2021 Effects of Blood Clots and Prostate Cancer!

By totallyforgiven

2 min read

This a rather lengthy, a lot has happened. I'm 59 years old, found out in January 2020 that I had prostate cancer. My dad went through 48 radiation treatments to get his in remission. My Gleason score was 6. Half of the samples showed cancer, but because my Gleason score was 6, my urologist suggests the "wait and see - monitor."

Rising PSA and COVID

My PSA's are as follows, 4.2, 4.1, 4.6, 4.6, this until I tested positive for covid on January 6th, 2021, 4 days I went by ambulance to the hospital, high blood pressure (205/100). They gave me nitroglycerin and low dose aspirin, 5 minutes later, still high, gave me another nitroglycerin, 5 minutes later, had lots of mixed emotions, doom, overheating, freezing, took blood pressure again, it dropped to 90/60.

Blod clots all over my lungs

Within 2 hours of arriving at the hospital, they did a CAT scan of abdomen and chest, Dr. came in and said I bit the bullet, I had multiple blood clots in all quadrants of both lungs, that one clot was so big, it would have killed most people. It damaged my left lung, deaded a small portion of it, also said when your body throws that many blood clots, that it can also stir up cancers, including prostate cancer.

PSA above 4

He ordered a PSA, I was shocked when it came back. I had just had my PSA checked a month before, it was 4.6, after my body threw all those stones, my PSA jumped to 5.4. It is scaring me because my left lung is damaged, but my PSA jumped above 5, my urologist told me when I first went to him, that if your Gleason score is 6, then don't do anything until your PSA goes over 5.

I contacted my urologist and told them what the ER doctor said and that my PSA jumped to 5.4. They didn't seem concerned, said I have an appointment at the end of March, 2 months after the blood clots, which caused my PSA to jump.

Seeking suggestions on next steps

Sorry for this to be so long, I have heard that most urologists do bone scans, as a precaution. My urologist has yet mentioned anything about a bone scan. What are some symptoms that cancer has started to grow? Started to spread? Got a lot of mixed emotions too. Not sure what to do! Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The ProstateCancer.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

Join the conversation

Please read our rules before commenting.

Dennis E. Golden Moderator & Contributor
First it is important to remember that prostate cancer is a very slow growing disease so you have time on your side. A Gleason 6 is not considered urgent and a rising PSA can be the result of other causes including infections, exercise etc. It is very easy to get pretty wound up with emotions when dealing with a prostate cancer diagnosis. I have been there as well and it does not help nor is it a cure. I would trust your MD at this point and try to relax. IF you are not comfortable you may want to have a second opinion. Early prostate cancer shows few to no symptoms and if it is a 6 ... it most likely is not spreading and may never spread. My suggestion is try to relax and let things evolve a bit. Yes is not easy but worry will not make things better and you will only feel worse emotionally. Try to get in some walking as an exercise and try to focus on the many positive things in your life that you may be overlooking. In the long run you will feel a lot better and a lot more confident
xteex Member
<inline-mention user-id="3271489" username="totallyforgiven"/> Hello sir thanks for sharing I too have prostate cancer so I'm kinda new too this myself, like yourself I was worried and scared, but what I didnt do until after some regrets was to reach out and look for information. Since my diagnosis I have been doing alot of reading I wish I had done what you did before rushing into a treatment I decided on Radical prostatectomy my Gleason score of 7 PSA was over 100 so take a deep breath relax as the doctors will make you feel like your world is ending it is not. First off find out if your cancer is slow growing or aggressive kind then do alot of research on your options trust me you have alot of different options, I can't tell you whats best for you only you can decide that. But what I will say is if you are married be sure to discuss everything with your spouse because these decisions will effect her as well. Then research some more make sure you can live with the side effects of each option, you and her should weigh out all possibilities together thats the most important thing. Bone scans are used primarily to detect the spread of metastatic cancer. Because cancer cells multiply rapidly, they will appear as a hot spot on a bone scan. MRI creates pictures of soft tissue parts of the body that are sometimes hard to see using other imaging tests. MRI is very good at finding and pinpointing some cancers. An MRI with contrast dye is the best way to see brain and spinal cord tumors. Using MRI, doctors can sometimes tell if a tumor is or isn't cancer. Those are some terms you will here I hope this gives you some help like I said I myself is new to this as well there people here who can give you more answers we are here for you some of us are at different levels but we are on the same journey! Best wishes to you and your family and God bless!
Richard Faust Community Admin
Hi Totallyforgiven. We posted your story on our Facebook page to get more feedback and I want to share with you a comment from one of our other contributors: "The biggest question I have is did you have an MRI guided biopsy? My biopsy in 2013, long before MRI guided biopsies, showed a Gleason score of 8. But after my prostatectomy and pathology had my entire prostate, it was upgraded to a Gleason 9. And since then I’ve met several guys whose PSA’s were also upgraded after surgery, which prompted me to write the following article: https://prostatecancer.net/.../gleason-surprise.../ You need another one or two PSA’s to ascertain if it is growing as fast as the recent one month growth showed, but if I were you, I’d insist on an MRI guided biopsy, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. My PSA more than quadrupled from a 0.6 that it had been for years to a 2.7 in 2 years because Gleason 8’s thru 10’s are extremely fast growing. And if the increase you just had in one month were to continue to grow at that same rate, it also would slightly more than quadruple in 2 years. All the best, and remember, the earlier PCa is caught and treated, the better the outcome. Len Smith Moderator"

Community Poll

Do you feel like your treatment was delayed?