Hi my dad has advanced prostate cancer. He has had an infection back in November where he had blood in his urine which was treated with anti biotics at home. This weekend he was admitted to hospital as he was peeing bright red blood. They have done irrigation but he also has severe diarrhoea and had some accidents in bed. Is this common with prostate cancer? Does it mean he’s near end of life? He was told 2-5 years prognosis in January.
Dear McDoddy,
My name is Liz and I’m a Cancer Information Nurse Specialist on the Macmillan Support Line.
Thank you for reaching out for information and support following your dad’s admission into hospital after passing bright red blood in his urine.
As Macmillan is not part of the NHS, we don’t have access to your dad’s medical notes. For this reason, his treatment team are better placed to answer specific questions about why he might be bleeding and if his general condition is deteriorating.
A person can have blood in their urine for a number of different reasons such as infection. When the bladder is inflamed due to infection, it can bleed quite easily, and this can be quite dramatic in some people. Some people need a urinary catheter with irrigation to allow their bladder to drain effectively.
A urinary tract infection (UTI) may or may not be related to dad’s advanced prostate cancer. However, a UTI can be very draining for a person especially if they are already feeling poorly and can take a lot of energy to recover from.
Try and encourage dad to increase his intake of fluids such as water, decaffeinated tea and coffee, weak squash, or milk unless his doctors have advised him to restrict fluids. The NHS recommends that we should aim to drink 6-8 glasses of fluid a day with more if we are ill or recovering from illness.
If dad has been treated for a UTI, he would have had antibiotics, a side effect of many antibiotics is diarrhoea. If Dad is feeling particularly weak then he might have found getting out of bed quickly difficult especially if he was attached to a catheter and irrigation.
If the change you have noticed in dad is related to an infection and its treatment, rather than an advancement of his prostate cancer, I hope he will soon start to improve.
I would suggest that you speak with the staff looking after dad so they can discuss any concerns they might have, and you can explain your concerns to them.
Perhaps you would like to phone us on 0808 808 0000 so we can support you further we are here every day from 8am to 8pm.
Caring and supporting a loved one with cancer is exhausting so please make sure that you are looking after yourself as well.
I hope this information has been useful, please contact us whenever we can help.
Take care.
Liz
Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. Ref LZD/ LzM
Hi McDoddy,
My name is Amy, and I am one of Liz’s colleagues on the Macmillan Support Line. Thanks for reaching back out to us with more questions.
It’s only natural to have more questions about what to expect for your dad, the symptoms he’s experiencing and whether this is going to be a regular issue for him, but these are difficult questions for us to answer.
The doctors looking after your dad should be able to give a clearer idea of whether these are related to the prostate cancer, or as suggested, a urine infection. They may also be able to explain if or why he may be more prone to urine infections, for blood to be present during these infections and how to best manage these episodes.
It’s important the hospital team also know he is having diarrhoea, and that this is long standing and not just related to the antibiotics. Sometimes cancer treatment, infection, changes to diet and the level of activity can change the way the bowel works. Alcohol can also affect your bowels.
If you feel your dad is drinking too much, again, it would be helpful to let his medical team at the hospital know. They may be able to offer additional support or address some of the issues that is making your dad want to drink more and more regularly. If they aren’t aware of any issues, they can’t offer support. This may help with the way your mum is feeling too.
It’s common to have a wide range of emotions when supporting a loved one with cancer. Your mum can get in touch with her own GP if she feels it’s getting harder to cope at home or the frantic feelings are happening more regularly or lasting longer each time. The GP can discuss what type of support may be best. Sometimes opening-up and talking can be enough but many need more support with counselling, talking therapies and/ or medication. NHS has information on their Every Mind Matters database.
We often find we can help more by exploring these questions over the phone. This gives you the opportunity to ask more question and us the opportunity to explain our answers in a bit more detail. If this is something you think would help, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch via our support line on 0808 808 0000. We are available 7 days a week, 8am-8pm. Please remember we are here to support you too.
You can also look through all the ways Macmillan can help.
I hope you find this information useful.
Best wishes,
Amy C, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.
Ref: AC/CF
