Past the halfway mark on radiation

[dhccpa]

Completed 23rd treatment yesterday, which completed radiation to the pelvic area. Now an additional 17 to the prostate alone.

Mild side effects so far. I started generic Flomax 4 treatments in, and urinary issues seem to be well contained at present. Lower energy on top of 6 years of Lupron, but still exercising. Four small bouts of diarrhea, but I'm wondering if this is correlating with 1. drop in lymphocytes, combined with 2. eating outside my kitchen at a neighbor's for Thanksgiving/Christmas days and two separate meals at restaurants. Any thoughts? No skin or rectal bleeding issues to date.

The machine is a Radixact by Accuray, which the clinic says is the only one in NE Florida, providing state of the art radiation to cancer tissue while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue. Sure hope so! Puffery or no? Any thoughts?

Easy so far but looking forward to finishing.

[Huzzah1]

I also had 48 rounds. I found that all of the side effects were due to the area that was currently being radiated and were short term. The worst was cystitis, making me feel like I needed to pee every 45 minutes all night long was a real pain. As soon as they moved to another area, that went away.

[dhccpa in reply to Huzzah1]

I've definitely been peeing a lot, but I've managed by watching caffeinated coffee intake and drinking lemon juice mixtures every few days. Much less a problem now, and I'm sure the Flomax is helping.

[petabyte]

I had the same machine "Tomotherapy" 25 sessions of WPRT plus a 3x7Gy boost to the prostate and seminal vessicles with a Viewray Mridian.

I had never heard of tomotherapy, I had gone to that hospital because of the MRI Linac (the only one in Belgium treating PCa).The professor in charge of RT seems to like good equipment (they are doing research on flash as well ) so I was reassured it was probably a good machine.

cancer.gov/about-cancer/tre...

48 is a lot you have my sympathy! I was sooooo glad when it was finished.

I got diarrhea at about the 20th fraction. A small daily dose of Imodium sorted it out. Talk to the care team at your next treatment.

[dhccpa in reply to petabyte]

Actually, I'm having 40 total (23 + 17). Yes, tomotherapy. At the foot of the bed is a Catalyst machine.

Yes, I'm going to pick up some Imodium or kaopectate tomorrow just to have on hand. Always strikes in the middle of the night!

[Mgtd in reply to dhccpa]

Had a similar treatment. It took about 9 months to finely return to normal. Now only need to pee once a night; occasionally twice.

All urgencies are gone. Still have soft stools but that is probably going to be there because of diet change. No longer need Imodium or Flomax.

Hope your recovery is smooth as mine was.

[dhccpa in reply to Mgtd]

Thanks for your experience. Yes, I'm expecting the unexpected to pop up later if not sooner.

[Cenerus]

you sound like you’re doing about the same as I did during my 39 fractions of radiation. It sounds like you are tolerating it well so far.

[dhccpa in reply to Cenerus]

Yes, so far so good. I keep forgetting to ask the doctors how the number of treatments was determined, but it may be done clinic by clinic.

[London441]

You’re doing great. That’s a lot of sessions. I don’t know that machine, but I did much better after I politely refused the low fiber, ultra bland white food diet they directed me to after a week or so. It was constipating to the max. The compromise offered was for me to give up kale, which I agreed to.

My lymphocytes dropped off the table, never to fully return, but I manage fine. No cystitis or any late side effects 5 years later.

I found radiation to be more time consuming and inconvenient than anything else. Yes you should feel a bit like a released prisoner when you’re done. Keep up the exercise no matter what as I’m sure you will. . Onward!

[dhccpa in reply to London441]

Thanks very much! The clinic is conveniently situated three miles away, which is great. Even so, it'll be great to be done. Early on I arrived with a less than full bladder, delaying the start time, so I began to err on the side of fullness, which is fine as long as treatment starts on time. A week or so ago there was a 15-minute delay that yielded a little panic but it seemed to pass. But balancing that is something I'll be glad to move by.

[Eieio]

I had 48 and it was well tolerated and killed everything in the window of treatment. However, I was not so lucky in 2022 because the PSMA pet scan was not released and my radiation ONC. Missed some lymph activity. So the radiation I would’ve been looking at a cure so keep your fingers crossed. I now have a crmpc circulatory.Problem that’s that’s not going away. My best advice is push for every 2 to 3 months of PSA even if you have to pay for it to make sure you’re not creeping up in PSA.

[dhccpa in reply to Eieio]

Thanks. That's awful that something was missed! I have an RO, an MO, and a urologist now, so regular PSA tests are no problem presently. But very good advice!

[Mgtd in reply to dhccpa]

Like you I had the prostrate and pelvic area done. My pelvic area was done as a precaution for the possibility of finding microscopic cancer not visible on the scan. Was yours for the same reason or did the scan show something there?

It is my understanding that the worst side effects come doing the radiation of the pelvic area not actually doing the prostrate. Has to do with anatomy and what is closest to that area.

Wishing your results are as positive as mine have been. Nice to breathe a sigh of relief when it is all over and your life returns to normal. Worst lasting side effect for me is the dry Ejaculation. Really kind of a weird feeling.

[dhccpa in reply to Mgtd]

I was diagnosed with bone metastases 6 years ago. However, my first PSMA in July showed nothing outside the prostate. Based on that, we decided to jump on radiating the pelvis ang prostate and keeping our fingers crossed. Will complete the 40 treatments next week. Lot of continuous monitoring ahead, but I'm hoping for some type of positive results. Of course, years of hormonal therapy have taken their toll. I'll take a good dry ejaculation about now!

[Mgtd]

sounds like a second chance at a remission. Fingers crossed! You and your family deserve a break.

[dhccpa in reply to Mgtd]

Yes. We all do!