My Experience with External Beam Radiation Therapy (Spoiler - It's not that bad)

Wayne - There has been a recent movement towards higher dosage and less treatments by many RO's for EBRT as primary treatment and the cycles reduced from 40± to the 25-30 range at a higher daily dosage rate. I suspect that SBRT (ie: Cyberknife) started that trend with really high dosage over 5 treatments years ago. Not sure how that applies when you have HDR radiation first and then apply EBRT as the total dosage has to be considered so you would expect less treatments. As a side note, my RO was pretty insistent that that lessor treatment cycles did not apply to my adjuvant radiation treatments when I asked about it although I had 37 treatments which is less than some.

The risk is in the side effect profile so those are the questions to ask and what precautions are being taken. It is no problem to blast away and kill everything in sight. The key is to determine the perfect minimum/maximum dosage and application schedule that gets the job done without making life too miserable for the target. Those studies are always ongoing as it takes a while to get a lot of good data so you should have your RO explain his theory and track record with the proposed treatment scheme. I doubt your RO has ever had many people ask for more cycles though so expect the raised eyebrow look at first.

We've got new comrades embarking upon a new series of radiation treatments this summer.

Sending this to the top for them.

If you have informative radiation experiences, please add them to this thread ---- your insight can help other fellows & future readers.

Best to all,
CYCLONE ~~~ # Iowa State University

Plato - Full bladder and empty colon were the rule for my ART. However, after surgery I could not easily poop without peeing thus a less than empty colon meant a less full bladder to remedy it. The technician introduced me to penis clamp which became my friend for those situations and I could take a final BM before I left the house in the morning.

I maintained a steady diet for two months including weekends which was high fiber and other things to keep me regular which I am not prone to be. I had it dialed in after a couple of weeks and no more issues with the initial scan. Same with the full bladder, followed the same routine every morning and I got a gold star after the first two weeks. Did the Gas X as well but the steady diet is what worked.

We've got some battle brothers here, considering or scheduling a round of radiation treatments, so I am booting this to the top.

All of these collective first-hand experiences are PRICELESS ... "stories from the trench" - so to speak -- with strategies for navigating through treatments and mitigating side effects.

Best to all, pursuing a new course of treatments ~

CYCLONE ~ # Iowa State University

Thank you all, especially Cyclone who clued me in on this thread. I start 44 sessions on June 15th (my birthday!). I will be using the recommendations that have been posted already.
I have a book of daily positive affirmations. I will continue to read these daily affirmations throughout my 44 sessions.
I will make posts on my progress periodically and add strategies that may be helping me.