First treatment perspective

Jack,

I did 45 radiation sessions at Monmouth Medical Center in West Long Branch, NJ. I drilled it into my thick skull that this was the "cost-of-cure."

The bulging bladder sucks major league. ("Let's Go Bladder"???) But it is what it is and must be done - end of discussion.

Delays? Maybe twice in 45-days. Hell, better than the New Jersey Transit trains!

I finished my nuke sessions in August of 2020. I was Gleason 3+4=7. PSA was 8.7 going in.

The first anxiety after "graduating" was the six-month wait for the first, post-nuke PSA. On that glorious day, my PSA came in at 2.8. Last week, it came in at 1.0.

Dig down deep, Brother. You can - and MUST - do this.

Straight Ahead!

NJ Fred

If you remember those old nuclear submarine movies, no one is affected by the leaking radiation for a while… Almost sounds like you are wishing for a rash or something to show the wife?

I found that the process ruined 7.5 weeks or 2 months of my life with a less than 1 hour cycle time each morning. Every morning was like clockwork to be prepared for the 9am session with a full bladder and empty colon. Thirty minutes later I would be at Home Depot picking some stuff up for the day. For excitement, the machine went down during one of my sessions and I had to come back at 6pm to finish the treatment. Then it is over and you stay home.

There is a second bathroom, you just have to run down the hall with short steps and a crazed look and the nurses will point to where it is. You will not be the first one to hit the locked door near the machines.

I've had both the locked bathroom door, and baptized table experiences during SRT.

After being told just to let it go, the tech said to me, "not worries, Prato does this all the time".

;-)

As part of my research, I met a top RO here in London. The big selling point to me of RT was the lesser ED. She said something very interesting: in 5 syllables: "Use it or lose it". She said she stresses to her pts that although RT now feels like a free ride, it isn't. She said that to minimize SEs RT pts should "rehab" just like RP pts, even though they don't feel they have to at the get go. Including PDE5 inhibitors, Kegels, the works. I thought that was really interesting.

Hello, Jack62 ----

Each day, during the brief radiation treatments, I focused on the song mix they played for me, each day.

I requested "1970s song mix" and I let the EAGLES, STEELY DAN, THE DOOBIE BROTHERS, and FLEETWOOD MAC "take me away" ...

Each day, I also mentally planned which trail route I would walk afterwards. I also walked at one of my favorite lakes afterwards.

In your mind, during the brief ZAPPING process, plan ONE special thing you want to do that evening ---- doesn't have to be anything fancy --- that game you want to watch, that next chapter in that book you're reading, that walk you want to take, that grill you're going to fire up that evening.

Keeping your mind focused on ONE SPECIAL THING you want to do, after each treatment is over, will carry you through.

I had 45 treatments --- nine solid weeks --- and this strategy carried me through those nine weeks.

The PAYOFF was truly revealed --- in the weeks and months after that last treatment.

Those subsequent PSA test results ... shared by my oncologist ... showed those declining PSA scores ... slowly ... slowly ... gloriously ... tumbling down.

My oncologist and I started this brotherly ritual, as those lower PSA scores started showing up after radiation treatments were over ... we started this brotherly ritual of hand shakes, fist bumps, and elbow bumps.

Stay the course, Jack62 --- trust in the process --- focus on "one day at a time" ... and soon enough, you will be RINGING THAT BELL!

A t-shirt slogan I saw this summer that inspired me:

# Believe In The Fight!

Onward, upward -- eyes on the prize --
CYCLONE - # Iowa State University

Vynbal said...
Hi Jack62,
In my case I felt like the "do nothing" feel of the radiation treatment was the perfect complement to the "feel nothing" diagnosis. Somehow I am supposed to believe I have potentially terminal growth inside of me when I feel absolutely fine. Might as well fix that problem with magic invisible, intangible rays (while lying on a cold table with a bladder ready to burst)!

That's been my experience with PCa too. I've never had a physical symptom from PCa, and wouldn't have known I've ever had it, if not for the lousy side effects from all my treatments. But, as my first MO cautioned me, my PCa can and will kill me -- especially if I choose to do nothing about it.

Jack62 -

Excellent answers have already been expressed by knowledgable guys, who have been through RT.

I'm another RT-as-primary-treatment guy, BTW, and I just want to add one more comment on a side effect that you mention affected your neighbor: "He states he can’t even drive his car as he rapidly becomes too tired."

That can be true. In my own case, toward the end of treatment, say around three-fourths of the way through, a truly debilitating fatigue set in, a really bad kind, that just made me want to flop down and then try to find the energy to get up again.

I had been driving myself to RT appointments up until the fatigue hit me, but had to get my sons to alternate chauffering me to and from the center toward the end, as I was actually concerned that the fatigue might impact my driving.

But forewarned is forearmed, and if you realize it might be coming, you can have a plan in place now to deal with fatigue when, and if, it does come. (And the fatigue does go away pretty quickly once the treatments end).

You're right, the actual dispensing of radiation, when the machine is humming for those short bursts, feels like nothing is happening, but it is. And, yes, repeatedly managing the discomfort of a full bladder is a challenge, but you're up to it, and the coming months will prove that it was all worth it!

Good luck!