Patient’s partners share the caregiver's perspective on supporting a loved one through prostate cancer treatment and recovery, from surgery and managing side effects to navigating follow-up care and recurrence. Their stories highlight the importance of trusted healthcare teams, preparation for recovery, and adapting together as treatment plans evolve over time.
Kerrie Slaton:
Hi, I'm Kerrie Slaton. I'm the wife of Kelvin Slaton, a prostate cancer patient. And he did a great job. The surgery was good. Because I was the one who recommended the first urologist, because I had gone to one. And he found out about Dr. Thomas. And it was a journey. I think I fret more than what he does. I always say there has to be one worrier in the group, and I'm usually the worrier. If Kelvin was worried, he didn't show it. I tried not to show it, but I know I felt it. Okay? I remember the day of the surgery after everything was... We got to tell him, "See you later," kissed him goodbye, got into the family waiting room, I started to cry. And our daughter is much more stoic than what I am. So she's like, "Oh, you are not going to cry the whole day." Okay, I'm like, "I won't." And it was fine.
I pulled myself together and it was good. Went through the surgery. It started taking a little bit longer, that's when I got a little emotional again. But Dr. Thomas explained that Kelvin had an issue with his bladder being tucked in. It just took a little bit longer. But the time Dr. Thomas gave us after surgery and such was really good. Waited for Kelvin to get in, back to the room and such, and it all just worked out well. We just felt very, very confident with everything with Dr. Thomas. I knew somebody who went to Dr. Thomas years ago when it was an act of Congress to get to Reggie Thomas. And it took a priest, actually, to get him. And it worked. So, we knew we were in the right hands.
Virginia, Dr. Thomas' nurse, when we really needed an answer, we knew we had to call Virginia. Okay? And she gave us some magic number one day that we could really get right to her. So it was very, very helpful. It was the day Kelvin had the catheter taken out, and that was the day we were so unprepared for. Because, did you bring your pads? What pads? We didn't bring pads. So, the lady in there did find something and such, and it helped it. But that was the one day we had some embarrassment, okay? Because it was just... But it got better, okay, and we got used to it.
Staci Cornelius:
We knew that afterward he would be discharged from the hospital the day after surgery, that he would have a catheter, and that we would have to manage it. That he would have an abdominal drain. In fact, I don't think we even learned about the abdominal drain until the morning of surgery, and that we were going to have to be dealing with that. And as it turned out, he had to have that for 44 days. But they, after surgery, taught us very quickly how to manage those things. And we were able to stay for a couple of extra nights there at MD Anderson in the hotel attached to the facility, so that we could make sure he didn't have any problems. And then we got on a plane and flew home.
And then, fortunately, we had doctors there at UAB who were already onboard and were coordinating with MD Anderson and cooperating his care so we could see them for follow up. He was able to have the drain removed at UAB, and they worked in conjunction with MD Anderson. They also removed the catheter at UAB. So, really, we were very fortunate to have a good team in place back at home to support the follow-up that was needed after the surgery.
Henry's surgery at MD Anderson was September 21st, and I was there at the hospital waiting. We met with the doctor before he went into the OR, and the doctor told us that he had reserved the OR for three hours. During the procedure I sat in the waiting room with a lot of other family members of different patients. And I spent a lot of time on my iPad FaceTiming my daughter, who was worried and wanted to be reassured that everything was going okay. As it turned out, the procedure took about six hours, so it was very stressful. And I was, of course, worried about what was found and what the outcome was going to be.
The surgeon did come and talk to me after the procedure. And at Henry's insistence and with his agreement, he let me record what he said, because Henry wasn't going to have the opportunity to hear it directly. And so, he said some things that gave us an indication that maybe he had not gotten all the cancer. He said that there was one area that he cut as much as he could, but he wanted to save some of the nerves. And so, in order to do that it might not be a clear margin. And so, we had that information and we were somewhat prepared for what the path report was going to show, but just somewhat prepared.
So, we knew that Henry would start on the ADT to get his testosterone down to zero. And of course we talked about what those potential side effects would be. He was still recovering from the surgery. Again, it was extensive removing 27 lymph nodes. So we knew that he was going to have a testosterone level of zero once he started this medication, which was going to cause fatigue and other problems. And so, we started with him knowing that was going to be the first next step was getting the prescription medication onboard, and Henry would continue on that, hoping to get his PSA down to an undetectable level. And then, after that happened, he would come back to Boston for the eight-week course of radiation.
So we went back to Birmingham, and Dr. Pomerantz coordinated with Henry's medical oncologist at UAB, Dr. Basu. He first started on androgen deprivation therapy that required him to be injected. And the injections caused side effects, including some really bad swelling and big, really large lumps at the injection sites. And he had two, so they were on his abdomen. And Henry being Henry, read up some more about something that could replace the injectable ADT. And I can't remember if we had a Zoom meeting with Dr. Pomerantz, but we didn't come back up here.
We got to meet with Dr. Pomerantz by phone or by Zoom. And Henry suggested, "How about this other medication in place of the injectables, because the injections caused this?" And Dr. Pomerantz said, "That's not a bad idea." They talked about it. He said, "I'm not entirely confident that your insurance is going to cover that, but it's worthwhile. Let's give it a shot." And so he ordered that. The insurance covered it almost immediately. And so, he started on the oral medication instead of continuing on the injections, which had caused him some pain and problems.
And I don't remember how long it was after starting the medications that his PSA dropped to an undetectable level, but it did. And it was fairly precipitous, it happened pretty quickly. Whereas, before starting the medication it was persistent at a four. Once the medication was onboard, he dropped to an undetectable level very quickly, which was something we were very happy about. And Dr. Pomerantz was very happy about, as was Dr. Basu. He did start having some side effects, but they were really manageable at first. He now has more severe hot flashes, but at first the hot flashes weren't too bad. The fatigue didn't bother him too much. That has gotten worse as time has gone on, on that medication. So he's continued on all of that through the radiation treatment and up until today. And I believe Dr. Pomerantz is going to keep him on that for at least another year.
But we're learning how to manage the side effects. We sleep with three large, very noisy box fans in our room, two of which are pointed at him to help with the night sweats and hot flashes. And are learning every day some new things to help us cope with what the treatment does to his body.
Carmen Rabanal:
On 2018, he was diagnosed. He was on treatment for two years. He did very well with barely no side effects of the medicine of the treatment. He received radiation, and his PSA was undetectable. And since he was doing very well, Dr. Barata proposed to us that perhaps he could get off the medication to see if he was cured, even though the chances were slim, but we still thought that there was a chance. So, my husband did it. He was being monitored every three months. And for about a year the PSA was undetectable or very low, but at around April he started to rise, April this year. And they did PET scan, and they discovered there was another lesion on his L3 vertebra.
After that, it has been a little bit stressful because Tulane recommending a certain type of radiation, but the insurance deny it. And because we elected for him to be radiated in Spanish Fort, Alabama, it happened that he could not receive that type of radiation. So he received what they call Allstaff, it's another type of radiation. At this moment, his PSA has not changed, it's still high. So, we don't know what the next step is going to be until we see Dr. Sarter. The good thing is that my husband feels good, he's in no pain so far. And we're just waiting to see what the next step is going to be.