Josh: Melanie, thank you so much for joining us at Expats Everywhere and talking with us about your experience moving to Portugal. Can you let us know when did you arrive in Portugal?

Melanie: Hi, Josh. It is a sincere pleasure, privilege, and honor to meet with you today. My husband and I, no pets, no kids, just us. We arrived in Portugal October 6th, 2022.

So, uh, five months ago, uh, had never been to Europe, never been to another continent, never been across the pond. We literally jumped in with both feet as impulsive adventurers do, and we figured it's Europe. It's beautiful. It's Europe, it's advanced, it's a, you know, metropolitan, um, you know, country within a set of metropolitan countries.

What could possibly go wrong, we would be fine. So we jumped in with both feet and decided to let fate take the rest of the way. What was the

Josh: catalyst to getting you to move to Europe? Site unseen.

Melanie: Well, YouTube helped , okay. Um, followed a lot of blogs. Aspac City, um, I am very, I used to be an event planner, so I'm very a type when it comes to collecting a lot of data and information.

And also my ancestry is Portuguese and Spanish. So my fam, my ancestry, hail from Elle, Portugal and Valencia, Spain. And it had always been my dream to retire in Europe to go learn more about my culture and my people and, uh, where I'm from, I. What it was to be American, right? Born and raised in California.

I knew, I knew what it's like to be American. Let me go ahead and try European for size and try that phon of my ancestry and, and kind of see, you know, learn more about who I am, um, in my culture. So that is why we decided in our mid forties to. We establish ourselves through the D seven process, uh, the visa process and, um, a teen residency in Europe.

And we do that. We would have to toggle back and forth. We weren't, you know, we're not quite done with living in the US yet. We do have residencies in both, but we definitely wanted to start establishing ourselves in order to retire there eventually here in Europe. And so we are here now. It's been fabulous.

Okay, nice.

Josh: So you arrived in October and have you had your, your self appointment to confirm your residency here in.

Melanie: Not until April 17th that is coming up. We have our meeting with, um, relocate to Portugal, who is the entity that helped us get here, uh, get all the bureaucracy for the D seven, and they will be meeting us, uh, with us on March 17th to get prepared for April 17th Seth appointment both here in Porto.

We're very lucky that's here locally.

Josh: Yep. Very true. Sometimes you, you get sent across the country, uh, to have that appointment, so well done to get it here where you. How have you found life? Uh, arriving in Porto? I

Melanie: cried at the airport when we arrived because I could not believe I had landed my feet in Europe.

First of all, that is, I've always been a dream of mine. I was here, I was in Portugal. I was able to finally see in experience, With my own eyes and ears and everything, what all the Instagram filters, , what they call the Instagram. I wanted to see for myself, and I wanted to hear the language and I wanted to taste the food, and I was super anxious and the honeymoon lasted a very long time.

Now we have assimilated and we live here. So now the day-to-day is different, but I don't think the love affair with Europe will ever cease and I think. It's so amazing in so many ways, very, very different from all I've known. So there is, you know, there are some growing pains a little bit. And, um, you know, when you relocate to a completely different country, of course not every day is gonna be perfect and you're gonna, um, hit some roadblocks in, but there's so many resources and so many helpful, kind, helpful hands that will guide you that we.

Ever hit a wall and stayed at a wall. We've always been able to overcome obstacles with the help of kind people. I literally am just convinced that there's angels that walk amongst us here because , that has been my experience. It has been a really, um, more seamless than I thought it would be actually.

Okay.

Josh: Right on. Well, I'm, I'm actually fascinated because you used the word honeymoon period. Yes. Uh, to talk about your time here in, in Porto and in Portugal, what were some of the things that were happening during your honeymoon

period?

Melanie: Oh, just acting like a tourist. Right. We had never been a Portugal, so just being a tourist in your own town.

Got it. But I always preached that when I was living in the United States. 50 states are 50 different kind of small countries with its own history, its own food, culture, everything. Be a tourist in your own town. So as soon as we got here, the first thing I wanted to do was to see all the things. And I wanted to go to all the restaurants and I wanted to be a tourist.

Even though we had a residency already in apartment waiting for us, I really wanted to scout my myone for. I wanted to go to all the spots. I wanted to hit all the museums. I wanted to go to some shows and see all the churches and, um, I wanted to be a tourist. And so that was really fun. Super, super fun, you know?

And then I had a little bit of a health scare, and so it kind of directed us a little bit. So the honeymoon then turned into day-to-day living, and now actually living as a Portuguese resident going through health treatments. And so, , our honeymoon kind of, um, took a turn in the way that I can't really tour as much anymore.

I can't really do a lot of things right cuz I'm actually at the hospital several times a week now. So that has kind of changed things, but now I feel like, uh, a Portuguese resident in the way that, uh, any other local would, you know, in that regard. So it's, it's not a bad thing at all. It's just has changed the way things look right

Josh: now.

Okay. So that was really the thing that the health scare was the thing that shifted you from being in the honeymoon phase to now the, the daily life or the dates day phase. Yes, correct. Okay. Let's talk about the health scare. So what's going on?

Melanie: So what ended up happening is when we got here about two weeks later, after we got here, we, um, as soon as we arrived, actually I signed up with two entities, AF, pop and Serenity.

They're both concierge services. AF Pop will help you with. Oh my gosh. Everything from assimilating and establishing yourself with the bureaucracy here. They will get you contacts like realtors and insurance company, anything that you need here locally, they will help expats with that. Serenity is more of a medical concierge.

You are assigned a, an advice nurse, and then they will, um, set you up with like a dentist, a specialist, a chiropractor, um, and they. Help you with that type of bureaucracy. When it comes to the, um, the medical end of it, I recommend, highly recommend anyone who is looking to relocate here. As soon as you receive your ne for any type of visa that you, um, start doing that because with any insurance, private insurances, if you, the private healthcare or the public healthcare, um, you need your niche to do, be able to.

But you can start signing up for private healthcare insurances. There is a waiting period with a lot of them of 60 to 90 days, so it's really good. Uh, I encourage you to do get that done as soon as possible to get through the 60 to 90 days. That way if anything happens, if you twist an ankle, if you catch covid, if anything happens like that to where you need a little bit of medical attention, it's already set up for you and you don't have to worry about waiting periods.

Everything is covered, and when I say everything is covered, I mean with a lot of the insurance policies here, it includes vision and dental. Everything. So you are very well covered here. It is not linked to employment at all. It's completely separate, right? , that's very, very different from the US to where it is very, um, separate from all that.

So you don't have to worry about, um, your jobs or copays, deductibles. You don't have to really worry about a lot of that here, which is really nice. I had all that set up, but we were still in the interim of the 90 day period, and so I had, was not feeling well and I was not getting over jet lag. I was really fatigued.

I was not sleeping well. I didn't know. I just felt very overall and well. And then about two weeks later, brushed against my chest with my wrist and I felt a lump. And it was a very, very large lump, right? And I, oh my gosh. It just happened out of nowhere overnight, literally. And I was like, what is that?

What's going on? So I called a friend, a fellow expat here, who has, was already within the, uh, The healthcare system here. Private Healthcare Hospital, COOF and Coof Institute are two, uh, private hospitals here. Mm-hmm. . And she already had a doctor. She said, call my doctor. Get an appointment. You need to get seen right away.

Mm-hmm. , um, cyst run in my family and all the women in my family. I didn't, honestly, I wasn't that alarmed. I thought that was probably just what it was cuz it was so surface and it was large. and it came outta nowhere overnight. Literally had an appointment within two weeks, I would say. Uh, went to see the doctor.

She did an exam. She said, it feels like a cyst. We're gonna go ahead and get this checked for you. Let's, uh, go ahead and get you an appointment for a mammogram and ultrasound right away. So I was able to go in and get that done within two weeks. So I got a mammogram and ultrasound and they said, um, this looks like a cst, but it's not behaving like a cst.

We need to do a biopsy. So I had a biopsy done probably two weeks after that. All this took place within a six week period. After the biopsy, I received an email, so the doctor did not contact me. Actually, I received all the information first because I was paying cash for all of this since I was, uh, in between my waiting period.

Yep. So this isn't the fault of insurance or anything. This is just a timing thing. Yeah. Um. and so happy to do that because it's, it's very affordable. And the thing about the attitudes of the healthcare here, I have to say, is they care way more about your wellness and being treated than they do about the money matters.

So like we can work on that at the, at the back. We'll figure that out. We'll figure that out. Yeah. They were really concerned about my health and I love that because I didn't feel like. A dollar sign. I felt like a human being. They were very kind. And what I like about the Portuguese people, especially the medical staff, not only did they speak English, which was really helpful for me, cuz you know, I just moved here.

Mm-hmm. , um, that they were very straightforward. They did not handle me with kid gloves. They treated me like an adult. Very straightforward, but also very kind. They held my. While they were being, while they were sugarcoating my thing, basically , , they were holding my hand. And I really appreciated that because I think as a human being, we can take any information that's brought to us as long as we have all the information, right?

Yeah. So I really appreciated that delivery, uh, method actually. And so, I did a biopsy and they numbed me up very good. Everything was done and they said, okay, we're gonna find out in a week. So a week later I received an email with my biopsy results. And so my husband and I were in the kitchen and I was like, babe, I have cancer.

And he's like, what? And I said, I have something called Stage three Invasive Ductal carcinoma, which is Cancer of the milk. And, okay, so basically that whole brush just needs to get tossed in the garage at this point. Uh, and so they said, okay, well, we caught it late and we have to do an aggressive form of treatment for you.

But here in Europe, we are very advanced. Portugal is very advanced in cancer research and treatment. They create a custom cocktail of chemo drugs for you. It's not one size fits all. And so in this, my mother went through the exact same cancer as I have exactly one year ago she got diagnosed one December.

I got diagnosed another December. So I would say between all of the investigative, I had a lot of blood work done, a lot of, I had an m r, I had a CT scan. I had all of this stuff done, all this investigative work for diagnosis, several blood tests before I received that. . Okay. And so they said, we know exactly what type of cancer you have, what kind of receptors you have.

We have all of this. And my mother in the states did not receive this information. Like not until way, way, way later. Sure. And so they said, we're gonna create a custom chemo cocktail for you that's going to attack your specific. Cancer and based on your receptors and your genetics and everything. I did a genetics test here.

I did all of that here. They had it all done. Mm-hmm. . I was very impressed when I went into to get radiology to get all the X-rays done. It was like walking into a space station. It was like Disneyland, where you go to like Space Mountain and everything. It's like what? Uhhuh, . It blew my mind how state of the art.

The equipment was, all the computers were brand new. All the software was brand new. I didn't see the DOS system anywhere to be found . Everything was state of the art. I was very, very impressed. So by the time all was said and done, they said, could we have this set up for you? We're gonna go ahead and play support.

So I went into surgery, uh, that I was a hundred percent awake for, which was nuts. Um, and they placed a port a catheter in my. Here my jugular vein, um, in order to use the port for Dr. Blood draws and chemo instead of using my veins. So now my veins are not gonna be shot at all. And they were able to do that.

Then we started chemo the day after. So I had port surgery one night and then we started chemo. The very next day. They used my port, took off bandage, used the port, didn't fill a thing, and they created the. After my first chemo session, I went in for my second chemo session two weeks later, um, in his four rounds of very aggressive two types of drugs with a shot that Kevin has to administer into my stomach the day after rare.

So three types of drugs for four, for four rounds. And as of chemo session two, my tumor had shrunk by half. Wow. And. I just had my chemo session three yesterday. Okay. And she, after the exam, she could barely feel my, my tumor. It had shrunk so much. So the special cocktail that they had used, they said, had a very, very high, um, statistics of shrinkage.

Okay. And then I have four rounds of this, and then I have 12 rounds of a lighter. Drug, but I have 12 rounds and it's going to work as hard as it can, a guarantee, a non recurrence of oh spread. So it's gonna stop the spread and everything. It has not spread all over my body just to the lymph nodes here. A very, very, very lucky, very lucky girl.

Very lucky prognosis. Um, mm-hmm . My story isn't everyone's story. . Sure. My personal experience is gonna be very different from someone else who has a different type of cancer or even a different type of breast cancer. Right. Um, and so the fact that they do custom cocktails here was very impressive. Um, it's working.

The side effects and symptoms that I have. Are very manageable by medication and I am able to, other than some brain fog and some major fatigue in the middle of their I, which is just naps and hydration, basically, yeah, I am able to still have my capacities and my facilities and I'm able to run errands and carry on and function.

I'm really, really surprised by that. I was not expecting that. So do I feel unwell sometimes? Of course, I have cancer. I'm going through chemo. There's gonna be, um, sure side effects and symptoms, but I'm still able to go on social, social calls and, um, conduct business and, uh, I just have to do things a little slower now.

But I have a very, very high prognosis and after this I will do all the things that are required of me. Um, radiation surgery. Um, and then hormonal therapy from five to, for five to 10 years. But I am 46 years old. I'm young, I'm still strong. Um, all of my blood work in my platelets and my red cells and white cells are normal.

I don't have anemia. So the cocktail that they're using is doing exactly what they intended it to do, and it's leaving a lot less destruction and havoc on the rest of my body than I anticipated. Um, and that has been the case for a lot of cancer. Survivors who've gone through treatment, I am very impressed.

In Portugal or in general? In general compared to the cancer survivors in my family, um, that have gone through treatment in the states, um, here in Portugal, the, they have told me that the odds are very, very good. I've talked to other cancer patients that are going through chemo as well. They have lost their hair, but they haven't lost more than that.

I've also lost my hair. I'm completely bald. Um, but I, that's a small sacrifice to make for the amount of pros compared to the cons in dealing with something like this. I have felt that chemo has been a lot more gentle for me here than has been the case for maybe some of my relatives that have gone through treatment.

Right. Art in other countries. Yeah.

Josh: Very happy. Okay. I have, I have a couple questions. In the beginning you talked about how you, you felt the lump and you called your friend's doctor. Mm-hmm. , and two weeks later you were seen. Is that about a normal? Yeah. Is that a normal time span to get an appointment?

Melanie: I do not know because I let them know why I wanted to be seen, and I think that they rushed me in.

Okay, I see. Okay. Because of the reason why I was being

Josh: seen. I see. Okay. Because you had this like two week cadence and I'm, I'm just curious about that. If that's kind of normal, would that, did that happen with your mom? Is it is, does it seem to be faster here in that regard, or about the

Melanie: same? I would say, oh, that's a really good question.

I honestly don't know how to answer that. Okay. I think it just really depends on the. The urgency of the situation of being seen. Um, if you can get in with a, I think a specialists and their team will move mountains to get you seen if they feel like it's urgent enough.

Josh: That's honestly my impression of Portugal is that from talking to either people who have been through things like this or people in the medical industry, they seem to triage really.

Very well. Um, but I guess the downside to that is if you don't have anything that is like super pressing, important pressing, thank you. Um, then you're, you're on a six month waiting list for something and, and that can be a little frustrating, at least maybe more so in the public sector. But the public sector seems to be super robust.

So there are certain things that the private sector can't actually. that they then refer you to the public for? Were you doing all this public or

Melanie: private? I'm glad that you asked that. The funny thing about the public and private sectors is that they both use the exact same doctors. So my doctors in the private sector are also gonna be my doctors.

In the public sector, they just toggle between the various hospitals. So your level of care is exactly the same with the public sector. It there is a little bit more of a waiting period that is. With the private sector, a lot of people do go the private route because you do have, uh, shorter wait times and access to specialists quicker, a longer directory of specialists quicker, uh, than the public sector.

So there is a way to navigate both at the same time. Because of the urgency of my situation, I decided to go through private cuz I had no time to waste on treatment and diagnosis. I was giving a temporary

I think it's like the,

Josh: yeah, you've got a Brazilian, Portuguese there, that pronunciation. . .

Melanie: So I was given a temporary one in order to utilize and access the public sector if I needed to, because I was in the mi uh, in the thick of like my residency transition. Yep. But because of the urgency of the situation, they were like, we don't care.

The money aspect, if we need to get you to a state hospital where the government will cover it, we'll do that for you. It's just a matter of we, you may have to wait an extra four weeks to get treatment started there. And I opted not to do that because I did not wanna to stall my treatment. So I decided to pay cash through the private sector to get it done.

Quicker, however, okay. After April 17th, when my self, when my self appointment is, is over, then I will have a permanent ENT number, and then I will be able to have my radiation surgery and hormonal therapy done through the public sector, and then that will be free of charge to me, as I will now be in official temporary nce.

That's a blessing. It is such a blessing. Financial blessing for sure. What good fortune. Um, but if I can talk about that a little bit about the financials, let's do it. I don't absolutely want, I don't want, um, I, I, I don't find money issues to be taboo at all. I really wanna get this out there. I'm, I'm sure people are curious.