We heard back from Brandon’s oncology surgeon at 10:00 last night. One thing you have to say about the guy, he puts in long days! He and the New York oncologist talked through their options and came to the conclusion that waiting two months, then doing another PET scan would be the best plan for Brandon. They think the metabolic activity in the scan could be disease progression, but they don’t see enough evidence to do another major surgery right now. The CRS/HIPEC surgery is a procedure that can be performed a limited amount of times on one person, so waiting until there’s a definite and significant amount of disease is the thing to do. If they do see progression in the next scan, they will schedule him for that surgery again.

Kristen found some information on another oncologist who is doing clinical research on methods to eliminate the cancer-sustaining proteins to prevent mesothelioma tumors from growing. He is working on assessing the molecular profiles of the tumors that stem from mesothelioma. One thing this says is that there is hope. People are out there looking for ways to cure this disease! Brandon did have tissue from his surgery sent for molecular profiling, but his insurance company will not cover the cost of this (to the tune of $50,000+), so we haven’t been able to get the results. But we haven’t given up on that, and his oncology surgeon is still appealing to the insurance company to make an exception in his case.

Brandon only has to fight this disease until there is a cure/treatment. Please keep praying for his health and strength to do so!