MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast
MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is a supportive, medically informed, and deeply human show dedicated to helping families navigate life after a mesothelioma diagnosis. Hosted by patient advocate, Dave Foster, the podcast brings together the voices of doctors, survivors, caregivers, and leading experts to deliver clarity, guidance, and hope when it’s needed most.
Sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, one of the nation’s most experienced mesothelioma law firms, the show offers more than legal insight—it provides practical direction, emotional support, and a roadmap for getting the best medical care as quickly as possible. Whether you or a loved one has just been diagnosed or you're searching for trusted information, MESO breaks down the medical, legal, and personal impact of this rare disease in a way that’s easy to understand and compassionate at every step.
Every episode delivers meaningful conversations, survivor stories, expert interviews, and actionable next steps so families can make informed decisions with confidence.
If you need answers, support, or guidance—you’re in the right place.
For more information, visit Danziger & De Llano at Dandell.com.
MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast
From Terminal Prognosis To Purpose: Katherine Keyes On Life After Mesothelioma
What does life look like when one lung has to do the work of two? We sit with Katherine Keyes for a candid, hopeful, and deeply practical conversation about rebuilding a life after mesothelioma—physically, mentally, and socially. No platitudes, just real tools: how to pace exercise without crashing, taper pain meds and oxygen safely, and design a “new normal” that protects energy while making room for joy.
Katherine walks us through the slow return to movement: starting with short treadmill sessions, adding gentle cycling, and using pulmonary testing to measure how her left lung adapted. She explains why consistency beats intensity, how rest intervals prevent setbacks, and why even light activity like gardening becomes powerful rehab for breath and mood. We talk openly about off days, the sting of lost abilities, and the counterweight of daily gratitude—small rituals that anchor motivation when willpower fades.
We also explore survivor’s guilt and the complicated relief of long-term remission. Katherine shares the role of clinicians, family, and community in keeping her grounded, and why accepting help can be as brave as offering it. The episode highlights tapering strategies for opioids and oxygen, mental health guardrails, and the value of purposeful routines. Her story is both blueprint and encouragement: redefine success, move a little most days, ask for support, and pass it forward.
If you’re navigating mesothelioma, chronic illness, or any hard reset, Katherine's wisdom will meet you where you are and help you take the next steady step. Subscribe, share with someone who needs hope today, and leave a review to help others find this conversation.
MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.
You're listening to Meso, the Mesothelioma podcast, where support, education, and outreach come together for families facing mesothelioma.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, we're back with Catherine Keyes. She's taken us through the process from early diagnosis on mesothelioma to um the surgery, radiation, survival up to this point, been given horrendous prognosis, and now she's come back from radiation. She's back home. Tell us what happens next.
SPEAKER_02:Oh man, is it concerning me cell thelioma? Is it that and life?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. What what does it mean to your life afterwards?
SPEAKER_01:You mentioned that that you tried to um, you know, work part-time. Um, how how did that work? Um and had is it was were we a year into your diet, you know, your after your surgery, and then you tried to go back to work, or was it longer than that?
SPEAKER_02:It was probably, I would say at least about maybe five years. I would say oh five years. At least, at least five.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Before I, you know, got up enough nerve to say, I'm gonna go out here and try this and try it.
SPEAKER_01:So was it because you felt, you know, because I know lose lose a lung, we none of us that haven't lost a lung really knows, you know, the struggles that you go through, because the other one has to be trained to work a little harder than than it had before. Um, but um, so five years from the point of of your surgery to now, I mean to then is when you thought, okay, I'm gonna go back to work.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, I actually, you know, even after the physical therapy with the uh nurses and going in and all that kind of stuff, then you know, I've always been a person that always went to the gym and worked out. So I knew that um, well, they told me I was gonna have to pace myself with everything I do, you know, walking, you know, whatever. Yeah. So I just kind of I really kind of got back in the gym, you know, and I started out on a treadmill, you know, and some other things, but I did get back in the gym. Okay. Because I could definitely tell that um I needed um to basically build up your semina because yeah, yeah, yeah. I I I definitely needed to build that back up. You know, I was gonna do anything. You know, definitely um have to get your body back into shape. You know, um now it's my my normal, I have a new normal. Right. You know, so now I gotta I gotta figure out, okay, how am I gonna make it? How am I gonna function? You know, how am I gonna take care of myself with one lung? Right. You know, that that was the big question. Yeah, right. Now you gotta, now you gotta, you know, because my daughter has to go back to work, people have to go back to their lives, you know, and do what they need to do. So, you know, I gotta be self-sufficient. So I I got back in the gym and I did a few, you know, exercises, but I kind of um I took it slow, you know, and I would start out on a treadmill for maybe 10 minutes, and then I go to like a go to you know the bicycle thing, you know, because now I I need to work my way back to uh, you know, a sense of normancy, yeah, you know, even though it's not gonna be what it's ever been, but I knew normal, and I want to be self-sufficient, I don't want to have to rely on anybody to take care of me, you know. So that's what I did. I went to the gym, did that. I started working, um, and and you know, just sitting at home doing nothing, it is so boring. Right. You have to have something to keep your mind, you know what I'm saying? And I truly believe that.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, no, I agree too.
SPEAKER_02:I I truly believe that, even to um even to um other illnesses and how people get uh dementia, you know what I'm saying, that type of thing. I think you have to keep yourself physically and mentally active, doing something. You know, it it's kind of like when you get up every day, you gotta have at least two or three meals a day, right? You don't may not have to have three, but you gotta have at least two.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I'm saying? Because each meal is gonna give you some energy. So you gotta train your body, okay. Now we gotta do this, we gotta do that. You know, you you gotta you gotta stay active. And um if you keep your mind on a lot of things and and keep challenging your mental capacity, then now you can stay doing some other things. Whereas, say you just retire and you go home and sit on the couch. Well, you know, after working so many years and you just go sit on the couch, your body's gonna start declining.
SPEAKER_01:I think a lot of people when they retire don't realize, you know, things and they start to get a bit stir crazy. Um and yeah, you've gotta you have to have some sort of plan. Like you said, a new norm. I love that you said that a new norm. Um, you know, your new lifestyle. I mean, you know, I I I remember when you were in Houston, um, I guess it's been a couple of years, and we went to a little dance.
SPEAKER_02:That was when we had to stop. That was the most oh, that was the bigger.
SPEAKER_06:We still have pictures up here in the office of that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we do have the pictures.
SPEAKER_02:Send me some pictures.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, Anna, you're in charge. She's got them in her office. But you know funny hats and stuff.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, yeah, it's a little different. Life is different. You you can't, you know, you dance your night away anymore. You you no, you can't stop and then wait, you did pretty good that night. No, you did.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but I mean, you know, hey, you gotta, you you know, you gotta dance a little.
SPEAKER_01:And and so can I ask and win? Yeah, can I ask this question? Um, so when you are actually, you know, we're we're five years later, and you're finding out, okay, I I will never be, you know, who I was. And I know you have to have a new norm. Does that um do you do you feel a little depression on that? I mean, you know, it's just most people have, you know, you start to feel like, oh, I'm you know, I'm not able to do what I used to do, and and it brings them down. What keeps you from doing that? Because you don't look like you have that issue. Really?
SPEAKER_02:You know, I you know, uh from time to time I do that that spirit does try to take over my body, right? Yeah, but um would you actually believe that I have a garden? Oh, yeah, okay. I have uh vegetables in the garden, yeah. I have flowers, I got geraniums, I have uh uh purple tongues. I don't know what the real name for the purple tongues, but those I have a zebra plane, huh?
SPEAKER_01:I said Dave might know.
SPEAKER_06:Not sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you got a garden, Dave?
SPEAKER_06:I got a big garden.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you got vegetables?
SPEAKER_06:I well, yes, I do. I I do raise vegetables with my my my uh partner, and uh she's very, very good at it. She's got everything you can imagine, oranges and that sort of thing. But I grow a lot of exotic plants from all over the world. So I have I have just a huge plant collection.
SPEAKER_04:Are you serious?
SPEAKER_06:And my son, who doesn't have a never had a green thumb, is is even worse than me. Now they've got it, looks like they have a marijuana factory, they've got lights everywhere, but they've got all of these crazy, crazy. I'm I do well at outside plant, but this is not this is not about me. I want to back up here just for a minute. So I can't imagine you ever feeling that you were not gonna be where you were before, given what I know about you.
SPEAKER_02:I I really didn't feel that way. I really didn't.
SPEAKER_06:At all and so, yeah, did you ever feel like you got back to where you were? Because I see you now. I feel like you're you're amazing and and you've you've gotten you've overcome everything. But is do you feel that way or no?
SPEAKER_02:I have my challenges, Dave.
SPEAKER_06:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02:You know, to be perfectly honest, I do have some challenges, challenges, and some days, most days, I do really good, you know, but I do have some some off days, you know.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:And so I just count that as really, you know, to be able to to do, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Let's see, with everything that you went through, you're allowed off days. We didn't go through all that, and we have off days.
SPEAKER_06:So I Anna has a lot of off days. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01:Anna, it's your time. My off days is in the office next to me.
SPEAKER_02:So I got you know, you you just have, I mean, sometimes I just have I just have off days. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:You're entitled. You're entitled.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but when I have those days, you know, I I think that kind of depresses me a little bit, you know, to be perfectly honest. I think it kind of, you know, kind of pulls me down because I've always been taught, you know, you get up early, you start your day early, and you, you know, you do certain things, you know, you get things done. You just get things done. And so, you know, if it's a day that I can't really get something done, then I'll just I I I just have to come to I had to come to the realization that it's okay. Yeah, you there's tomorrow.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. You know. Oh, okay. So I have two more important questions. One, you were given a horrific diagnosis, a terminal diagnosis. You have X amount of years to live. At some point, you had to start thinking, I'm gonna beat this, and then I have beaten this. I mean, at you know, 18 years post surgery, if you had this cancer in you, it would have come back. So, so tell me a little bit about that, and you know what you think about that. Do you have survivor's guilt? Do you what do you what do you think about being alive? So conquering a disease that is nearly 100% fatal. Go ahead and tell me about that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, um, I have days that you know, I have a little bit of guilt, you know, because I did survive, you know, and I've seen other people, you know, who gone who passed and and gone, you know, they're passed and gone. And um, you know, like, well, not not just my parents, but I have a couple of sisters, you know, that they were healthy when I was when I went through what I went through. But two of them have passed and gone on, you know. Um I had a my first sister, she um she had problems with her kidneys. She was on dialysis for a while, and she was doing good. I mean, literally, she was doing good, but she and I would talk and we would have intimate talks about you know our treatments and the things we went through. And she just, you know, we came to me and we had a long talk and she just said she was just tired of fighting. Wow. So I I I really believe that she just gave up. Yeah, you know, I mean, there's no doubt in my mind she gave up. She she was just tired, she just didn't she didn't want to keep doing the treatments, you know. The um, what is it they do?
SPEAKER_06:The dialysis.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, dialysis. She she was tired of doing dialysis.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, no, that would be training. So okay, so I'm gonna drill back down on this. So you're the little train. I think I can, I think I can. At what point did you feel like you got over the hump that the the uh mountain and and have to accept, yeah, I'm gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_02:Well or did you? I every day I get up, it's a fight. I'm determined that I'm gonna live my new normal to the best of my ability. You know, and it may not be the way someone else's normal is, but it's my new normal.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:And I have to wrap my head around it and say, okay, this is what it is. Right. You know, and I have to, you know, be grateful, right, and and and be thankful. You know, and I that that's the first thing that's on my mind every morning. I wake up and I say thank you for another day, for seeing another day. Thank you for being in my right mind because you can go through physical, you know, challenges, and some people just can't handle it. And it's not uh it's not a gimme, it's not like okay, you automatically are gonna, you know what I'm saying, beat beat that mental challenge. You have to stay focused and tell yourself every day that it's gonna be a good day, regardless of whatever challenge comes. It's gonna be a good day, yeah. And you have to look through whatever you're going through and pick out the good things, don't focus on the bad.
SPEAKER_06:Totally agree. Uh Dr. Rice, so you still go back and see him?
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:What when was the last time you saw him?
SPEAKER_02:Um, not this year, but I'll be going 2026. So 2024.
SPEAKER_06:Did did at some point it occur to him that wow, you know, did he did he ever say or acknowledge, okay, wow, it's been three years, now four years, five years, seven years, sort of okay.
SPEAKER_02:Because you probably you you probably don't don't, you know, you probably don't even need to come back. You I mean, you're just doing so amazing.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. Well, why do you go back if you don't need to, Catherine? I already know the answer to that question.
SPEAKER_04:I miss you, Dave. That's not it. You want to see Dr. I miss Ann. And you miss Dr. Rice.
SPEAKER_02:You're trying to put me, you trying to throw me out of the bus.
SPEAKER_06:That's funny. That's funny. So he did eventually say, Hey, you know, wow, you you made it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, right. He did, you know, and um, I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful to Dr. Rice. I mean, I just couldn't have made it without him. Yeah, I couldn't have made it without you guys. I mean, you know, you remember when you came to my house and filmed?
SPEAKER_06:I do, I do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and my daughter was there, she was helping me, and I was on oxygen, wasn't I?
SPEAKER_06:You were, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I've come a long way.
SPEAKER_06:You have come on.
SPEAKER_01:So you have, and and and wow, it's just um, it's it's you've come a long way and you've been amazing through it all. Um, I can't even imagine the struggles. You know, I I get the flu and I'm like going nuts because I'm stuck in the room and I can't get out to do anything. But you know, five years of recovery before you finally felt like, okay, I'm gonna start a new me. And wow, it's it's just amazing the courage that you've had to get out of bed every morning because that that would have been really hard.
SPEAKER_06:I think most people that look at you now, well, I think 99.9% of would think that didn't happen. I mean, it's it's almost hard to believe. So nobody would see that, understand the the struggles you you've gone through and how far you have come. And you you know, I say this almost every time I see you, but you're an inspiration to us all, right? So for those of us with two lungs, uh wow, yeah, need to get on that treadmill. Hey, um one one thing I forgot to ask you about, and I need to ask you about is so you're you're being medicated for months and months and months and months, and some of those medicines were probably kind of hard to quit. Was that was that ever an issue?
SPEAKER_02:It was, yeah. It was it definitely was because um some of them I had to um decrease my milligrams to gradually get off of them, you know. Um I was on oxycodon, right, oxycodin. I was on it all, you know, I was on that hard stuff and um something else too, but if I had just quit the medicines and stopped taking them, I would have started having seizures and everything. So, you know, Dr. Rice, they kind of walked me through all of that, you know. So yeah, I'm I mean, I I'm just grateful because they had the knowledge, you know, to know that okay, you can't just stop taking this. We need you to gradually push back, you know, even with the oxygen. Um I didn't just come off the oxygen just immediately. They had to, you know, kind of scale it back, you know, for me to just get off the oxygen. And um, I still have an oxygen machine, but I hadn't used it in years. I probably don't even have any um, you know, I probably don't even have any any oxygen in the any more tanks or whatever. But yeah.
SPEAKER_06:That's amazing. Well, the reality of it is most people they put on oxygen and they put the on these drugs, they never come off because they just don't make it, right? To the other side. So it's not a reckless thing, it's just palliative care, right? They're giving it to you to reduce that pain and and make you more comfortable. And then you then that's another fight you have, right? To come out and say your your body and your mind's telling you, hey, you need this, you're in pain, but it's not as it's exaggerated, your mind is exaggerating it. So, I mean, that's another testament to your. I mean, you could have come off of this and and crashed and burned just from the the that's I could have, I could have, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, um, yeah, and I and I did do those uh pulmonary tests, you know, where you go in, you you blow through this thing and keep blowing, blowing, blowing, blowing. Okay, don't blow, you know, this different, you know, all of this stuff. you know and that was um they would always see how strong my my left lung is right with with just the one and um i think at first and i probably now too you know i haven't had any one to say anything different but i was probably doing like um eight between 66 and 80 percent of breathing with one lung wow you know but you know i used to sing too so i'm i'm i'm probably sure that you know that was my exercise yeah no no i agree my exercise to pump up the one lung you know what i'm saying yeah right no absolutely yeah so you know when the right lung got attacked the left lung said wait a minute taking over okay i got this going on yeah i got this okay good okay yeah but i mean you know again back to the exercise i mean i think people have to do something even if you don't do anything but get steps in every day or you have to but you have to do something like anna say to keep my stamina up to keep going you know to you you gotta do something you can't just you know just like I guess in the Bible they'll say what we're gonna do we're just gonna lay here and die no we're not gonna lay here and die well you you have a great story we're not done with you yet we're definitely gonna come back and and uh and and have a couple more conversations with you i've got it gotta learn a little bit more about you know I got a lot of stories I got great testimonies I'm telling you awesome you know even though what's that go ahead no I was gonna say you know it's it's kind of um a waste that you haven't had the the opportunity at MD Anderson and our platform to get out and be an advocate for people and I would love it share your story.
SPEAKER_06:So I would love that and maybe you know you know we have a channel here maybe that can help if Hector does his job uh in the backgrounds here and makes us get the it'll be an inspiration with other people but you do have a uh an incredible unique story and uh yeah so well I I I I I would love to do that I really would love to do that you know um and have the means and support to do that because um you know even though I went through physical and I went through you know what I'm saying my health issue I have great testimonies about going through those health issues and making it out to the other side because at one point and I was trying to and I and I don't want to sound or put negative stuff on other people but it's the truth and people need to know that sometimes you have challenges and you really really really have to dig deep to work yourself out of it.
SPEAKER_01:But my husband walked off and left me while I was trying to nurse myself back to a healthy state and so I was homeless okay homeless yeah but you know strength is inspirational so anyway most of us would have just crawled up into a little little ball you know so but people need to know that that they can they can find strength within themselves to keep going you know you just gotta you know like it's good to have a good support group it's good to have somebody that you can talk to or bounce things off of right and I I think you you had a a an an amazing support group it it you're right it's very important that you have that very important not be afraid to say or not be afraid to ask for help or you know accept help because sometimes people have that problem where they are afraid to accept help.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah you know a lot of mental illness is going on out here people need to know yeah that regards of whatever you're going through you just pass that mental part you know I know for me personally I struggle with Anna who's next door and sure you know mentally it's challenging.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna say you something every day to keep always a challenge.
SPEAKER_02:One of the things that I was told uh a uh quite a number of years ago is um not only when someone asks to help it's a blessing to you but it's a blessing to them as well so it's don't take away don't take away their blessing exactly yeah I've always you know it's something that I've held on to for quite some time uh yeah and because I I can say this for myself and this helps me a lot when I'm out helping other people I don't have time to wallow in in my own I mean I I'm out helping somebody else and whenever I help somebody else it makes me feel good right it really does you know it's not I'm not there to boast about it or anything like that. It just makes me feel good to know that I was able to help somebody else make it through another hour of of their life or you know what I'm saying because sometimes people don't make it through another hour. I mean and that's real talk sometimes they don't make it through another day and me going to MD Anderson that was the best inspiration I could have ever had you guys I'm I'm I'm I'm serious because I would get there and I would look at my situation and I'll take a all you got to do is just take a look around and it's somebody that's worse off than you that you know unfortunately that place is pretty full it's hard to find a parking space in that place and that's really sad. Absolutely absolutely you know so if you can I mean that that's just the way I feel if I can just help somebody it don't have to be a whole lot of people if it's just one person you know what I'm saying then that one person can go help somebody else yeah and and it can it you know the it it can make the world go around seriously you know that's just the way I feel yeah I mean it does it's made about to make me cry because I'm thinking about when I drive down the street and I see homeless people my heart goes out because I've been homeless I've been there I mean you you know what I'm saying and everybody didn't put themselves there some people had challenges some people did put themselves there some people like doing it you know it's just uh but yeah you know it's it's just a matter of if you can just help somebody because the world we live in today pretty crazy right yeah and sometimes sometimes just a smile and you have the most amazing smile I'm sure that brightens somebody's life that's true and uh no thank you thank you have the most amazing smile and I and I said it in the beginning that one thing that I always remember about you is that you have this amazing smile so keep smiling it because I have to I have to you know um brighten somebody's day with that well but I mean I love doing this I really love doing this you know um like I say it I do I I'll do it I I just I just love doing it yeah you know well you are beautiful inside and out that's all the time we have today we're gonna get no day after after you didn't tell me about what you did at your at your oh well yeah I'll tell you about your birthday and why didn't I get an invitation to the birthday badge no I'm just kidding I got him back for you I got him that's that's that's our offline when you come back now and we go to lunch right sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm gonna embarrass you next time uh but uh when you come down here we'll all have lunch and catch up okay we can celebrate we can celebrate her when you come down that's right that's right answer good answer yeah but you know they people just need to know that there's always a way out you don't have to there there's always well Catherine Pease we love you you have a wonderful Christmas we'll talk soon so we'll talk in the next couple days I'm sure but uh okay hang in there and uh keep smiling and and being an inspiration to other people and we'll talk to you soon okay thank you guys so much it's been a pleasure all right bye bye thank you for listening to Miso the Misothelioma podcast for more information resources and support visit our sponsors Danziger and Diano at dandel.com
