When Should You Go Home After Radiotherapy Treatment Abroad?

radiotherapy centre - Sick woman in a hospital bed

Everyone who has been diagnosed with cancer has a different treatment plan and journey to take, and in some cases, it can take you to an international radiotherapy centre to receive personalised care in the heart of Vienna.

If your treatment plan takes you to us, whether due to our particular specialities in oncology or through a second opinion, then we will help you through the complicated elements of organising travel, accommodation, long-term stays and ensuring that friends and family can come visit you whilst you have treatment.

One aspect of treatment that can often lead to more questions if you travel abroad is what happens once your treatment course ends.

What should you do after your last radiotherapy appointment? How should you expect to feel following treatment? And given that you may need to travel long distances back, when is the best time to return home?

These answers will vary depending on your particular treatment plan and the advice provided by both your primary doctor and ourselves. However, here is some advice and guidance for what you can expect at the end of your radiotherapy treatment.

How Long Does A Course Of Radiotherapy Take?

Radiotherapy treatments are broken up into dozens of smaller sessions, with schedules that can vary significantly from multiple times per day to once every weekday, three times a week or weekly.

As the sessions are relatively short, there is a lot of flexibility to ensure that anyone being treated has time to recover and rest in between appointments.

A typical course of radiation therapy is between six and eight weeks, assuming regular doses of radiation every weekday. There are alternatives which allow for more rest time. Alternatively, high-dose radiation treatments attempt to condense the process and shorten your treatment duration.

The exact time depends on:

    • Cancer type.
    • Location in the body.
    • Any other treatments you are receiving.
    • Your overall health.

Each individual session is between 30 minutes and an hour, but the rest periods in between are so important that they should be considered part of the treatment.

A side benefit to taking radiotherapy abroad is that when you are away from home, you have a great impetus to rest and avoid too much stress and strain on your body, rather than focusing on work and other commitments.

What Happens After Your Last Radiotherapy Session?

The final dose of radiation is not the end of treatment, and you should not plan to pack your bags and take the first flight out of Vienna.

Your last appointment will not only involve the final dose but also establish what the next steps of treatment are likely to be.

The symptoms of radiotherapy tend to linger for a short time after the final session. This is normal as the radiation works to kill off the cancer cells. It will take some time before you return to a new normal.

There will often be a follow-up session with your cancer team before you return home, to ensure that you are ready to travel, that there are no lingering effects that are causing concern, and to help arrange follow-up support with your primary doctor.

It can be a difficult time filled with complex emotions, but there is support available, and you do not have to face this alone.

When Can You Go Home After Your Final Radiotherapy Follow-Up?

You will receive one or several followr-up appointments, but where these will take place and when will depend on your recovery following the final radiotherapy session.

You must be deemed fit to fly, which may involve discussions about the right time to travel, when it is safe to do so or if the airline should be made aware of any conditions that would complicate your ability to fly or mean that you require additional equipment such as supplemental oxygen.

Depending on your treatment, you may be at greater risk of infection, although this is less likely for people who have undergone radiation without chemotherapy or other drug treatments which affect the immune system.

In most cases, once the effects of the last session of radiotherapy ease up, you can start to make arrangements for your return trip home. Ask your cancer team for advice on what you need to think about during travel, which medicines you need to take with you and what you should do if you have issues.

Usually, this takes a few weeks, but make sure to contact your cancer team if you have any concerns before you leave Austria, and make sure you receive contact information for who to get in touch with once you return home.