Need Advice - GOOD Update

SilentRenegade
SilentRenegade Member Posts: 123
edited August 2015 in Colorectal Cancer #1

Update: Dad is home with a normal hemoglobin (12). He doesn't seem to be losing any more blood. The oncologists believe that he had a bad reaction to Avastin(sp?) And he will no longer be on that. From what they could see, the rumors in his colon and rectum have still not come back.

 

Hi all,

This morning my dad woke up and was walking to the back door when he all of a sudden dropped a ton of blood on the floor...he was profusely bleeding from his rectum and went to his GI, where they did a colonoscopy and said where his stent was, there were ulcers. It doesn't seem that the tumor is back. He was admitted to the hospital where they did an X-ray and rushed the results of a CT scan from Wednesday. He is having two bags of blood given to him, and is now considered stable (he lost a lot of blood). The doctor came in and said the stent is gone and was gone on Wednesday. Meaning he lost it sometime before Wednesday. The last round of chemo was very hard he said - pain wise in his colon. 

 

So my question is... Why was he fine yesterday and all of a sudden is bleeding insanely today? He had a chest cold this past week and was coughing pretty bad. He had one pill of his antibiotic last night... I don't think that would cause that this quickly. Any advise or stories are much appreciated right now.

Comments

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,804 Member
    #2
    So scary!

    That must have been a terribly scary time for your dad. I am so sorry he had to experience that. 

    I cannot answer your question. I know that this happened to my Father-in-law, and that is how his Colon Cancer was discovered. I have no idea how it happens. Just decided one day to rupture and bleed. 

    I'm also not sure how Chemo could cause colon pain. I do so hope he gets everything sorted. Are they thinking about another stent? 

    Well, I hope dad is doing allot better today and every day.

    Hopefully someone will by to help you. 

    Sue - Trubrit

  • SilentRenegade
    SilentRenegade Member Posts: 123
    #3
    Trubrit said:

    So scary!

    That must have been a terribly scary time for your dad. I am so sorry he had to experience that. 

    I cannot answer your question. I know that this happened to my Father-in-law, and that is how his Colon Cancer was discovered. I have no idea how it happens. Just decided one day to rupture and bleed. 

    I'm also not sure how Chemo could cause colon pain. I do so hope he gets everything sorted. Are they thinking about another stent? 

    Well, I hope dad is doing allot better today and every day.

    Hopefully someone will by to help you. 

    Sue - Trubrit

    Thanks - Update Here

    Hi Trubrit,

    Thanks for the kind words. He is doing much better today. They aren't 100% sure on whether they will do another stent or cut out the scar tissue in his colon from where the cancer was (he never had a resection because the tumors disappeared with chemo and radiation). They mainly want him to not bleed anymore and then will decide what to do. They were going to release him today, but the doctor decided to monitor him for one more night. He wasn't happy, but it's the best thing. He had one incident last night at around 1:30am, and that was the last bleeding incident. No other incidents so far. He is only allowed liquids. His blood pressure went up quite a bit today and his hemoglobin has stayed pretty steady around 10.7 (yesterday it was 9). They want to do another hemoglobin test tomorrow morning to make sure it's not dropping again. 

    As for chemo causing pain - there were times that he would have a lot of cramping in his colon during chemo. He said that's how he knew it was working, and I guess he was right since his tumors shrunk insanely after his first round and disappeared after radiation. This last time was really bad, though, and we think it was due to the stent cutting lose and slowly moving out. 

    It was absolutely horrifying. I was on my way there while they were in the ER waiting room. He had a ton of blood gush out all at once and they took him back immediately. My sister and mom were with him and said it was an insane amount of blood and he yelled at the ER people that he was bleeding out. He also turned grey. Once they hooked him up to the IV, he started getting his color back and once they gave him blood yesterday he was pretty good. 

    Colonoscopy is out of the question at this point because they did one yesterday and after that is when the severe insane bleeding started, so they don't want to disturb anything. 

     

    Probably the only good news in this whole thing is that the tumors in his colon and rectum are not back. They haven't said anything about the CT scan for the lungs and liver, but they do have the results as they've been using them to try to figure out if the stent went somewhere in his body (which it didn't). I like his team of doctors, though, they all came to visit him in the hospital to talk to him and update him on what they are thinking. Also, he was actually hungry, and was really pissed he wasn't allowed to eat "what he wanted". 

     

    Thanks for whoever reads - I type this out because it does help with the stress. 

     

  • Cazz
    Cazz Member Posts: 106
    #4
    SilentRenegade said:

    Thanks - Update Here

    Hi Trubrit,

    Thanks for the kind words. He is doing much better today. They aren't 100% sure on whether they will do another stent or cut out the scar tissue in his colon from where the cancer was (he never had a resection because the tumors disappeared with chemo and radiation). They mainly want him to not bleed anymore and then will decide what to do. They were going to release him today, but the doctor decided to monitor him for one more night. He wasn't happy, but it's the best thing. He had one incident last night at around 1:30am, and that was the last bleeding incident. No other incidents so far. He is only allowed liquids. His blood pressure went up quite a bit today and his hemoglobin has stayed pretty steady around 10.7 (yesterday it was 9). They want to do another hemoglobin test tomorrow morning to make sure it's not dropping again. 

    As for chemo causing pain - there were times that he would have a lot of cramping in his colon during chemo. He said that's how he knew it was working, and I guess he was right since his tumors shrunk insanely after his first round and disappeared after radiation. This last time was really bad, though, and we think it was due to the stent cutting lose and slowly moving out. 

    It was absolutely horrifying. I was on my way there while they were in the ER waiting room. He had a ton of blood gush out all at once and they took him back immediately. My sister and mom were with him and said it was an insane amount of blood and he yelled at the ER people that he was bleeding out. He also turned grey. Once they hooked him up to the IV, he started getting his color back and once they gave him blood yesterday he was pretty good. 

    Colonoscopy is out of the question at this point because they did one yesterday and after that is when the severe insane bleeding started, so they don't want to disturb anything. 

     

    Probably the only good news in this whole thing is that the tumors in his colon and rectum are not back. They haven't said anything about the CT scan for the lungs and liver, but they do have the results as they've been using them to try to figure out if the stent went somewhere in his body (which it didn't). I like his team of doctors, though, they all came to visit him in the hospital to talk to him and update him on what they are thinking. Also, he was actually hungry, and was really pissed he wasn't allowed to eat "what he wanted". 

     

    Thanks for whoever reads - I type this out because it does help with the stress. 

     

    Wow

    I can't even imagine how scary that must have been for your Dad - and of course the rest of you too.  What a weird thing to happen, obviously I have no clues nor advice, but it sounds as if your Dad is a fighter and he has got a great support system in you and your family.  I really hope that the doctors sort things out quickly and he gets to go home soon with no more bleeding - and of course clear scans for the ex-tumors.

    Good luck to you and thanks for sharing.  Your story may help someone else panic a little less if something similar happens to them.

     

  • SilentRenegade
    SilentRenegade Member Posts: 123
    #5
    Cazz said:

    Wow

    I can't even imagine how scary that must have been for your Dad - and of course the rest of you too.  What a weird thing to happen, obviously I have no clues nor advice, but it sounds as if your Dad is a fighter and he has got a great support system in you and your family.  I really hope that the doctors sort things out quickly and he gets to go home soon with no more bleeding - and of course clear scans for the ex-tumors.

    Good luck to you and thanks for sharing.  Your story may help someone else panic a little less if something similar happens to them.

     

    Thanks, Cazz! I hope so. He

    Thanks, Cazz! I hope so. He is home and doing well now.

  • JanJan63
    JanJan63 Member Posts: 2,478 Member
    #6
    Blood is so scary but not

    Blood is so scary but not always indicative of something terrible. I've heard of a few different people who've had experiences with sudden bleeding that turned out to be nothing of concern. I'm so glad your dad is okay.  

  • LindaK.
    LindaK. Member Posts: 506 Member
    #7
    Avastin

    Avastin can cause a perforated bowel, so maybe it had something to do with the ulcers around the stent.  This was one of the reasons my husband did not want to risk starting Avastin.  I hope he's feeling better.

  • SilentRenegade
    SilentRenegade Member Posts: 123
    #8
    LindaK. said:

    Avastin

    Avastin can cause a perforated bowel, so maybe it had something to do with the ulcers around the stent.  This was one of the reasons my husband did not want to risk starting Avastin.  I hope he's feeling better.

    Exactly

    Hi Linda,

    This is exactly what they told him - he was not aware that this was a risk when he started this. In any case, the doctor said "it looks worse than it actually is" regarding the blood. 

  • SilentRenegade
    SilentRenegade Member Posts: 123
    #9
    JanJan63 said:

    Blood is so scary but not

    Blood is so scary but not always indicative of something terrible. I've heard of a few different people who've had experiences with sudden bleeding that turned out to be nothing of concern. I'm so glad your dad is okay.  

    They pretty much told him

    They pretty much told him this - the blood was scary and definitely concerning, but it's not as bad as it looks. Since its bright red it just automatically creates insane fear.

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