Post RP and SRT journey - oh joy

I am glad for knowing you have started the RT. Surely you will be experiencing some side effects but all will resolve within a couple of months once you have finished the treatment.

Best wishes for a good outcome, meaning the knockdown of the bandit.

VG

I went through 66 Grays of radiotherapy and it was unpleasant rather than painful, I think I was one of the luckier ones as others I know had it far worse.
Right at the end it felt hot when I peed and passed a log, my pull ups went a bit pink as well.
That went away after a few weeks, I had some funny pains from time to time after that but everything except this weird tingling in my legs when I wake up at night is gone and this is fading fast.
There is the possibility of long term side effects, some of which are quite nasty but they are thankfully rare.
With this bandit you have to live day to day at the beginning but as the weeks turn into months and years, the hope waxes that you have left him behind you.

It is a possible side effect.
When I had the RT I was told to use Dove soap and put almond oil on the skin to stop the burning. I continued with my normal baby show gel, I have sensitive skin, and the Dove and almond oil stayed on the shelf unopened as I had no burning at all, the prostatectomy scars became a very angry red.
Some people have terrible side effects, there is no telling if a patient will go through the treament with few effects or lots.
I have several pages, unfortunately in French, listing all the possible effects, I looked them over and thought, Oh f**k, and then nothing much happened.
There is a link here to a page about bleeding, I hope yours clears up quickly.
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/information-and-support/coping/side-effects-and-symptoms/late-effects-pelvic-radiotherapy/blood-in-urine.html

Bleeding is not unusual during and/or after radiation therapy.  I did not bleed during radiation, but I did so on more than one occassion after radiation.  Certainly, advise your Radiation Oncologist, to keep them informed, and to receive any feedback that they have pertaining to your own case.

You have chosen a course of treatment, so look only ahead, and don't waste mental and emotional energy on looking backward, or second-guessing any of your previous decisions (I know, much easier said than done).

I wish you the best of outcomes on your journey.

hewhositsoncushions said:

Joseph

Joseph

I'm more stuck worrying about looking forward to the unknowns.

Stupid, I know but I think the beginning of the side effects just hits home how out of my control all this is.

C

You are proactively working on what you can control, and that is all that can be expected from you.  If and/or when future situations occur, you will work at that time on what you can control.

Again, easier said than done, but that is the life of a cancer survivor (really, everybody).

Live each and every day working on what you can control, and make the best of each and every day for you, your family, and your friends.

The thing you have to keep in your mind is that the statistics are a lot rubbish.
Some of them are very old pre modern RT and ADT so they are not really relevant, some have very small sample sizes, etc.
As Vasco says elsewhere we know that prostate cancer is about 20 - 25 variants of a disease with some being a lot aggressive than others with the aggressive ones being in a small minority.
Some people achieve the gold standard of being completely cured, no cancer anywhere, never comes back.
Others have to live with cancer for a long time but it is controlled.
Only 3 % go on and die of prostate cancer, even some of the very serious cases die of something else, more men with prostate cancer die of heart disease than of the cancer.
It is not a you have got cancer, go say goodbye to all your favourite places, etc and get ready to die, illness for almost all of us.