Stories

Travelling to Japan

Tue 28 Feb 2017
 Hello, my name is Sam, and, while some of you may know me, I’m sure many do not.

I would like to share a little bit about myself as well as share my travel story, in the hopes that it helps others travelling and adventuring around the globe.

 A bit about me, I am now 29 years old, and boy do the years just fly by… It’s like it was only yesterday and I was visiting Camperdown children’s hospital for one of my dreaded emergency visits. I have severe haemophilia type A, and I formerly had an inhibitor, which was treated when I was 15, in a long drawn out process., But long story short, at 16, after 15 years of on demand treatment and many joint bleeds, much pain and some permanent joint damage, it was finally over! I was now on prophylaxis, using plasma derived Biostate Factor VIII, (which I am still on and using).

 Fast forward a few years, but still in the now distant past of 2012, my friends and I decided that we would like to travel to Japan for 5 weeks over the December New Year’s period.

Which meant that I would now have to work out how I was meant to transport what amounted to a “Shedload” of factor VIII, and what, if any regulations there were for;

  1. Taking factor out of Australia, and
  2. What Japan required in order to bring it into the country.

My first port of call was my treatment centre and the team.
And my second port of call was the Japanese Embassy.

Pic-01.jpg

 In terms of taking factor out of Australia, there weren’t any documents which I needed to complete, however you should always double check to make sure this is the case with your treatment team and social worker.

BUT I was required to complete documents in order to bring my factor into Japan.

The application is called a Yakkan Shoumei, and the form basically required me to complete it, and provide some documentation & information about the products, a letter from my specialist confirming I needed the products, and to advise how much I was bringing into Japan (also including details about needles, syringes and alco-wipes), and my flight details (when I was arriving and leaving).

I had to post this to Japan, including with it a self-addressed envelope, and a “Coupon international de rĂ©ponse” (basically a stamp which they use on your envelope to return the certificate back to you).

 But as a reference for those of you reading, here is what I was taking.

  • 54 boxes of Biostate
  • 20 30ml syringes
  • 40 alcohol wipes
  • 25 butterfly needles

This was for 18 treatments., While I only needed 17 for my time in Japan, I did take 1 spare treatment, with a couple of spare syringes and needles “just in case”.

 But all was well, kind of, my application was approved, and I was ready to move forward with planning my trip. But as you may have noticed, that’s a lot of factor stuff. I also had to a sharps container and warm cloths, because as you might not know, Japan is in the northern hemisphere, and December/January is actually winter time.

 And while some might be travelling for skiing I was sightseeing with friends. So I had to fit all of the above with jumpers, long sleeve shirts, pants & jeans, scarf, puffy snow jacket, thermal cloths, boots (hiking boots) sock and undies, and my regular toiletries for 5 weeks of travel, and any cords for the electronic items I was going to take as carry-on (psp, phone, camera, Wi-Fi router, power board & power plug converter).

 Not an easy feat. Not even mentioning 1 very important factor (pun intended). Factor VIII Biostate needs to be refrigerated. Some of you may have seen the fridges which you get at hotels… How the “heck” was I going to fit all this in a tiny fridge while travelling?

Well I had a plan! While I was required to arrive with my factor packaged up “as is” in the event that it was checked, I would arrive and re package it myself when I arrived at the hotel on the first night, and through some trial and error I found could fit 3 vials of factor plus 3 vials 10ml waters in one box. Suddenly 54 boxes is down to 18, still a significant amount but much more manageable to keep in a tiny hotel fridge! Mix2Vial top, well it didn’t need to be in the fridge, so they were kept together in a plastic bag in my suitcase.

 And the great thing about this was, as the trip progressed the amount of factor and equipment reduced even more, until it was all gone, and the “oh no my trip is over” reality hits back in, and all the space formally reserved for factor is taken up by gifts, toys and other random items.

 During this trip my friends and I travelled from Sydney to Tokyo to Hiroshima to Osaka to Nagano to Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka to Mount Fuji to Tokyo back to Sydney.

And while this does look somewhat backwards and forwards, and it is, we were travelling with only a rough plan, which left us with several days which were completely unplanned (I wouldn’t recommend this, but we did it anyway, and we decided on and booked these unplanned days roughly half way through our trip, which ended up being an extra days in Osaka, and a trip to Mount Fiji (which ended up being a snowed in by blizzard but was a great time all the same).

 During this time, we stayed in regular hotels and Ryokans (Traditional Japanese Hotels), and I made sure to check that they all had a refrigerator in them, and in the event I wasn’t sure, I contacted the hotel and asked.

 While I’m sure that’s enough to make you never want to travel, I will say, I went back again this year, following the same process, but this time in spring to catch the end of the Cherry Blossoms in April/May for 3 weeks.

While very few people would say travelling is easy when you have a bleeding disorder, it is good to know that it can be done. All it takes is a little bit of planning and preparation!

So don’t let it hold you back from exploring the wide world, and having your own adventures.

Thanks for reading!


Travelling soon? Or just want more info?
Visit the travel section.


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