Brandon met with the doctor this morning, and she said that the fatigue he’s feeling is understandable because his body is working overtime to fight this disease. She wasn’t surprised that he’s exhausted at the end of the workday and told him he should try to rest as much as he can. She also said the area where he’s currently experiencing the most discomfort is where the intestinal blockage is/was. He needs to definitely watch his diet and eat smaller, more frequent meals instead of the three squares a day. The hope is that he goes through the next month with as little discomfort as possible while waiting for the upcoming PET scan. At that point, they will reassess their next steps. If he does need surgery for the mesothelioma again, they can also address the scar tissue that’s giving him problems at the same time. If he doesn’t need surgery, they may come up with another plan for the scar tissue. She said there is also a chance the intestines will work themselves out before that time, which would be a blessing!

They talked about options to protect his kidney if he does have the HIPEC surgery again. It still doesn’t make sense that the insurance company will cover a chemo agent known to cause kidney failure in a particular patient just because it’s “the type of chemo used for that type of cancer.” And then they will cover the resulting dialysis. They will not cover the biologic testing to see if there is another chemo agent that would specifically target the genetic makeup of that patient’s tumor and potentially avoid the resulting complications.