Prostate hormone and radiotherapy

Hello Budd 

A warm welcome to the online Community - I am sure you have better things to do but it's a great place for help and advice.

98% of RT patients have full bladder empty bowel but when I did mine in January 2023 it was empty bladder empty bowel - the reasoning behind it was the bladder lies flat rather than inflated. If it helps I was at The Christy in Oldham and an empty bladder is easier than one with a certain amount of water in it.

I hope you have no problems with your treatment - you are not alone!! Any questions give me a shout.

Best wishes - Brain.

Many thanks Millibob thats good to know.

Think it does vary and they could have changed it.

When I had RT in  2017 it was empty bowel and drink no water but there were others there that did have to drink water.

Never got a decent answer as to why.

I should just go with the flow if you'll pardon the pun

Good luck

Steve 

Wow you are a lucky man to begin your RT so soon, I started HT in September 2023 and have just been able to get dates for the start of my RT which will be mid July 2024. Even then I had to visit the RT department and 'eyeball' them to get a definite date!
I will go to the 'Team meeting' on the 30th May for a briefing on how things will proceed and instructions before the CT Scan which I have been told will be five days of mini enemas to ensure bowel empty then I am assuming bladder full, that's dated for 7th June. I'll report back on the instructions.
This is all with the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital Trust.

Good health to you Osca , not sure lucky is the word i'd use at the moment ;-) but I am extremely grateful for the way the NHS has and is working for me. I will attempt to update as my radio begins.

Hello Budd

I was very interested to hear your experience regarding your CT planning.

I had mine on 29th May at the Rosemere cancer centre at the Royal Preston Hospital and, like you, I expected to be told to drink water prior to the scan to have a full bladder (as I had gleaned from the literature I had read and videos I had seen).

But not the case....when I asked if I should be going through the water procedure I was told that I would be having and empty bowel (and bladder) planning scan. When I asked why I really wasn't given a satisfactory answer just that "this is the way we do it and that the RT is very accurate". 

So, I am now expecting empty bladder and bowel when my first RT fraction begins on 19th June. 

Like you, I am wondering whether this is now the policy being adopted?

Best regards 

John

Hello John (trom57a) 

The answer to the empty bladder is in my post of 18 days ago above.

I hope all goes well for your 20 fractions - it's just like being on a "sunbed"!!

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi John, Like you I wasn't given a reason but with information from Millibob and others it seems when empty Bladder and Bowel lay down kind of out of the way.

I am 5 days in on Radio and all is going well, Good health to you.

Thanks very much Brian, as always.

I was just wondering if there was anything that I should (or should not) be reading into it?

Probably just best to go along with it as Steve said.......

Cheers 

John

Hello Budd  and trom57a , all very interesting.

I have been for my Planning scan today, my preliminary meeting was a week ago.

At the meeting I was instructed to take a mild laxative (Laxido) morning and evening and a ‘wind’ reducing capsule (Wind-eze) three times each day for the five days before each of the above appointments. Additionally I should drink a minimum of two litres of water each day. In the leaflet that I received I was advised that I should be ready to take on 500ml of water when asked after arriving for the CT scan and also use a mini enema to ensure that my bowel was cleared. During the meeting I was advised that by emptying the bowel dropped it away from the prostate and by filling the bladder lifted that away from the prostate.

I followed the above instructions and was asked to wait for 20 - 30minutes after drinking the 500ml of water before going to the CT scanner room. Once on the scanner I was scanned (CT) to check the bowel was empty then my bladder filling was checked with an ultrasound scanner, I had to wait until that volume reached 180-200ml. The scan itself then followed taking no more than five minutes.

During a pervious phone conversation with the radiotherapy team a couple of weeks ago I asked about the bladder empty version of this process and was told that was not the method used at Shrewsbury.

Who knows which method is the most effective or least damaging to adjacent organs only time alone will tell.

Rod

PS my RT start date is a long way off as I am on holiday until the week commencing 15th July so it starts on Thursday 18th July.