What's Next?- Help Please!

First a brief summary, and then my question:

My brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer in Dec of 2006.  Since then he has had an orchiectomy, chemotherapy for twelve weeks, and most recently a RPLND because since his initial diagnosis the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes.  

 When he was about 1/2 way through his chemotherapy he began vomiting and having extreme nausea and headaches.  We initially were lead to believe that he was not getting enough fluids and that he just needed to be given some extra fluids via his picc line.  That helped for a little while but the problems never really went away.  

 Since his RPLND (over two and a half weeks ago) he has been experiencing severe nausea and vomiting.  He can't keep anything down and has been relying on nutrition via his picc line only.  He has had an MRI on his brain and an upper endoscopy to see if the cancer has spread, and both tests have come back with no findings.  The doctors now have said that they don't know what to do from here. 

The 20 year old boy that is drooling, can't control his bodily functions, is so doped up on medicine to control his nausea that he can't remember his name, and is fading before our eyes no longer resembles my brother either mentally or physically.   

Where do we go from here?  We are willing to travel anywhere.  50% of his care has been at Indiana University and the other 50% has been back home in Illinois.  What doctors do we need to see?  What tests does he need to have? Where should he be going?  No one is willing to step up to the plate right now and really find out what's causing all of this....all I can see are band-aid solutions which is not okay.  

 PLEASE ADVISE...

On 5/18/2007 Mm207 wrote:

First a brief summary, and then my question:

My brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer in Dec of 2006.  Since then he has had an orchiectomy, chemotherapy for twelve weeks, and most recently a RPLND because since his initial diagnosis the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes.  

 When he was about 1/2 way through his chemotherapy he began vomiting and having extreme nausea and headaches.  We initially were lead to believe that he was not getting enough fluids and that he just needed to be given some extra fluids via his picc line.  That helped for a little while but the problems never really went away.  

 Since his RPLND (over two and a half weeks ago) he has been experiencing severe nausea and vomiting.  He can't keep anything down and has been relying on nutrition via his picc line only.  He has had an MRI on his brain and an upper endoscopy to see if the cancer has spread, and both tests have come back with no findings.  The doctors now have said that they don't know what to do from here. 

The 20 year old boy that is drooling, can't control his bodily functions, is so doped up on medicine to control his nausea that he can't remember his name, and is fading before our eyes no longer resembles my brother either mentally or physically.   

Where do we go from here?  We are willing to travel anywhere.  50% of his care has been at Indiana University and the other 50% has been back home in Illinois.  What doctors do we need to see?  What tests does he need to have? Where should he be going?  No one is willing to step up to the plate right now and really find out what's causing all of this....all I can see are band-aid solutions which is not okay.  

 PLEASE ADVISE...

Perhaps the surgery (RPLND) soon after the chemotherapy was the problem.In any event it should get better with time.There are many medications for nausea.Some may not be sedative or causing him feel doped. New very effective anti-nause drugs like Emend (aprepitant) could be tried as well as older like Ondansetron (Zofran) in higher then usual doses. Scopolamine patch can be added or tried alone or together with these medications.Non pharmacologic methods like Acccupuncture can help in some cases as an adjunct to medications and occasionally cannabis (medicinal Marijuana) or related drugs may be of help.Check these out if available in your state and if can be prescribed legally (I refer here to medicinal Marijuana).There are drugs like Marijuana in pill form which are available by prescription and which could  be tried.Good luck and be patient.The nausea should eventually resolve.It always does after the chemotherapy with time.