Two days ago, Feb 9, 2022, I was given the Brachytherapy radiation for Prostate Cancer, using Cs131, which has a 9.4 day half-life. It was preceded by two months of Hormone therapy (which removed my mail hormones). Using several prostate products from on-line ads, I was able to pee OK. Some products that I bought advertised "pee like a horse". I don't think I pee like a horse, but the flow was much better. I also used Caffeine drinks because they helped me pee. I am 82 years old.
After the Brachytherapy procedure, at recovery, I was asked to pee. I thought it was to check for blood, and there was some, but apparently normal. I have no idea what the urine volume was, but I was sent home.
Last night, the second night after therapy, I had a terrible time trying to urinate. I am very sleepy due to a sleepless night. With every effort to squeeze out urine, including pressing on my bladder with my fist through the stomach, I got some small amount of flow, and after several bouts with that, the pressure relieved somewhat, and I was able to go back to bed.
I have been reading several blogs about
urination difficulty and pain after BT. However these blogs say it started after several weeks. However these blogs were dated several years ago, so they probably did not use Cs131 as the radiation source for the implanted seeds. I was told by the surgeon that his approach, using Cs131 with preceding two months of Hormone therapy minimized the side effects of earlier procedures. I like the Cs131 because it will be down to 10% of its original level at one month, and un-detectable after 3 months.
My question: Has anyone else experienced urination pain after one day of BT using Cs131, and does it go away, or will I experience a similar issue later on (like a couple of weeks later)? I hope the shorter half-life of Cs131 will preclude that kind of a problem.
Since my doctor finally called today, I have been much better. I spent a horrible weekend of pain and urinary retention because I could not reach any doctors during that time. I had left several messages on Thursday and Friday (Brachytherapy on Wednesday), but no responses.
I am OK now. Actually, I was in such trouble by Saturday night, that early Sunday morning I got up and decided to take two aspirin to reduce the pain, and then I remembered I had some very old Flomax left over that I decided to never use again. I had no idea if it would hurt or harm, without a doctor's confirmation, but I took one tablet anyway. Miraculously I was able to go a little bit just a short time later, and then I went back to bed. By the way, my eye doctor did a cornea transplant, and immediately after looking into my eye, he sated "I can see you have taken Flomax". He told me if I ever take Flomax, any time in my life, if I ever take it again or not, it is visible in the eye. What happens is a firm film covering over the eye becomes wobbly, wrinkled, and soft. When he does the transplant, he has to remove that covering, which is much easier when it is firm. After Flomax he has to add another procedure to move it out of the way, which he says he has learned to do. I told a friend about
that, and he went home and threw out all his Flomax (even though it was too late).
When my regular urologist called today, he wondered why I hadn't seen the literature they should have sent me (perhaps I was too bumbed out to worry about
it, or I didn't get it.) He confirmed that I should have been taking two Flomax per day (I only took one) on Sunday and Monday. He said he will order a new prescript
ion at my Drug Store, and I am to take two tablets per day. (Now I want to know if one in the morning and one at night, or two at once?) He told me that Cs131 radiation damage peaks at 9.7 days, and that's when the urination problems are most likely.
So, thanks for the great help from the forum - I feel much better now and am doing just fine.
I misstated my doctor's professional title. He is a Radiation Oncologist, and he says his practice has been limited exclusively to prostate brachytherapy since 1999. He has performed over 5000 prostate brachytherapy procedures to date.
I will check this site for a few days to see if anyone else has a question for me. - Ken
Post Edited (Ken Hatch) : 2/14/2022 8:48:25 PM (GMT-7)