posted on healthcare abroad.

 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like as an American working in Thailand, raising and entertaining a family?   An American describes her family's experiences living in Bangkok, Thailand; popular middle eastern customs like Shisha, five-star movie theaters, and the amount of time they spend traveling for school sporting events and for fun. 

To hear more about the Crowder family's experiences living in Indonesia, France and Viet Nam, tune into her live pod cast interviews posted in the lifestyles and living abroad sections of traveling4health.com.  To hear more about the healthcare in Thailand tune into the pod cast posted on healthcare abroad. 

An American couple chooses Korea as the country where they can have an enjoyable lifestyle while saving thousands of dollars a month for their retirement.  They can live well, take a lot of vacations, and their foreign health insurance costs less than $50 a month. 

In subsequent podcasts this same Korean correspondent discusses integrating into the Korean population and healthcare in Korea; posted, respectively, under the headings of 'living abroad' and 'healthcare abroad' on http://www.traveling4health.com.

Business-savvy expat throws a medical insurance 'life-preserver' to Americans struggling with the high cost of health care in the states. -- More incentive for people to live abroad.   

 

In 2006, Martin Frankel, marketing executive for FedEx, chose to take a severance package and move to Argentina.  In researching a solution to his own healthcare needs, he negotiated a fantastic deal for his expat community http://expat-connection.com.   It is people like Frankel who are leading the way for global solutions to healthcare abroad and living abroad.

Seattleite Torrey Russell saved $8,000 by going to Tijuana, Mexico for reconstructive dental surgery.  His is one more example of why it pays to shop globally for medical procedures. 

 

Russell, a sales and marketing executive, is no stranger to traveling abroad for medical procedures.  He researched his choice of dentist the same way he found the right doctor in India for his hip surgery.  He chose Mexico for his dental surgery because "it's so easy and convenient," said Russell. 

 

"I had full teeth replacement along the front six teeth of my mouth and a root canal," said Russell.  "I had my teeth straightened out and properly aligned, with real post and beam construction.  It's the real thing, not just some big plate.  And they don't look like Chiclets,   They have the right density and coloration," he said. 

 

"It was less than a couple thousand for the whole thing; both dental procedures, the travel, the accommodations; everything," said Russell, "It would have been 10,000 for the procedures alone here in the U.S."  My local dentist, a wonderful man, quoted me $1,800 a tooth which was very expensive for me as a self-employed individual.

 

Hear the podcast for the details on how Russell did his research and who he chose for his doctor.  Go to Traveling4Health.com to find the doctor's contact information and see a map of the dentist office.  Just click on "Find Foreign Doctors and Medical Vacation Destinations" and type "Tijuana" in the quick search box. 

 

$80,000 for hip surgery alone, in the U.S. or $45,000 for hip surgery abroad and including travel, food & housing for an interesting trip is a good example of why Americans should consider shopping around for medical procedures abroad. 

Seattleite Torrey Russell, a sales and marketing executive, reports on his experience getting hip surgery in India, and details the steps he took to research and choose the doctor and facility.

Too many people are working extra years just to cover the cost of limited medical benefits � and paying the price with even poorer health.

 It might pay to shop around locally and globally.  And thatâ��s what this episode is about, because shopping globally pays big dividends.

 For example, I went to Mexico and got four crowns â�� porcelain crowns â�� done for $560.  I had a lovely vacation; I visited with locals and other traveling Americans and Canadians, for that matter, for the price my friend paid in the States for one bridge!  I had a great time, I took care of my teeth, and she stayed at home in the cold.

 So I came home and cancelled my dental insurance.  And I transferred that amount of money that I would ordinarily include in any kind of a Medicare, Medi-gap, or just traditional insurance plan into my vacation fund.

A patient reports on his experience and how he chose the doctor and facility.

â��The interesting part is that as Americans we tend to believe that the best medical care is only here in the U.S., and the funny thing is when you go to an American hospital today more than likely you'll find either an Asian or somebody from India taking care of you, in large part.  So, itâ��s funny that we don't have that thought that they would at home have the same level of ability in Asia, or whatever, which is simply not true. 

In fact in Asia I looked at a number of locations both in Thailand and India, and they use a certification which American hospitals cannot even achieve, which is called an ISO rating.   ISO is a standard that the Europeans use, and of course theyâ��ve been traveling to India and Asia for many, many years for medical help and so their hospitals are even rated more highly; that would be for infections and for loss of life after the surgery or other complications and so forth . . .â�?

Listen to part two of the live interview and see a list of the process Russell used to determine which doctor and hospital suited his needs best.