Radiotherapy with a hip replacement and historical urinary problems

Hello George H 

A warm welcome to the group - although I am sorry to find you joining us.

I had 20 fractions of Radiotherapy to the Prostate and Pelvic Lymph nodes. I did have an increased flow towards the end of Radiotherapy but since i have finished Radiotherapy my flow and times between a wee have improved. I did have a TURP operation a couple of months before Radiotherapy which may have affected the outcome (click on my avatar for my journey details).

I set off as a Gleason 7 T3a at the start of my journey and because of my high initial PSA ended up with 3 years. Again full journey details are on my profile.

I do hope this helps - I am happy to answer any specific questions you have.

Best wishes - Brian.

Very many thanks.  This is very helpful.  I'll follow up as you suggest.  Thanks again. George

I had some urinary problems prior to radiotherapy, but not so severe as yours. Mine were urge incontinence in the daytime and retention at night.

A curious combination.

In my case I had no choice but radiotherapy, and in the end I decided I was comfortable with that.

Given two friends experiences with the surgery (one good, one bad) I was quite glad I did.

During the radiotherapy my flow improved overnight, and the retention has become rare indeed. Whether it was the radiotherapy or pelvic floor exercises (the NHS Squeezy App for Men helped with) the urge incontinence disappeared for all practical circumstances.

Overall my continence problems, minor as they were, improved.

We are, literally, all different.

There are quite a number of online studies on this but most are overall assessments of side-effects rather than specific to this area.

There does seem to be a better outcome in this area n for radiotherapy over surgery.

Hello George George H and welcome from a wife. My husband had 33 rounds of EBRT in 2020 and apart from increased urination during treatment which settled down soon after completion he has had little problems. He does still do his pelvic floor exercises which are recommended for all men who are having to have surgery or radiotherapy and I am sure this helps him with his urinary control at 81. 

I did find an interesting article on quality of life analysis comparing radiotherapy and surgery for incontinence, erectile disfunction and bowel problems over time which might help you.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10524086/

Steve, many thanks for this reply and for sharing your experience.  Regards

George

Many thanks for both explaining your husband's experience and for the reference.  

I'll follow this up shortly.  Again, many thanks for spending the time to respond.  Regards

George

guess I must be one of the unlucky ones, before radiotherapy I was getting up between 3 and 4 times every night and during day as soon as I stood up I had to dash to toilet,  reaching stage I wasn't going out. Continued through treatment and finished up becoming totally bunged up, not going for days on end, the wee's 4 weeks after radiotherapy completed have just started to decrease during night and days better But the hot flushes are getting worse.  Got appointment with my consultant on Thursday 5th June,  praying for some good news with PSA number having dropped 

Hi George H,

I was intrigued by the comment:  "The oncologist thought that the hip replacement was not a concern, it would only be if I’d had both hips done."

I have two replacement hips and was actually refused Radio Therapy by one hospital because of this. They seemed completely at a loss as to what to do with me and just sent me back whence I came. I then went to another (much bigger) hospital who did the Radio Therapy there.

My hips were never mentioned as a potential problem at the second hospital during Planning. When I asked at my first treatment session what problems/difficulties my metal hips might pose, the answer was: "none whatsoever !"  Having read all the good books about  Radio Therapy I was all ready for my daily enemas and my tattooed tummy etc, etc.............I had none of them !! I just turned up, drank 500ml of water, waited 30 mins and was "zapped" - on one occasion I had to drink some extra water after the initial scan to top up my bladder - but that was my only "problem" during 20 sessions.  

There does seem to be huge variation on the way the Radio Therapy is conducted at different hospitals - if I knew at the outset what I know now..................

Don't know where you are based George, but I cannot praise Southampton General highly enough !

Terence, thanks for replying and apologies for the delay responding.  I wish you well at the appointment.  I hope your PSA number as dropped.  George

Thanks for replying and sorry I didn't respond sooner.  Unfortunately I'm in Scotland but I'm hopeful the hospital here is a s good as they say.  Thanks for letting me know your experience.  Best  wishes for the future. George