After Radiotherapy

Hi Captain and welcome.

Yes first PSa after RT at 6 months quite normal.

Also side effects are normal but should go away a couple of weeks after treatment finishes.

I assume you are on HT, how many months to go with that?

Best wishes 

Steve 

Welcome to the club CaptainBB , 

First follow up after RT at six months seems to be quite normal although my experience was slightly different. You can follow a diary of my journey by clicking on my avatar just above this reply and looking at my profile. Side effects and their duration after the RT are reported differently by almost everyone but if you have any worries your hospital team should be willing to help, I trust you were given contact telephone numbers. 

All hospitals / trusts seem to do things slightly differently.

Like Grundo (Steve) I am interested to hear how long you have been told the HT will continue.

Best wishes,

Rod

Hello CaptainBB and welcome.

It can seem a bit of an anticlimax at the end of radiotherapy as suddenly you are left on your own and wondering 'what next'. The radiotherapy will have done its job but this can cause 'bruising' which might make the bladder and bowel symptoms worse for a couple of weeks after you finish your sessions but as the 'bruising' goes down they should improve. Just make sure that you drink plenty of water and continue to urinate but if you have any problems make sure that you seek medical help.

Different health authorities have different protocols for testing PSA but it is not done for at least 3 months after the radiotherapy ends because the treatment itself can initially raise the PSA as the cancer cells die and break open. Over the next 18+ months the dead cells will continue to gradually be got rid of but overall the PSA should decline to a nadir. Don't worry if it bounces around a little, particularly around the 1 year mark. Once your nadir has been established then this will be used as the benchmark for future monitoring and as long as the PSA remains within 2+ nadir then all is fine. You might also find that the PSA goes up a little bit to establish a new baseline once you come off HT (if you have been on it).

I hope you have a speedy recovery but just ask if you have any questions and we will try and help.

CaptainBB, as everyone is saying, it's normal for this.

On my first Oncology visit after my Radiotherapy ended, I was told I was in Biochemical Remission.  No MRI, just from my PSA results (0.02 I think).

It's now 3 years since my Radiotherapy ended, still in remission, my peeing through the night fluctuated.  Now on Tamsulosin, that's a great help.  I can now hold my pee in!  WOO-HOO!!!

Waking up in the night hopefully will get less.  But when I used to wake up at silly o' clock, it was a good opportunity to get onto the forum here. 

Every cloud...

Take Care 

Thank you all for your encouraging comments.

About HT, I have been on bicultamine for 6 months and was told to continue through the treatment. I forgot to confirm this but will do during my final rt sessions next week.

Is it the case for some that HT continues after rt?

Thanks again for this supportive community.

Thanks for your supportive response.

The Tamsulosin, was it prescribed by the hospital or your gp?

I've been on Prostap (HT treatment) since 27th September 2023, RT was 20 fractions which ended 14th August 2024. From the outset I was told that my HT would continue for six months after the end of my RT.
I 'worked on' the specialist nurse and managed to get her to agree that my Prostap implant of 23rd October 2024 (three month version) could be my last so in theory the effects will start to wind down after the 15th January 2025.
My hope is that come Spring 2025 that part of life will be slowly returning to something a bit nearer normal, what ever that will be.

CaptainBB, the Tamsulosin was prescribed by the hospital (Oncology nurse), and now it's on my 'repeat medication '.

Fingers crossed  Osca.