The Decision - Where to have it?

The decision to opt for HSCT was reached. There was no hanging around. It had to be done. The first question was where it should be done. These were the options:

1. On the NHS - probably in London.
2. Russia
3. Mexico
4. Another country (Singapore, India, Thailand etc.)

The fourth option was out because the infection rates and mortality rates for those countries appeared to be lagging behind the other countries on the list. Several newer countries have taken on this technology, and as is the case with many places that take on new technology, and they don't have the experience under their belt to be able to produce the best results possible.

That left me with the UK, Russia and Mexico.

The next choice was between Russia and Mexico, leaving UK for a later discussion. The biggest difference between Russia and Mexico is that Russia provides 30 days of inpatient care whereas Mexico, even though it has a very good reputation as a clinic for HSCT, requires the patients to be outpatients and to be cared for by exterior carers and have food provided them quite often from the restaurant nearby. From my point of view, this was not ideal. I wanted to be an inpatient, cared for by excellent staff within the facility in which I was being treated, and if there was a problem, there would be staff on hand to deal immediately with whatever that problem might be. This was a no-brainer as far as comparing these two facilities was concerned. Russia beat Mexico hands down.

Getting the treatment on the NHS against paying somewhere in the region of £40,000 to get it done in Russia was now the name of the game.

The Russian facility.