Father had prostate cancer

Hello everyone, my name is Brandon, and even though it has been over a year since my dad had his cancerous prostate removed, I wanted to share our story, get opinions from other members, and perhaps give others facing a similar situation to my dad an idea of what they can perhaps expect, and alert them of complications that can airise from prostate surgery, not to scare them, but to put it out there so they can weigh their own individual situation and take it from there.

Greetings aside, as you can see in my signature, my dad had prostate cancer that was diagnosed via 12 core biopsy following elevated PSA from his PCP and blood test done by the urologist. He had the DRE done after his urologist did his own PSA test, and though there were no lumps, bumps, or firmness felt, a biopsy was ordered anyway. As it turned out, this was a good idea because 5/12 cores were positive and 2 of them had perineural invasion gleason score was 6, and as such doctor offered dad time to choose a treatment , but he decided on surgery right that very instant

Had it on April 23rd last year, took roughly 2 hours 20 minutes. Spent the night and released the next day despite O2 sat being on the low side, 91-92%. Got the pathology report back a week later, G6 was confirmed along with perineural invasion and one margin that had a minimal equivocal involvement. No extraprostatic extension, no seminal vertical involvement was found.

He bled rather profusely from the catheter, to the point his pajamas were saturated on the right leg. We took him to the urologist about it and he said that as normal, though I contend to this day that amount of bleeding should not be considered normal.

15 days later, he had a 103 degree temp, both calves were hard. We called the doc and he urged immediate evaluations his office, however, dad collapsed in the gravel and unresponsive. Called 911, he came back to somewhat, and we got him sat down in the car with a.c. running until medics arrived. I vividly remember his eyes rolling to the back of his head twice, and I want terrifiednwe were about to lose him to a pulmonary embolus.

Medics arrived 5 minutes after the call, and by then he had stabilised somewhat, but was still in New of emergent medical attention. He was loaded up ans taken to our local hospital, medic report states his 02 sat at the time of their arrival was 84%, so something was definitely amiss. Work up at our local hospital revealed bilateral dvt and extensive bilateral pulmonary emboli, with the worst in the bottom right lobe, causing moderate collapse of the lobe. He was then transported to the hospital nearest his prostate surgoen's office at request of the surgeon, plus they were better equipped for longer term treatment of medical emergencies.

He spent 2 nights in SICU and another 3 days in a regular room. He was finally able to get the catcher out after 27 days, and spent thwt whole summer under home health care. He spent 6 months on xarelto to prevent further blood clots. All of his post op PSA tests have come back as <<0.04 which is fantastic. I use rhe double less than signs because his urologist uses them. And now a little over a year later his strength has finally returned to about 90% of what it was. All the doctors he seen, including the one who did his surgery said that the surgery caused his clots.

I just wanted to share this story and for those who habe G6 cancer, so that they can have something to think about in regards to their treatments, and spread the message they dont have to rush into making a treatment decision. Also to share that DVT and pulmonary emboli are possibilities. Best wishes to all who face this disease, and may you all become/continue to be members of "The Zero Club".

Yikes! What a nightmare! It's a risk we take with almost all surgeries, and thank you for making it so real. How lucky that you didn't lose him. Lucky you were there to get him to Emergency immediately. Also, you are so right that with a GS 6 or 7, which are almost always slow growing, we should take our time and consider the risks and all options carefully. Even with a GS 8-10, if we are stabilized with ADT, we have time.

- Allen

RCS said...
Hey TingThing,

I had a pulmonary embolism (PE) in February of 2004 .... similar to your Dad's. After extensive testing and scans of my body, which focused on my legs, the docs came to the conclusion that they did not know what caused my PE and put me on blood thinners (warfarin) which I took for the next five years (first 6 months at their request ... the next 4.5 years at my request). I am not sure why your dad's doctors are so sure it was the operation that caused the PE but you may want to be cautious when it is time to take him off of the blood thinners, in that there could be another cause for the clots (where his legs scanned for clots?).

I went off the blood thinners in 2009 when I scheduled my DaVinci for PCa. I have not been on them since ... but I have made significant changes to my weight, diet, and exercise routine.

All the best to your Dad and to you. By the way, your write up sounds like you are very familiar with medicine, any chance you are a practitioner?

Nah, I am just an average joe, no medical school even. Just read up a lot on my spare time as I do like to learn about the intricacies of medicine and certain diseases, such as prostate cancer.

They determined his clots were due to the surgery because he had no other risk factors for it, none of the blood disorders associated with an increased risk of blood clots. DVT and pulmonary emboli are risks of any surgery, particularly those of greater than an hour to an hour and a half. And it just so happened that risk unfortunately came to fruition in his case. By the time I got to him in the driveway, I thought he was dead. Pale as a ghost and just lying there in a lifeless face down heap.