Radiotherapy - reporting the experience

At the beginning of January, which seems a long time ago, I mentioned that I had started radiotherapy and promised a report when I have finished it, just in case anybody could relate to, and take encouragement from, my experience. 

So, I'm going to tell you that the radiotherapy itself was a doddle. The whole treatment experience, was not quite so much fun, but that was because of a pre-existing back problem. I am going to separate out the back problem from the radiotherapy. 

The radiotherapy started on 6th of January, and finished on the 25th of February. That's 37 fractions at 2 Greys a go, making a total of 74 Greys. As far as I can tell that he's pretty much the maximum recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence as treatment with the intention of cure. 7 1/2 Weeks of trips to and from the hospital, juggling with bowels and bladder to get the right result. 

The side effects I had were principally fatigue, together with some small and barely noticeable incidents of bleeding from the anus. I did what everybody on here says to do, I told the team, and when they did not panic I forswore panicking myself. The fatigue wasn't so bad, but my treatment was at midday and, after the first week, when I got home I was done. I was able to get up and walk around but by the time I got home my concentration was shot. 

I think I had better explain the back problem that I had. In the past, most recently in 2019, I have suffered a number of back problems usually relating to a herniated disc, but also to something called piriformis syndrome. One of the things that sets the last item off is sitting for too long on uncomfortable seats. As a result of that I am in the unusual position of being able to tell you the date and time when I realized I was going to have some difficulties. 

On Monday 20th of January one of the five LINAC machines broke down. This meant that all the customers in the waiting area plus all the ones that were on the way would have to be juggled amongst the other machines to be treated on that day. All credit to the staff they got that done. People were all treated and nobody had the overall corsal treatment extended as a result. 

However at about 3:30 p.m. I was required to stand up and that was when I discovered I couldn't. I could get halfway up and shuffle around but anything else hurt a bit. Nonetheless they got me into the place where they could treat me, treated me successfully, and sent me home so that I could look forward to enjoying the same thing the following day. And the day after that. And so on. 

Effectively, the problem got gradually worse throughout the rest of the treatment. Fortunately the problem meant mainly that I could not sit down for more than a few minutes at a time, but standing and walking is the level of pain. I could lay down, but the reception area was a bit crowded for that.

So for me the experience was a bit of a mission but none of that was connected with the radiotherapy itself. 

I have to say that I was very impressed with the staff, who were obviously very busy and only just one step short of pulling their hair out, yet were encouraging and careful with each patient. It particularly reassured me that they were double checking all the numbers and my positioning on the table despite the fact they were large numbers of people in the waiting room. It gave me confidence that the wrong bits weren't going to be boiled. 

There were also amusing things, from the fellow patient who, speaking to a another patient (me) who was keeping all the rules that he'd been given, casually mentioned that he had been out the previous Friday and sunk 10 pints of Guinness.

The funniest thing that happened to me was on my very last treatment. I was kidnapped from the queue of one machine to go to a machine which was my more usual one, about five minutes before my time. In bladder terms I was quite ready, so I was really happy to be taken slightly early. 

So there I am in the controlled area comma laying on the bench especially prepared for me, hands gently across my chest as instructed, trousers down around my thighs, everyone else having left when they announced across the little speaker in the room that they were having a problem with one of the machines and would I just lie there and be comfortable while they sorted it out. 

People appeared in the rug then come up there was pressing of buttons, moving up and down, and general fussing around. I couldn't see what they were doing because of the position I was in so I was just trying to make explanations for the sounds I was hearing. They told me that one of the machines had to be reset. I was conscious that the number of people present exceeded the number of radiographers that were usually available for each machine, so I suspected that various technicians and engineers and possibly even cleaners were coming in to view what now passes for my manhood exposed on this bench, trying to be very quiet and not pee myself. 

They all left, and then a minute or two later I could see from the corner of my eye a large male figure walking to the room and say to me just got to reset one more machine. He then moved out of my line of sight and from the sound of things opened cupboard. There was the distinctive sound of a button being pressed followed by a loud "whack". I thought to myself "He's just thumped it". Almost instantly there was a sound across the little speaker saying "It's online now!". He left the room and the machine began to move with what I can only describe as a subdued whirring noise.

Just a few minutes later I left the treatment area and headed directly for the gents.

The teams there were good people and they encouraged me.

As a final note, if you want to know just how dangerous the stuff in those machines is, search Wikipedia for the "Goiânia accident". 

It is quite an eye opener.