Prostate Cancer Treatment Journal 8/6/2022

I thought I would hold off an update on my treatment journey to get two more SBRT Radiation therapy sessions under my belt. In fact, they really are under my belt because my targeting tattoos are about the level of where you would expect the prostate to be.

If you are a man and you are forty or over, when you go to your GP for a check up you should ask for both a Prostate Specific Antigen blood test and a rectal exam. You are your best advocate for your own health, and it is your right to ask for these tests. I suggested giving my GP a quick peck on the cheek before my rectal exam because we were about to get personal but thought better of it. In my case both tests were normal, but my GP thought my urinary tract infection that wouldn’t go away with anti-biotics warranted further testing, so he referred me to a Urologist, then an MRI and hey presto here I am today just finished my penultimate SBRT radiation therapy session. ?My journey so far can be followed in previous posts, but it has been 18 months since original diagnosis. A coupe of biopsies, insertion of fiducial gold seed markers and hydro gel and so far, 4 SBRT sessions.

The first two sessions had no real impact on me. Nothing really changed after the first but after the second I started to feel a little bit of what is called ‘urinary urgency’ AKA I needed to pee more regularly. Within a few days of my second session, I was having discomfort when urinating (this is normal). This increased after the third session two days ago and I was starting to feel it.?Interestingly when I was asked to describe the discomfort to someone at work, she reminded me that it sounded just like what pregnant women must endure during the last month or two of each pregnancy when the baby presses hard on the bladder. So, to put in context ‘toughen up mate’!

My Radiation Oncologist phoned me early one morning this week while I was driving to work to see how I was going, and he reiterated to me that I should start using Ural (available from Pharmacy) which is an Alkanlinizer which helps to ease the symptoms of pain when urinating which is caused by the radiation therapy. He also suggested taking Ibuprofen (Nurofen) to deal with the pain and inflammation. Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti -inflammatory drug which can be used (they are not contraindicated). He and the other health care team had already told me that I should do this, but for some stupid reason I had not yet started to use them. Anyway, they work well at reducing the discomfort and pain.

This morning I did the normal preparation, but probably drank too much water. So, at the check in ultrasound the lovely nurse told me I had 386 mls in my bladder and asked how long until my treatment. I told her 15 minutes. She said, are you sure you don’t want to empty out a bit because it would be at least 30 minutes until the end of my treatment. I thought, I’m tough with a bladder like a small camel, I will be fine. So, after the fourth session this morning I nearly leapt off the bench when the therapist said they were finished and did a world record 40 metre sprint to the bathroom. I feel for the three people I knocked over, but after all they are in a hospital if they were hurt. Unfortunately, the normal ecstasy of having a pee when you are busting to go is not quite as nice when you have an inflamed urethra, so note to self: find the goldilocks spot of just enough water and not too much!

I have one session left in 6 days, I am told to expect ongoing discomfort for a while as described above and then my levels of fatigue will increase for a month to 6 weeks because of the radiation therapy.?