After rt

Malc 

I am guessing your RT was your primary treatment. Surgery messed up my urine flow and stream, for a long time I would sit to urinate in order not to spray everywhere.

No doubt some of the RT treatment guys will be along to help.You say "trying " to urinate, if you cannot pass urine and feel your bladder is feeling uncomfortable get your self down to A&E. Retention is not pleasant and can have adverse effects on other organs.

Thanks Chris

You are right in a sense in so far as every man should carefully consider undertaking any treatment and take on board potential side effects before taking the plunge. Your case was made more difficult because the whereabouts of your cancer cells do not show up on scans. So any RT given in your case would have been close to where your Prostate was in the hope that that was where the cancer was which is not always the case. Over time it is possible that your cancer cells may have gone further afield so chances of success of any radiation for you would statistically be less now. For others, in a different situation, RT can be effective in eradicating or slowing the advance of their cancer, albeit with the well known potential side effects risks.

One thing I'd suggest is do be sure to keep up your fluid intake: when you have to pee frequently, it's always tempting to cut down - but that makes it much worse. Concentrated urine irritates and increases the urge to pee. Plus it leaves you more open to infection, which also can increase frequency. Plus a good intake can help 're-educate' your bladder to do its job better.

Plus, of course, see your GP for advice and possible prescription to help.

Good Luck!

How many fractions are you having , couple of tips i expect in your paperwork already  wear  colthes  that are easily to remove and put on also a dressing gown much better than hospital gown and know where the toilet is ! Let me assure you side effects differ greatly between everyone . and time goes quick and deffo a family feeling amongst all patients  

Thanks - I appreciate the advice. I'm having 32 fractions, with the first one on Monday. Needs doing, and I'm told it's a "curative" treatment, so fingers crossed that the side-effects won't be too severe.

Chris

Yes hospitals vary in their requirements for men having RT, some even expect a man to have an enema before each fraction. My treating hospital in Germany just wanted me to present as far as possible each time in the same condition without any pre requirements.. They did however take great care in establishing my Prostate position during initial preparation when they gave me 5 CT set up scans in one week with an MRI thrown in for good measure. They also did a CT scan prior to some fractions and found positioning so close that they omitted some of later scheduled scans.

Chris, 32 fractions is an unusual one for primary External Beam radiation in the UK. It's normally either 37 or 20 in a hypofractionated
version. Fractions of RT for mets or to relieve them can be at varying numbers, often at higher doses. It is also possible that newer ways of delivering RT or where it is used to augment Brachytherapy is likely to affect the number of fractions given.

Reverting to the original post, I found I was able to catnap during the day which helped compensate for the lost sleep at night caused by frequency.

Edited by member 09 Feb 2019 at 17:46  | Reason: Not specified

With the 37 fraction course each session (fraction) is 2Gy. It would be interesting to learn whether the dose is increased a little so that the overall affect (though not the total Gys) is designed to have the same result). In some hospitals abroad they are experimenting with very few fractions but using much higher doses of radiation. Radiation is now much more refined with new advanced machines and this may have a bearing on it. I see Clatterbridge has advanced linacs.

After my open RP I had incontinence issues which rapidly cleared up and I was 99% ok until my Salvage RT last year.

I had 33 sessions of SRT and my incontinence issues came back, both urinary and bowels.

Now a year later my bowel movements are back to normal but I reckon my urinary continence is only around 75%.

I started using pads again in November 2018 and am still using them.

I also go to the toilet a lot especially at night and I find sitting down much easier.

Had my last Prostap jab a couple of weeks ago so no more treatment for now.

I regard my continence issues as much less important than the PCA issues that I may have to face in the future.

Edited by member 10 Feb 2019 at 13:59  | Reason: Not specified