Do any of you know of any Amiga, or MorphOS shows, club meetings, or any other kind of events, that will be taking place in France, Germany, Poland, UK, or Italy, within January 3rd to February 22nd of 2014?

I would love to meet with as many of you living in those areas, during my stay in France. I may be staying longer, if I am able to procure medical treatment for my back pain condition, by extending the departure date of my flight back to the USA to a later date.

It would be really great to meet some/any of the MorphOS Dev. Team members while I am in Europe. I will be staying in the North-West part of France during my stay there, but I am willing to travel to other areas of Europe to attend any events, if they do not conflict with my medical treatments, or appointments.

I will be bringing both of my G4 PowerBooks, plus my G4 MacMini with me, so I can use MorphOS3.3 while I am there.

Hope to meet some of you next year.

Regards,
David
aka AmigaDave

Well Geit normally holds the 1st Geit@home of the year sometime in March (it's just to cold for sleeping in the basement during winter) so that might still fit.

Generally there isn't much action at that time of the year elsewhere either.
There might be a DoReCo in that time window, but thats "just" a 1 day event focused on 8/16Bit retro-gaming.

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Thanks for the reply, if no events are planned, I might still be able to meet with a few users, or developers during those first two months of the new year, if the travel is not too far out of my way.

There are so few MorphOS users within the USA, there is little chance of visiting with them, but with the hundreds of users in Europe, I think my chances of having a drink and discussing MorphOS some afternoon or evening with a few users, or developers has much higher chance of happening.

Of course everyone is busy with their own lives, so I might not be able to meet anyone while I am there, but it never hurts to ask a question and see what happens.

I'm in the North of Manchester if you come over to the UK, but I'm not aware of any planned UK events around that time. I know that Intuition also lives in the South of Manchester area, & possibly a few others but even we've not actually met. I also have a Mac Mini as you'll notice with my signature. Good luck with finding some relief from your back pain, cronic illness like that is awful to have to live with, so hope you find a specialist who can really get you some relief or better still - fully fit again.

Unlike Kronos assumes I also place the meetings in march, because of the weather in general.

It makes no sense to set a meeting in January or February when the weather is unpredictable and people get stuck on the streets or having accidents while making it through the snow or over icy roads.

Having the basement of our convention center less cold is just a positive side effect.

Geit

[ Edited by geit 05.11.2013 - 10:09 ]

Seems that in Poland there are no events scheduled for this period too. Reasons are the same as listed by Geit, weather usually causes communication problems. The first event will be AmiWawa in Warsaw, but it is usually held at end of March or even in April.

Aren't you a bit over-sensitive with the weather now? Communication problems? Sheesh ;) At least events would be less sweaty :)
Attendance shouldn't be that hard in any weather ;)

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AmiParty will be first ;)

Thanks for all the replies.

I would guess that there is a 50/50 chance that I will be extending my stay past the end of February, if I can find a good doctor, or clinic, who can treat my back pain. It is doubtful that I can find such doctor/clinic and complete all treatments they recommend in less than 2 months time, so extending my return flight to a later date is highly likely.

If none of the doctor's there believe that they can help my condition, I will return home at the end of February as currently planned. Finding the right health insurance to cover my medical treatments outside of the USA is proving much harder than I had first imagined. Getting a straight answer from any health insurance representative is almost impossible.

@amigadave
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Medical tourists tend to pay out of pocket. Most travel insurance plans are designed to cover emergency and urgent care only, not elective procedures for pre-existing conditions.

Generally, it is not in the financial interest of insurance companies to have individuals pay for two months of premium coverage outside the United States so they can receive as many treatments as possible during this time frame. For this to be profitable, the monthly premiums would need to be exceedingly expensive.

you should try a country like czech republic or poland for quality but cheap medical expenses if you are paying out of pocket.

Actually, I think I may have already mentioned Great Britain to David.
As the British routinely treat vacationing foreigners free of charge, that seems like to best option for medical tourism.

@Jim

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Visitors will receive emergency or urgent care pretty much anywhere in the European Union. But this does not mean you can just fly over and get all your teeth fixed for free (or that your average travel insurance will cover it).

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Interesting comparison, Andre.

But, though the US coverage for dental plans is even worse than for major medical plans, it had never occurred to me to consider using European dentistry.

And even in the US, emergency room care is a given, in that we prohibit that anyone be turned away from these facilities due to an inability to pay or a lack of health insurance.

And, obviously, European countries can not make it too easy for foreign visitors to make use of subsidized health care. That would make them a target for medical tourism.

However, while its not an option for David, it is still pretty easy to obtain work permits/visas that will gain you access to those health care systems.

And, while our media tends to ignore it, many US nationals have recently decided to immigrate to other countries that offer public health care.
One example of that would be film director George Romero who even at his late age, has decided to apply for Canadian citizenship.

Also, considering our less the perfect system for providing for the health care needed by our elderly, Medicare, I'm not surprised you are not seeing more US citizens retiring to countries outside the US.
Actually, this might be occurring in greater numbers than I am aware of, but it is not something US journalists have focused on.

I'm sure that all of you have stories about the downside of government subsidized health care.
But I don't think you have any perspective on living in a country where, even if you are well insured, you may find your medical expenses leading to bankruptcy or that your insurance company has set a finite limit to the expenses they will cover leading to a denial of services.

Hi David,

as you might have noticed, Pianeta Amiga is now scheduled for December, 14th-15th, so a bit early for you, and I guess there won't be any show in the first 2 months of the year.
On the other hand, if you happen to pay a visit to Venice while in Europe, drop me a mail. I live in Padova, which, while a lot less famous, is a city that is worth a visit as well.

I hope you can find relief dor your back pain, but while the healt care system is fully universal in most of the european countries, I too believe it would not be that easy to get there covered by an insurance.

@Jim
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The difference is that in Europe you are actively cared, healed and cured, including all kinds of surgery. In the US, at least up to when Sicko by Michael Moore was filmed, what is given is care up to stabilization (whatever that could mean), but usually not the expensive surgeries that might be needed.
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But indeed the key word here is "citizenship". If David applied for the French or Italian citizenship, he would be granted full universal and (almost, in Italy) free healt care from the very day, including for long time/cronic diseases. But I believe it is more difficult to get it for a tourist. I still hope he can find his way.

Kind regards,
Andrea

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The health system in the UK is probably the worst of at least (western) Europe. I know several ppl who had major concerns to move to the UK because of NHS or costy private inssurances. In fact I know about quite some Germans who lived in the UK for severl years but kept a German address too, to keep their German insurance (which is costy and not ideal, too).

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Thanks Zylesea.
Even from this far away, I had always held the impression that that was the case, but did not want to insult the British with an uniformed opinion.
As to Germans wanting to retain access to their own health care system, that is wholly understandable.
The Germans still lead in many fields, like medical imaging.
Unfortunately, the British have never seemed to excel at fields that required precision engineering.
I know that sounds harsh, but the impression I have always had of British standards was that their benchmarks (of minimum quality) were devices that could be made in small shops (frequently by someone who's favorite tool was a hammer).


[ Edited by Jim 09.11.2013 - 19:18 ]

Jim,
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Ah, I see you've heard about Jeremy Clarkson ;)

Jeremy Clarkson? The Top Gear guy?
I had not thought of that.

I was thinking of things like tthe Norton motorcycle, where parts from one won't fit on another.
I think their idea of mechanical "tolerances" was whether Ian in the assembly shop could tolerate swapping around parts until he found something that fit.

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Yes, you are correct, but the insurance I am applying for is a transfer from my current policy to one that is designed for Americans who are living in European countries full time, not tourists. My plan is to switch to this new insurance on January 1st, and continue with it for one year (or possibly longer), while I pursue medical treatment in France and/or Germany.

It is my belief that Germany is the leader in back surgery treatments, and that they have been doing the most artificial disc surgeries for over 30 years, where in the USA, artificial disc surgery is relatively new and somewhat rare, plus it is limited to only one level. In Germany, you are able to have 2 or 3 levels of your back operated on with artificial disc replacement. All of my treatments have focused on the disc between the L4 & L5 vertebrae, but I think my problem extends to the L5-S1 disc as well, which is why they have not been able to effect any pain relief for me so far.

The reason I am taking such drastic actions of leaving the USA for treatment, is because my condition continues to deteriorate and I fear that I will eventually lose the ability to use my left leg, if I don't find an effective treatment soon.

Thanks to all of you who have offered me a place to stay, or visit, if I am near your home towns, and also for your advice for this problem of mine.

Wow, scary amount of work you are considering David.
Usually I advise friends to avoid back surgery unless it proves absolutely essential.
Our surgeon seem to do it so poorly (and its your spine man - I mean damn that is a frightening thought).

However, I also have an idea how maddening chronic pain can be.

You might be right, the Germans might been a better recourse.

Have you thought about going to Cuba for treatment David?

Obviously it's much nearer to you than Europe and has (arguably) the best medical care in the west.

As a Brit I believe our NHS has the best care available for free in the EU but unless you are living here you will only get emergency care free of charge.

edit: Regarding pain relief, have you tried Medicinal Cannabis?

[ Edited by Intuition 10.11.2013 - 13:10 ]

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I have not decided what treatment to pursue yet, but I am only looking for back and neurologist specialists, who will advise me of what my best treatment choices are. I have already had two back surgeries, which were supposed to help, but have had zero effect, or made my condition worse. The treatment I received from the Nursing staff in both hospitals after my surgeries was nothing short of terrible, though both doctors did a good job of completing the work they were scheduled to perform. The procedures just did not help me.

@Intuition,

I am glad that you have had good success with the NHS in the UK, but some people would disagree with you about the quality of care they provide. I would not consider Cuba as an alternative to the USA, Canada, or Europe for health care. They might be cheap, but I doubt they are better doctors and facilities there than the other countries I listed. I also don't consider Cannabis as a solution, just a temporary help with my pain that is only a substitute for the Opiod medications I am on now. I don't see much point in switching to Cannibis, unless there are no more treatments that can be tried to actually reduce my pain permanently and lower, or remove the need for any pain medications. I will only switch to Cannibis if I still need to use Opiod medications after all treatments have been exhausted.

My very good friend, an American living in France, has convinced me that I will receive better treatment from medical professionals in France, which is one of the main reasons I am visiting France to seek treatment, and possibly look for specialists in other European countries as well.

[ Edited by amigadave 10.11.2013 - 05:55 ]

I can reccomend Nigella Sativa oil as a treatment, either applied topically or taken orally in capsule form. It really made a big difference to my wife's Multiple Sclerosis and Focal Limb Dystonia and also to my Dad's arthiritis.

http://www.theblessedseed.com/

I can send you some as a gift if you want to try it.

Hi Dave,

Which city are you staying? (in the NW of France)
Kamelito