• Have a candid conversation with your doctor, friends and family, learn about all the possible risks and precautions to take.  In brief do your best to obtain all the information to make an informed decision.
• Getting treated while you are on a planned vacation - In this case you already know the destination country possibly a city or region, all that you need to do is find a reputed and accredited hospital or clinic in the region.  There are many resources on the web to find out about the hospitals including TourNCare's Find Hospital feature.
• If your sole purpose of this trip is medical treatment, first thing you need to do is to decide on a country with world class hospitals which has experts in the field.  Visit Joint Commission International website to find an accredited hospital.
• You may also want to decide if you want to use a medical tourism facilitator to help you, you can do research online and TourNCare's Find Facilitators can also be a helpful resource.  Taking help of a medical tourism company could be very helpful.
• Talk to 2 or 3 hospitals in the country you decided to get treatment, many of these hospitals a special department for international patients and some hospitals even offer free consultations with doctors over phone or web to answer any questions you may have.
• Make sure you carry all the documentation, reports, MRI, dental x-rays, it is always a good idea to check with the hospitals regarding what you may need to carry with you.  Use a secured flash drive and make sure that these files are password protected.  There are some tools like MedicKey to help carrying the medical records securely.
• Make sure that the hospital has translatory services, understands your culture and addresses your dietary needs.
• Plan your trip well, make arrangements for your local travel to visit any tourist places.  Use tools like Trip Advisor, Kayak, MakeMyTrip.com to find good deals.
• If you need a wheel chair because of arthritis or knee surgery, plan on taking one or buy when you are there.
• If you want to stay after surgery for extended period, it may be a good idea to consider a guest house than a hotel as service is more personalized, again Trip Advisor could be a good place to research your options.
• Take emotional factors in to consideration too, as it is very tough to be away from family during a recovery, when one needs lot of emotional support.  It will be very comforting to have at least one close family member with you during your medical journey.  Use all the technology like Skype, Google Talk, Vonage to keep in touch with your family and friends.

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