Penile Bleeding with long term Prostate Cancer

[NumberOneDIL]

My 88 year old father in law was diagnosed with BPH in 1994 and subsequently Prostate Cancer in 2001.  He was never treated because of his age.  He has been on dialysis due to kidney failure for 3 years.  The last year he has had several bouts of penile bleeding.  During the first couple episodes we took him to emergency or the doctor's office and they did some cauterization of blood vessels.  This required a lot of time and anxiety about the situation, not understanding what was happening.

In the latest episode, which occurred during & after dialysis, we were advised by the dialysis unit RNP to have him rest and see if the bleeding would subside.  After about 30 hours the bleeding was minimal and his anxiety reduced.  

My question is if anyone else has had this experience and how are you handling it?   He lives alone in a senior apartment, but we are nearby.  Any suggestions regarding equipment and supplies to make this situation easier and less messy?  He is not the neatest person, and not good at containing the mess.  Any help will be appreciated.    

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

If there is enough urine and the concern is the amount of blood, you could consider placing a condom catheter which could efficiently catch the bloody urine. An advantage is that compared with other catheters, this one is not inserted into the urethra (the hole on the penis where the urine passes) and would then have less risk for infection. Of course, the problem here is that he would be walking around with a tube and a urine bag. Such a scenario may be less acceptable. Best talk it over with the patient as well.

[NumberOneDIL]

Just wanted to thank you for your May 2 reply.  The day following your reply my f-i-l was admitted to Emergency in the early morning hours and subsequently went through a series of problems.  It turned out that the substantial bleeding was due to bladder tumors that no one knew he had developed.  While deciding whether or not to remove his bladder (he was a dialysis patient), we learned that he also had bone cancer.  This was found when he reached for a glass on his side table and broke his collar bone.  Up to that point he had not had pain with his condition.

After deliberating for a couple days, he decided to discontinue dialysis and let nature take its course to avoid the likelihood that he would have more bone fractures and pain.  His x-ray showed that he had numerous sites of bone cancer although he had not had any pain to that point.  

Thanks for your input as we tried to help him.  He died peacefully just before his 88th birthday.

NumberOneDIL    

[HeinrikMD]

you're welcome