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Cybernkife treatment delay: Not enough water in bladder.

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Posted 11/2/2017 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone

Having my last SHARP radiation treatment tomorrow. Its a short treatment but I've had a lot of painful side effects already. It is manageable however.

One of the worst parts of the treatment has been they have had to interrupt 3 of my four sessions so far. One because of gas and two because the bladder was not full enough.

A 40 min. procedure turns into an hour and a half as they have to give you more water....take the image...send it to the doctor and have him sign off on it. This takes about twenty min. Yesterday I just squeaked by as they were going to have to pull me off the table unless my bladder reached the right amount of being full. This means you could be lying on the hard table not moving for over and hour and half...its really difficult. This more than doubles the time of a session

The RO told me they measure the amount of water needed the first time and go by that. But I seem to always need more water. They were not clear about drinking more water, but I will drink 160z instead of 8 tomorrow. I will ask the RO if that is OK. One RO mentioned that it might be OK..but was not clear about it

Anyone ever have the procedure delayed or stopped due to lack of full bladder?

.
Posted 11/2/2017 2:40 PM (GMT 0)
Good morning, I finished my SBRT in Nov 2016 and had to get off the table once to drink more water. My process was to start drinking 1 hr before my appointment and I would drink at least 32 oz of water before. During my planing CT I had to get off and drink more water and also they used the vent tube on me because of gas. I also had a rough time after one of my treatments, after the third one I had 24hrs of peeing a teaspoon full of volcanic lava every 20mins but now everything is at baseline or better.
Good luck
Posted 11/2/2017 3:43 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Although I have to say its comforting in the fact that I've read so so many people posting about their SBRT treatments coming off without a hitch. How they even enjoyed lying there watching the machine swirl around them....then having almost 0 side effects and returning to fully functioning sexual ability. Actually if I didn't have these "problems" it wouldn't be that bad and I too would just enjoy the music and watch the machine do its thing...instead I'm waiting and waiting for the doctor to sign off on my full enough bladder.

With my bad reaction to enemas....early pretty bad side effects...and having 3 of my four procedures stopped because of the bladder issue....I just started to feel like "Why Me"

But I did make it through and I will make it through. I also know some have it easy goings...and some...not so much. Everyone is different.

The saying misery loves company is not a good way of thinking....but it is a natural way of dealing with these things....and knowing you are not the only one going through it this bad is comforting.

Also it gives some comfort to know that its not unique to you....and there isn't some problem with your bladder filling or something.

Some have it easy. Some have it much worse. Coulda been much worse...I know that.

but there is some "why me" in there.
Posted 11/2/2017 7:41 PM (GMT 0)
Fuzz,

I know your feeling of "why me?".

I had surgery, and came to in recovery with internal bleeding leaking out of the surgical drain. I continued to bleed for several hours that day. Luckily the bleeding finally stopped, or else the surgeon was going back in to fix things. I was really weak and a little scared. I ended up with some blood in my abdomen which delays recovery. I also experienced fainting on several occasions in the next few days.

I had a transfusion, but still felt too weak to do enough walking. about two weeks after surgery I was diagnosed with blood clots in both legs and a small clot in my lungs. So, I was admitted to the hospital and spent the next 6 days getting the proper level of blood thinners established. I stayed on thinners for the next 6 months.

Believe me, I wondered why I was in the small minority who experienced all that.

A month after surgery I was doing about 100% better, and was good as new after about 6-7 weeks.

Hang in there. You'll get through all this.
Posted 11/3/2017 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
Usually I was only delayed by 20 minutes or so but by #6 or #7 I had the bladder thing down pat. Some of the guys had to wait an hour or two for the right bladder volume. (This was IMRT)
Posted 11/4/2017 1:12 PM (GMT 0)
fqfqfq - Some of the guys have reported that they had to use a clamp to squeeze the penis and temporarily block the outflow of urine during treatment or testing. You may want to discuss this with your docs.

As for the "full bladder for RT" issues, I guess that each clinic or doc has their own protocol regarding how full the patient's bladder should be. I had CyberKnife SBRT, in which the treatments each were 45-60 minutes long. For these treatments, they had me drink only about 4 ounces of water 5 minutes prior to each treatment, and we never had any reason to stop treatment (OK - I did have to stop one time due to gas in my intestine, but never for bladder fullness).

fuzzboxman and tennisplayer - I know all too well the "Why me?" syndrome. I was very fortunate in that my side effects of PCa treatment were manageable, but some years ago when I had open-heart surgery, my recovery was described as "a train wreck." I was the poster boy for complications. The good news message is that most of the time the medics can deal with whatever happens and get you back to your regularly scheduled life.
Posted 11/4/2017 1:59 PM (GMT 0)
My RO told me to drink normal and urinate 2 hrs before my appointment. Your bladder fills every 2 hrs so you have a full bladder when you arrive. Drinking all this water is not necessary. My problem was an overactive bladder and I had to urinate every 30 min. so if you can hold for 2 hrs your good to go.
Posted 11/4/2017 2:57 PM (GMT 0)
Well

I had my last treatment yesterday. No gas (I've been vigilant with my diet)

Didn't have enough water 3 of the four treatments. Had to stop and drink more water....them they have to film it....get the doctor to sign off....Adds 20 min to the procedure. For the last treatment I insisted on drinking twice the amount of water. They said the first treatment or during the simulation treatment planning they measure how much water is needed to fill the bladder. The RO said I probably didn't pee enough before they took that measurement. So after 2 times the bladder not being full enough I decided to use common sense and push to do something they wouldn't normally do. Just would have to tie up the machine for longer and make me go through double time on the table making the procedure more difficult. Its not bad that they are so meticulous but and it only costs them money (and difficulty for the patient). But being inflexible I suppose makes it easier for them as far as tweaking the treatment for each patient...the one fits all protocol can also make it harder for everyone.

Anyway...I'm done. Hopefully you won't see me posting on the "managing side effects" forum. But the way things have already gone you might see a post or two from me.

Wish me luck....and the best outcomes for all of US.!!!!!!!!!
Posted 11/5/2017 1:50 AM (GMT 0)
Well, fuzzboxman, I can tell you that I did have one unwanted side effect. Well, not an unwanted side effect, just a wished-for side effect that didn't happen.

Somehow, I hoped that after radiation treatment, I would no longer need to turn on the bathroom light to pee at night (since my radioactive urine would glow). My hopes were dashed! Still need the darned light.

I think you'll be fine. You may have some transitory and short-lived discomfort, but everyone I've talked with who had SBRT returned to normal fairly shortly after treatment.
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