501,757.......

 With all the stuff going on in our little world at the moment I really haven't paid much attention to the blog, so now I'm sat here in the van on my own and have some spare time I have be checking out the stats.....501,757 hits, crikey.

Thank you dear reader for hitting the keyboard 501,757 times I am so grateful, it really is quite special that someone reads Wot I Wrote.

Back to today, I was up early and packed the last couple of things in the van including the two boys, Elaine would never forgive me for leaving those two behind! 

I set Mr Tom Tom to Macclesfield taking the quickest route and using tolls and away we went.

Its a good job I have a sat nav cos the navigator was asleep after about 15 minutes on the road.

The toll roads are cheap in Spain and deserted, its also greening up a little as we head up the coast. 

I moored up after about 530 ks, I stopped at a Spanish Aire, its a bit different to the French ones as they charge you, but its only 10 Euro and that includes electric hook up and water etc. There are a lot of vans here, mostly Dutch followed by French and German, I'm the only English van. 

I walked into the town but forgot to take the camera so I nicked one off the net, I am staying at the resort of Peniscola.

I will easily be in France tomorrow, hopefully I will find a nice little village to moor up in.

They have done lots of tests on Elaine so she is awaiting the outcome of what they plan to do treatment wise.

All Packed And Ready For The Off

Elaine had a good flight back, it helped a lot to have her good friend Jane with her to help her and arrange a wheelchair etc.

She remarked at two things when she got back. one being how beautiful and green England was, and the other was that she felt safe knowing that medical assistance was at hand with no language difficulties.

She is now in Macclesfield hospital having tests etc, but I think they may discharge her to the Christie cancer hospital soon.

I have spent the last two days packing up the motorhome hoping that I haven't forgot anything, it sounds simple but trying to think of what I have to put on-board whilst my mind is thinking of how Elaine is going it too much for my little brain.

I bade farewell to the two little Chihuahuas, I so wished we could have kept them they are such funny little guys.

They haven't got a home for sure yet so if anyone out there wants two fantastic little doggies let me know, they are all up to date with passports etc but MUST go as a pair, they are inseparable.

I took my last walk along the prom, what can I say, Mojacar is without a doubt one of the best spots in Spain, and I would go as far as to say one of the best spots in the world!!  It is so lovely and such an easy place to live.....medical problems withstanding. 

I took a couple of pics on my walk today, what can I say!!

I will leave early tomorrow and will head back a different way for a change, I'm going to follow the Spanish coast to the south of France then head straight up through the middle of France, skirting Paris to Calais.

Finally.......Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and offers of support, we have been offered, rooms, houses, boats and cars. It is truly humbling  and we both thank you so much, I cant tell how much it means to have support when things don't go to plan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX  

Heading Back To The UK

Once again our journey in this life  is changing.

Yesterday we went once again to the Mediterraneo hospital in Almeria where they drained off 4.5 litres of ascites fluid from Elaine's belly, this is only one week after they drained off 3.5 litres!!  The only good part being that the insurance paid up so the transfer from BUPA Australia to BUPA Spain worked.

The not so good part was the Spanish doctors saying that we would be much better off going back to the Christie Cancer hospital in Manchester, there is only so much we can get done here. We are living in paradise in  Mojacar, but it is a backwater and although the medical facilities are good, there is no such thing as home palliative care.

We had a good chat about all our options, which to be quite honest we don't have many......

Elaine is an awful amount of pain so I really didn't fancy taking her back to Manchester by road, but as luck would have it we have a visitor at the moment in the form of Elaine's old school friend Jane who is over from Macclesfield. The upshot is we got Elaine booked onto the same flight as Jane so they are both flying back to Manchester from Almeria tomorrow (Sunday) at noon .

Another problem was the two little Chihuahuas we now have, it would have been pretty hard to take them back to the UK and have them living in the van with us, plus it wouldn't be fair on the lovely little guys, they really need a proper loving home, I had a chat with the guy who originally rescued them and he and his wife have agreed to look after them in Mojacar for the foreseeable future. Whether we have them back again will depend on what happens back in the UK.

Today we have been sorting out stuff to take back to the UK in the motorhome, I will head off early next week once I get everything sorted here. We have a lease on the villa until December so I will just lock it up and leave it and hopefully get back sometime.

As you can imagine everything is up in the air once again, but as they say life wasn't meant to be easy!

As an aside I was only reading in the paper yesterday that the Christie Cancer hospital is the most advanced and biggest cancer hospital  in the world outside of North America so she will be in good hands.

It Went all A Bit Pear Shaped After The Footy

We came back from our little road trip yesterday.  Elaine wasn't feeling great so we left early in the morning.   Once back at base I emptied the van whilst Elaine had a good sleep.

I put the washing machine through its paces for a good catch-up wash.....exciting stuff eh!

I had planned to go down the pub to watch Man Utd vs Crystal Palace for the FA Cup Final .  I was also meeting up with an old school friend who has a place down here and he was here for the weekend on a flying visit.

Elaine said she was OK to be left plus I had my phone with me if she needed anything.

The game went to plan with the mighty reds (playing in white) coming away with the trophy ...

It then went all a bit pear shaped!!!  I was supposed to get a takeaway chinky on the way home but Elaine sent me a message asking if I could come home straight home and forget the take away.

When I got into the house Elaine looked awful and was struggling for breath.  I checked her temp and she was reading a 'gnat's cock' under 40 degrees.

I was in a bit of a panic as what to do so I dialled 112 for an ambulance. As my Spanish is virtually zero I had a 3 way chat with the dispatcher and a translator, they said they would send an ambulance straight away.

I took about 20 mins to get here - I could hear it coming but I think he got a bit lost on the hill roads!  Eventually they found us and three crew came in.  They assessed her and gave her a jab of  metamizole for her fever and pain.  They asked for our insurance details but as yet, because of the bungling Aussies, we haven't got it (but we should have it next week).  Their English was very little so I rang our translator friend, who is fluent in Spanish.  She translated for us and said, because we have no insurance, to take her to hospital in the ambulance it would cost the national debt.  They were happy she was stable so suggested that I take her in the car.

The hospital is about 40 mins drive away, so I fitted the 'blues and twos' and away we went in the mighty Citroen C3!  The roads were empty so it was pedal to the metal and we were at the hospital in no time at all.

They were fantastic at the hospital and started treating her the minute she walked through the door.  We used our EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) which is a free card that allows you free medical treatment in any European country, in an emergency.

They did blood and urine tests, ECG, Xrays and treated her with IV paracetamol, anti-emetics, saline, antibiotics and also oxygen and within a few hours everything had returned to normal.  

In the famous words of 'South Park' .... drugs are bad good (!)... OK?!!!

We left the hospital at 03.00 am.

Today she feels a lot better but still not well by any means. 

We had a good lay in this morning followed by a a special brunch to celebrate little Sammie's Birthday.

This was Sammie last year celebrating with a pint of Boddies ...

This year it was a spicy sausage ...

We haven't done a great deal for the rest of the day as its been a scorcher!  I took the boys for a walk but it was just too hot, so we have been chillin' on the deck in the shade. 

Tonight we will finally get our Chinese take away !

Road Trip Day 4

There wasn't any road part of the trip today as we didn't move, we did however have a lovely relaxing day in the beautiful sunshine.

We went for a short walk in the morning along the beach, the air temp was about 28 degrees so I went for a swim, its my first dip in the med since Jan 1st, it was bloody freezing! 

Just after midday out Canadian friends (Barry and Wendy) arrived from Mojacar, we had a few bevies sat outside the van then we went for lunch and a few more drinks  at the chiringuito on the beach.

After a couple of hours of eating drinking and chatting we took all the dogs for a little walk along the beach.

Elaine went in to just above her ankles!

A lot of the vans went today, there are only eight of us left tonight, the old bill came around today and checked us out with a cheery smile and a wave.

We head off back tomorrow for the FA cup final but will be back at this fab place in the not too distant future. 

Road Trip Day 3

A good start to the day, with the help from Bupa Spain it looks like we can now can now get health insurance in Spain, we are not quite there yet, but so close. When I say we I mean Elaine who has been refused any sort of health insurance or assistance because she has cancer.

Elaine felt really grotty, so we decided to abandon the trip and head back to the villa, we also needed to print and scan some documents so away we went.

By the time we had back to the villa and done the scanning printing etc Elaine felt a lot better so we took off again to our favourite spot La Carolina Playa.

We arrived at about 16.30, I took the dogs for walks in shifts whilst Elaine relaxed in the lovely sunshine.

It is a really magical spot

The sunset was gorgeous and a precursor for another sunny hot day tomorrow.

We will stay here until Saturday, then we will have to return to Mojacar as its FA cup final day!! 

The Total Incompetence Of BUPA Australia

I thought I would post a transcript of my conversation with BUPA Australia, this has been dragging on for nearly three weeks, when I got onto their facebook page I started to get answers, this transcript doesn't include the emails I have been sending them plus the numerous phone calls from me to them! In the end it only through Bupa Spain contacting them that I got a result.

The amazing bit is all I wanted was a form to transfer our insurance from Australia to Spain.....imaging if I was trying to put a claim through!

As I kept telling them if they would have rang me it would have been sorted in a few minutes, but because you have to ring them you speak to a different person each time and they haven't got a clue what is going on and who we were talking to.

Anyway all sorted now....phew!

Please tell me that I'm in the right here!!!

‎Paul Macey‎ to Bupa Australia

May 17 at 10:05am · 

Due to the incompetence of Bupa Australia we are now in Spain with no health insurance, what I believe to be a simple request for a transfer form between Bupa Australia and Bupa Spain has now dragged on for over two weeks.
Despite giving Bupa Australia our email address they have not contacted us once by email.
We have called Bupa Australia three times from Spain each time they promised to get back to us within 24-48 hours. We are still waiting!!
The Spanish Bupa team have given us a couple of more days grace to get it sorted if Bupa Australia do not send the transfer form we will have to start Spanish health insurance from scratch with an inflated price and months of waiting period.
We have been with MBF/Bupa since 2000!!!

Like

Like

Love

Haha

Wow

Sad

Angry

CommentShare

Chronological

1John Mckinneley

Comments

Bupa Australia I get your annoyance here Paul.

Not only should we be able to provide the clearance certificate directly to you, Bupa Spain should also have been able to request it directly from us....See More

Like · Reply · May 17 at 10:33am

Paul Macey Amryn I have sent you a private message, did you receive it??

Like · Reply · May 17 at 5:17pm

Bupa Australia Hi Paul,

I’ve got your message, and I’ve tried to respond - however it says ‘this person is not accepting messages from you right now’

Are you able to double check if you’re allowed to receive messages from us?

Let me know,
Jack.

Like · Reply · Yesterday at 2:29am

Bupa Australia Hi Paul,

I don’t know why the private message is not working but I just tried it again. What I can do is email to the address we have on file from...See More

Like · Reply · 23 hrs

Paul Macey Why cant you Phone, give me your direct number I will call you AGAIN at my expense AGAIN. It really should not be this hard, Give me the phone number of your managing director I will call him direct......Please Please Please call me on +34 634347475

Like · Reply · 23 hrs

Bupa Australia Hey Paul,

It definitely shouldn’t be this hard, we’re not sure why the private messaging system isn’t working properly but we have to work with what we can. You don’t have to reply to the email we sent you, you can simply reply to us on private message, but since we can’t reply that way for some reason, we’ll have to send you emails instead, so we can still talk to you in real-time.

Otherwise, we can’t call internationally, so you’ll need to call us on +61 3 9487 6400.

Speak soon,
Nick

Like · Reply · 23 hrs · Edited

Paul Macey We called that number and got thro to brisbane then someone else - no-one knows who you are or where you work!!!! Please can you call us as we cannot obviously get a hold of you!

Like · Reply · 22 hrs

Write a reply...

Paul Macey I cannot see any reason why you cannot message me, however yesterday once again we rang Bupa Australia from Spain, with a promise that they would get back to us within 24 hours. That has now expired. i rang the Bupa people in Spain a moment ago and it is looking very doubtful that we are going to be able to transfer the health cover from Australia to Spain. We are now without health cover in Spain all due to the total incompetence of Bupa Australia. This has now being going on for over two weeks. What I now suggest is that YOU call me on our Spanish mobile no +34634347475. It is 09.30 Spanish time i await your call. If I do not receive a call back I will contact BUPA UK head office and see if they can work out what the problem is with BUPA Australia

Like · Reply · Yesterday at 9:33am · Edited

Paul Macey 10.00 am still waiting for the call!!!!

Like · Reply · 23 hrs

Paul Macey !0.37 I have emailed i have private messaged begging for a response, still no answer..........What is wrong with Bupa Australia!!

Like · Reply · 23 hrs

Elli Henry I feel your pain Paul! Good luck!!

Unlike · Reply · 1 · 22 hrs

Paul Macey The Saga continues, we get told to call a Melbourne number and end up talking to someone in Brisbane and once again spend considerable time on the phone getting nowhere. Apparently Bupa Australia cannot call international even though when we spoke to them over two weeks ago we were told that they could call anywhere in the world no problem. Now of course they have all finished for the day so we now have to start the process all over again tomorrow. Another day where we have no health insurance thanks to the woeful service from BUPA Australia. On the last call I told the lady to make sure the call was recorded and to please send it to their managing director for his appraisal. While this farce is an absolute joke I cannot imagine what it would be like if you had to put a claim in.

Like · Reply · 22 hrs

Bupa Australia I know the communication between yourself, Sanitas and us hasn’t been great Paul.

The good news is that I’ve just sent you an email with the Bupa Interfund Transfer Form and I’ve also sent this directly to your contacts (Sean and Clare) at Sanitas. This was also sent to Sanitas on the 12/05/2016 too (not sure why this was never received). Fingers crossed this will ensure that your cover in Spain is confirmed ASAP.

We’ve taken on board your feedback here on Facebook and I’ve also passed this onto our customer service team to ensure this process is easier moving forward.

Hopefully it’s smooth sailing ahead, but if anything else comes up, we’re only a post away.

Take care,
Natalie

Like · Reply · 7 hrs

Paul Macey Thank You Natalie, we now have the correct form sent to the correct people. Just a couple of points if I may, firstly I cannot tell you how much stress this has put us through over the last few days. Secondly and I wont go on too much, all of this could have been resolved very quickly if only you had called me on the phone, I called at least seven times from Spain. Email and facebook is ok but when a situation starts to get out of control you should resolve it quickly by making direct contact not email especially when the customer is on the other side of the world in a different time zone. When a case gets tricky get one person to deal with it so i have a contact and not have to go through the main switchboard and be sent all over the country because nobody knows who i am and what the problem is. I seriously hope that no one has to go through what we have had to endure for the last three days. Moving on thank you again for getting it sorted....Paul Macey.

Like · Reply · 41 mins

Write a reply...

Write a comment...