RT and bladder control type questions

Empty your bladder , drink 500ml of water and hang onto it for 40 minutes and this will replicate usually what you need to do at each RT session. 

My centre had a bottle in the treatment room in case you couldn't hold it any longer and the staff are not fazed by accidents .I recall before my treatment holding on to a pint of water for 2 hours just to see what I could do .

Machine breakdown or backlogs can happen at the treatment centre and I had to tap a drop off sometimes,  this is worth practicing too .

You will be fine try not to overthink it.

Best wishes  , Mike. 

I was told I could take a urine bottle into the treatment room and use it if really needed. In my hospital I kept my joggers and underwear on,they just pulled the waistband down a little without exposing my bits. So I had a tena pad in my underwear, a controlled leak will be absorbed, a sudden full gush may be more of an issue. 

Although things may change during treatment, you could practice drinking water and holding it for a set period. Keep hydrated during the treatment days. By practicing you will also find out how long it takes to refill your bladder. 

To see how effective my pads were I put a pad in my underwear and stood in the shower to see how well the urine was absorbed. If I could slow the flow, I could get to the bottle or loo in time ,if I just let the whole bladder go at once the pad didn't contain everything. You could experiment with bigger pads. 

Having said all that, the RT staff have seen it all before.

Hope all goes well.

Thanks Chris 

Good advice from Probbo, also find out where the nearest toilet is to the treatment room and also a backup location in case that one is occupied.

Thanks Chris 

Sorry for delay in replying. Been a busy old time. And thanks so much for the replies and suggestions - it's really appreciated.

For the record I have been practicing drinking a pint of water and holding as instructed by prostate team. Sometimes I'm fine and others I'm not, but either way I'll continue.

In terms of completely emptying my bladder that's not something I can do; I seem to have a never ending stockpile of urine these days but I do my best.

Since I wrote my question I've come to the conclusion I need to try and strop worrying; what will be will be and all that. Early results seem to suggest if nothing else it's helping with the sleep a little bit.

Thanks again.

PP

Another suggestion - wear disposable pants such as Tena Mens. Then it doesn't matter much if you leak. I wore these from about half way through the radiotherapy.

Edited by member 02 Sep 2024 at 08:16  | Reason: Not specified

Yes, I waited for at least 30 mins, by which time I'd had two pees. The WiFi was good enough to work there too, and the Macmillan centre sometimes had a spare counseling room which I'd use for work Zooms.

You may find several of the RT patients going through at the same time as you are happy to hang around for a chat and mutual support. I remained in touch with a couple of them for about 2 years afterwards. One hospital had space problems in the waiting room because patients tended to go back afterwards to continue chatting.