Radiotherapy just started

Kevin, welcome to the Prostate forum.  With me it was fear of the unknown.  Once I had my first Radiation session, it calmed me down.

You will find it easier day by day.  Do you not need to take an Enema 45 minutes before your appointment?  Last November I had to, then juggle it with drinking the water so I had an empty bowel and full bladder.

The countdown you did at the end of your post was exactly what I done.

By the end of it all, you will be so used to going in for your Radiation treatment.  I missed it all after my treatment ended.

A good tip for you.  Next time you are there, ask one of the Radiologists for some 'Flamigel'.  It's for rubbing into your skin if you have any discomfort.

Says it's for low grade Radiation burns.  Rub in twice a day.  It really works.  I went through 3 large tubes.

Best of luck with your sessions.

Thank you for your reply, Steve.

My local NHS Trust have me take a mild laxative each evening, which does work for me, and thankfully, No enamas in my treatment.

Have you had any fatigue (extreme tiredness) from your radiotherapy? It is one of the main side-effects that I have read about in the blurb they give you in the early days.

Flamigel! Humm, I will look into that thanks, it might be necessary along the way.

All the best Steve. Stay well now and keep drinking the water.

By the time I had completed 10 sessions the fatigue was piling on.  At the end, I was a shadow of my former self.

It did ease in time.  Now, 10 months after, the fatigue has gone but I don't have any real energy at all.  Is it in my head??

I don't regret for a minute taking the Hormones and Radiotherapy option.

In February I was told that I was in Biochemical Remission and as long as my PSA levels can stay between 0 and 2, I won't require any further treatment.  That was harder to take than the original diagnosis.

Hi Steve.

Yesterdays second Radiotherapy session and your (perhaps) bleak outlook on the future, have prompted me to reply here.

My second day, did not go as well as day one and the reason (I found) was that my bowel was obstructing the view of the tumour, though my bladder was (almost) painfully full.

So, the Radiologist said, after that very short try for treatment, that he would have to talk to his colleague, so would I wait outside for tem minutes.

The result of his discussion, I was unsurprised to learn, was 'would I have a bowel movement, in order that we could carry on with Radiotherapy' Of course I agreed.

Now the problem with going to the toilet for a second time, that day (although I am taking nightly laxative powders 'prescribed') is that I have had a twenty-five year struggle with hemorrhoids, this led to a nasty bleed (yesterday) but cured the earlier problem with treatment. Back to drinking two to three (measured) bottles of water, then (eventually) a successful treatment session -it's a long day!

I am treating the hemorrhoids problem with the prescribed cream, but I think that my remaining eighteen RT sessions are going to be hard work and exhausting!

Sorry for this overlong post.

One more thing Steve. I believe that if all you now have to be concerned about is checking for possible rises in your PSA level "0 to 2" it's not an enormous burden, in my opinion anyway.

Take care all.

Stay well now and keep drinking the water

Hi Kevin.

Now that the RT crew know your actual possible variables they will plan for them, and apply suitable remedy in the following sessions. You might be totally unique with problems they have never seen before, but most likely you are the same as the majority of patients with a few added problems. Over the whole country there must be other patients with your condition and a solution is there for them.

We all react a bit different, in my case during treatment I was prone to falling asleep, have a odd sleep pattern if I relax I drop off.

For me the Radiation was good, and I missed the routine of going for treatment. My low point was failed surgery then catheter in for a month, the operation before me, the patient had no problems total success and quick recovery.

I went for thirty-three sessions, fifty mile round trip. I am retired so there wasn't the stress of having time off work.

Perhaps patients had reservations re treatment that I didn't know about, but all the fellow patients had no obvious worries re treatment, hope that soon applies to you.

All the best

Kevin,

 I had one session in June where I drank too much water and it pushed my pelvis out of position. They gave me a urinal bottle and told me to get rid of a couple full. Not as easy as it sounds. They then did some pelvic exercises with me to get it back into position.

Tyler

Meant to say cup full, spellcheck

Hi

The best bit about RT was the comraderie in the waiting area. The laughs, despite the position we were all in, will stay with me forever. 

Regards

Stuart

Kevin,

I don't see where my bleak outlook was.  Just my experiences.  Some men don't have any side effects at all, some have more.  All depends on how we cope with them.

Back to your second Radiation session, I bet they expected you to have a bowel movement without emptying your bladder.  This happened to me once, I tried my best but had to drink more water and wait for another 15 minutes or so.

Trying to do one without the other... I don't think they realise how hard it is.

My PSA was 0.09 in February, up to 0.03 last month.  My Oncologist said he expects it to rise a bit once the Hormones finally wear off and my testosterone starts up again.

I feel great in myself and am still learning more and more, all the time.  Trying to get awareness out there.

Best of luck with the rest of your Radiation treatment.

Stuart, I definitely agree with you about the camaraderie in the RT.

There was an invisible bond binding us together.

That was what I missed when my Month of treatment was over!