Treatment took place yesterday in the Cancer Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, admitted at 07:30 and the usual preps took place including the enema, I was taken to theatre at 10:30 and had an epidural administered along with a sedative to relax you to the extent that you can’t really remember the procedure , the Consultant told me that since returning after the Covid 19 outbreak they had started using Epidural rather than full anaesthetic. The actual brachytherapy procedure took about 40 mins and when finished I was returned to the recovery ward with catheter still in place then after 1/2 hour there I was returned to my single bed ward and given tea and toast and monitored until the epidural wore off. When the nurse was satisfied that I had fully recovered from the epidural the catheter was then removed and when I could walk I pass urine I was allowed to go home at 4:30 pm with some antibiotics, laxatives, pain killers and Tamsulosin ( medication to help me pee ). Spoke to the Consultant again before I left and he was very happy with how things had gone, 72 seeds ( on strings) administered.
I had some pain where the needles went in and where the epidural was administered, some discomfort when passing urine and the ultrasound does play havoc with your haemorrhoids.
Went to bed and slept fairly well and only up twice to go to the toilet , some discomfort while passing urine but not too bad, some pain as well but took pain killers on my second visit to the toilet.
Feeling a big groggy today, some pain and some discomfort but everything appears to be working ok so far and now I have to trust in my radioactive seeds to do their job.