ADT and SRT Journey Part 5

Thanks for doing this Jim. Since I haven’t been posting as much lately, I might as well kick off part 5.

Well, by tomorrow at about 8AM, I’ll have completed 2 of my 8 weeks of scheduled SRT. It’s a grind, and a marathon, as I’ve been warned. Waking up at 4:15 every morning and leaving for the hospital between 5:30 and 6AM, then going straight to work 4 of the 5 days (another hour in the car) is getting old real fast. I’m wiped out at the end of the day. Can’t wait to see how I’m feeling after 6 weeks of this lol.

I’m having a hard time with the drinking. MSKCC wants us there an hour before our appointment. When we arrive we sit and they tell us when to start drinking (usually about 45 minutes) at that point we are told to empty the bladder, then drink 1 1/2 cups of water. Some days it works fine. But some days, I just don’t feel like my bladder is full, so I drink another half cup 15 minutes before my time. Then there is a delay and I am bursting, like ready to explode. Nurse told me to just drink the 1 1/2 cups and not worry about how I feel, I don’t have to have a full bladder, it’s more important to be consistent. Any other guys being told this?

What I don’t get is, they do CT Scan once a week. The other days they don’t see the bladder. So what if I’m too full? Or not full enough? They wouldn’t know it. This makes me nervous.

Up until today, I had no hint of side effects. But today I went to the crapper 5 times. First two were normal. Last three were diarrhea. It seems a little early for this, I thought if I experienced urinary or bowel SE’s, it would be the last few weeks. So I’m hoping it’s coincidence and just a bad day, something I ate. But we’ll see.

Otherwise all is going smoothly. Firmagon SE’s aside from a reaction at the injection site, are just hot flushes followed by sweats, but short, and very light. And erections are harder to come by and even harder to keep. I am going full bore all day, at work, and at physical therapy, which I’m doing twice a week for my knee. Unfortunately the knee thing is keeping me from moving/walking as much as I’d like to.no problem with energy, despite sleeping 4 hours a night. Of course I collapse when I get home. No other issues.

MSKCC is a mill, as in a factory. It’s a bit of a cold feeling (which I’m sure is not the case at the smaller suburban locations). It’s a much different experience walking into that place as a patient, vs as a family member or visitor, which I’ve done many times. But the people are amazing. From the receptionists, to the technicians, to the nurses, they are all warm, friendly, professional and competent. This makes it a little easier.

That’s about it for week two.

From Redwing:
Yep, this is a fairly common side-effect. "Emotional lability", doctor words for it.

After 3 years on ADT, I began to understand why women like to watch some of the movies they do (generalizing, of course). Never having experienced emotionality like that, those movies are kind of like exercising a muscle you didn't know you had.

Or put another way, after a lifetime of my sort-of emotional "radio" only picking up AM, suddenly I discovered FM and thus a whole new realm of communication to explore!



I wasn't sure how to quote from the locked thread but want to thank Redwing for this from the last part of this discussion. Not many men get the "opportunity" to experience this kind of emotion and I imagine it might be overwhelming at first. Thank you for saying you appreciate it! My husband is at 3 weeks after Firmagon and gets his first Lupron next Thursday. Thanks again for the thoughtful comment!
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