Getting bladder and bowel in correct state for CT and scan before RT plan.

Hi June2044 , getting ready for RT is a little bit of an art, but with practice can be achieved easily. Some hospitals provide enema’s but it is possible without.  I was full bladder and empty bowel, so managed to get in a routine of going to poo early morning before leaving for hospital.  Filling up the bladder was easy and achieved once I got to the hospital.  The key to me was getting a regular routine and pretty much keeping to a very similar diet throughout treatment although I allowed myself freedom on Friday night with two days to recover.  I found the staff remarkably helpful once I understood what we were trying to achieve.  I am sure you will do it, good luck.

I had my RT using Surface Guided RT. I did not have one enema, never even mentioned (nor tattoos). SGRT is capable of placing the radiation beam much more accurately that previous methods - and stopping it if anything moves. 

My understanding is that that the empty bowel is mainly required to protect the bowel itself from the radiation beam, the full bladder (much easier to achieve - and get rid of !) is usually required to "relocate" organs adjacent to the bladder/ prostate to get the best view, so that everything is in exactly the same position for the treatment runs as they were at the Planning appointment.

For all my runs all I had to do was empty my bladder 30 mins beforehand, then drink 500ml of water in the next 10 mins - that was it !

Ask if SGRT is available anywhere in your area. I was amazed (and disappointed, after my experience) how few hospitals appear to have this technology. 

PS: I'm no spring chicken either ..............80 is not far away !

Hello June2044 

I can't add much to the two cracking post above but would add about parking:

* Check with your hospital if the offer free parking for radiotherapy patients (mine Christies in Oldham) had a dedicated gated car park to which you were given the entry code.

* Why not try one of the parking Apps (we use Just Park). Mrs Millibob has some appointments at Salford Royal where parking isn't brilliant. We rent someone's drive a 2 minute walk from the hospital for £4. We know we are guaranteed a space to park and we have no anxiety about being late.

I hope the radiotherapy goes well, it's preferred within 6 months of HT starting but that always can't be done - mine was a year after HT started. (click on my name or avatar for full details). His PSA is good so that's one less worry.

Best wishes - Brian.

One more thing on parking. If you get offered Saturday treatments - take them, the hospital car parks are empty !

I've never understood the different prep required by different hospitals. I was at Royal Devon and Exeter, and they were empty bowel, empty bladder. I had a 30 minute drive to get to the hospital, but obviously quite easy to achieve the prep once at the hospital.

Strangely there were lots of men drinking cups of water while in the waiting area.

Hello Agent99 

Yes, that's me too

Agent99 said:

were empty bowel, empty bladder.

at Christies Oldham. When I asked they said with both being empty they could "see" the prostate clearly on the CT scan before each treatment.

Best wishes - Brian.

I was exactly the same 

Hi June2044,

It took me 3 attempts to get the planning scan completed (empty bowels / full bladder) & each failure was down to my bladder not being full.  Don't despair, he will get there.

On the parking front, are you (or a friend/relative) able to drop him off & then go & find a space?  I always found the hardest part of the treatment was being sure of getting a parking space & being on time for my appointment.  My husband doesn't drive so we made sure that we were there a minimum of an hour beforehand & because the appointment times varied from first thing through lunchtime to mid afternoon, sometimes we arrived 2 hours early.  Not ideal, but meant I wasn't stressing out about being late.

Best Wishes

Brian

Parking was the most difficult thing for me.

At around 2 weeks in my youngest daughter lost her cool, gathered together friends and family, organised a rota, and I was them dropped off at the hospital.

Drivers went off to do errands or whatever, I sent a text when finished, and they came and picked me up.

Worked like a charm.

Took all the pressure off.

Hi June2044 . Maybe not unusual - it took 3 attempts until my planning scan was completed successfully. Even on the 3rd I had to wait in the CT room for 10 minutes after being ultrasounded until they were happy the necessary fill-level was reached.

And yes, 6 months of hormone therapy seems to be norm before starting radiotherapy. Importantly it shrinks the size of the prostate allowing the RT to be more precisely targeted, focussed into a smaller area, reducing damage to surrounding tissue. It also puts the cancer cells into the freezer, effectively stopping them from growing and spreading. So well worth the 6-month wait. The weather will be much better in 6 months too. Fortunately there is a train station a walkable distance to our hospital so we avoided issues with car parking, although there is a car park there dedicated for us cancer patients to use. Might be worth asking? 

I can’t comment on other treatments, but if and when the time for RT treatment comes, emptying the bowel and filling the bladder can take a bit of patience and a few days to get right. I was sent out once after the initial CT to release some wind. I nearly told them it would be a pleasure as I normally get told off for doing that… Previously I was an ‘every 2 days’ man, that clearly wouldn’t work and it took about a week and a lot of patience to become naturally daily. Maybe should have started that transition well before the RT was due to start? Four months later I still am.

 mstev2 Thanks for the video link. I watched the whole series last night. Good information well presented.