Bowel prep before each radiation session

Would anyone who has had primary or salvage radiation treatment comment on whether their radiology team placed the same emphasis on emptying the bowel before each session as they did on filling the bladder precisely? My husband did follow both procedures to the letter but only because he has a nag for a wife :) He's only five months out of the 9-week IMRT primary treatment, so it's too soon to say whether urinary problems or radiation proctitis may kick in later. Right now both sets of plumbing are very good.

I ask because looking back I think I only heard just once about his having to empty his bowel before each session whereas the urinary instructions were repeated repeatedly--so many ounces, drink more, drink less, etc. My husband didn't recall hearing the bowel prep at all, but I said I heard it mentioned once, and he should do it. What a nag! I suppose the technicians would've emphasized it at the start of treatment if he arrived without having had a bowel movement first. But it surprises me that so little emphasis was placed on that early on. The RO team seemed excellent otherwise.

I never had any bowel prep instructions or dietary instructions, probably because my treatments were so fast. I did have to fill my bladder.

They told me that ideally the rectum is empty and the bladder comfortably full.

Armageddon!!!!!!!

I was told to have some water before radiation. I asked if I needed to drink 16 plus ounces and was told 6 plus was enough. Also, no mention of rectum. As lapilot mentioned above, they took a ct scan before the session to make sure all was lined up.

Paul65 said...
TA, I recall seeing mention of 'balloon's inserted for RT (presumably to distance at least some tissue from the source... did I understand that correctly? Is the prep part of that process (in some places).....

I believe that is common protocol in some Proton Beam sessions. May well be dependent on the facility. IIRC, some posters have mentioned that is common protocol in Florida, cannot recall if other places also.

The water? Yes. That was treated as CRITICAL. Ounces, number of minutes, observed and recorded in the file.

Bowel? The only discussion was that I should be in the same condition each day, and not do anything that would leave me with loose bowels or gas. They suggested that I be sure to have the morning BM in a regular fashion, but "prep"? No, none.

Balloon is primarily for proton RT.

mattamx said...
They told me that ideally the rectum is empty and the bladder comfortably full.

What he said.

I took a pee before each ART session and my bowels empty themselves quite nicely early every morning like clockwork. I lay in a mold, they put tattooed dots on me to line me up with lasers and ran that CAT scan before each session. No mention was ever made about filling or emptying anything for the radiation therapy.

Worst that happened was a hot flash from the ADT chemo while I was on the bed once. I ended up dripping with sweat running down my face and soaking my clothes while I got cooked. Oh yeah - I forgot my car keys in my pocket once and that shut the whole thing down for a bit.

I had IMRT in November 2014 and the radiation team placed a lot of emphasis on bowel prep and a full bladder. If bowls weren't empty they would take you off the table and send you off to the rest room same goes for gas. Because of this I scheduled my sessions in the afternoon rather than in the morning. I was only taken off the table once. They explained that the original treatment plan was based on a full bladder and empty bowels and while there might be minor changes that occur at the time of each treatment which they adjust for after a CT having a full bowel really changes the location of organs in that area that they were painstakingly avoiding. It all worked well, despite having my prostate and some pelvic nodes given the max amount of radiation, I've experienced little or no side effects. My radonc is one of the best in the business in the ATL area - his team was excellent.

Ed

I envy you guys that can empty your bowels at will.

Mel

To elaborate then just a bit more on this unsavory but important topic.... it's not "going" on command, but rather slowly shaping my system's schedule to when I wanted it to happen.

Most folks "go" on some relatively regular interval anyway at least with a steady diet (not huge meals one day then nothing the next, just nice and steady). It's just a matter of sliding that schedule a few hours forward or backward. It doesn't happen on command exactly. For me, I wanted to schedule "going" around 10:30 in the morning, maybe 11:00, about 1-1/2 hours before my treatments. So if my normal urge built at 7:00am, I'd just wait as long as comfortable, aiming toward elimination at the desired time.. Eventually, after a number of days, the urge begins later, and so on, until the urge happens around the desired time. It took about a month or so, but with a fairly consistent diet, and steady effort, it did become quite predictable and mostly on time.

TMI probably, but this forum often involves very personal things that we can't discuss with anyone else.