As anyone following my other posts will know my brother is severely mentally disabled and because of this getting him to have any tests or treatments at all is a big issue and means he has to have everything, including a simple blood test) under a general anaesthetic.
Because of this he will not be able to have enough treatments to definitely cure his stage 2B testicular cancer (he had the testicle and 9.5cm tumour removed in January, but his February CT scan showed it has metastisised to his lymph nodes)
Originally at a "best interests" meeting we were told the only way he could have ANY treatment would be by more than 20 general anaesthetics (to give him chemo and some radiotherapy) and as that was obviously not possible for anyone we were told/encouraged that only palliative care rather than treatment was for the best for him.
We were devastated, then a week later I got a call from the specialists from another hospital who were over seeing my brothers care (but who had not been at the meeting) to say they had reviewd him and disagreed with what we were told, we then travelled a long way to see these people and discuss him again, they agreed that as he would need general anaesthetic for every single treatment it may not be possible to give him enough treatments to definitely save his life, but felt they could definitely improve his worsening symtoms and pain by giving him some lower doses of chemo, 2 or maybe 3 depending how he copes, after the second dose (when they will also give him another CT scan) they are planning to review and decide whether to offer a 3rd dose of chemo or discuss the option of a single dose of radiotherapy (not an easy option as it would not be available under a general anaesthetic at the local hospital so he would need to be able to travel which is something he is struggling with, especially long journeys.
Tomorrow afternoon he is going into hospital under heavy sedation, he will then be given his general anaesthetic and then they will take blood to check his kidney function for the chemo dosage, he will then have the chemo infusion for an hour before being woken and sent home, I am terrified of the whole thing, him coping with going to hospital (which is a problem for him anyway), being calm enough to have the general anaesthetic, then of course coping with the actual chemo and side effects, because if he is unable to cope with any of it then the treatment will not continue further.
