husband newly diagnsed – fluid retention

My husband was recently diagnosed with cc. He is retaining a lot of fluid in his abdomen. He is going to the VA for treatment because his medicare advantage plan will not cover him out of state., which is where we are now. Is the VA being cost conscious in not wanting to drain it? Also they are only doing Gemcidabine. Think maybe we should add cisplatin. He has had 1st 3 treatments with the one chemo drug. This was his week off. Only side effect is tiredness. He seems very depressed too. Is this normal?