Tag: Prostate Cancer

Zapping Session #9 – Quasi-Fail

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy7 Comments

At the start of this adventure, I set a goal to not have my bladder interfere with a session. I failed that this morning.

I pretty much followed my normal drinking schedule to fill my bladder for the session, but I could tell driving into the parking lot that this was going to be a close call. They called me back to the zapping room pretty much on time, but there was another prostate patient wrapping up his session, so I had to wait another ten minutes. As I waited, I could feel the pressure in my bladder getting even worse.

When he wrapped up his session, they called me back to the table and I told them we were in the “danger zone,” so they put an absorbent pad on the table just in case. As I sat on the table, I realized that I wasn’t going to make it and made a mad dash to the toilet, getting there just in the nick of time. And, because once I start emptying my bladder, I can’t stop in mid-stream and only partially empty it. It’s all or nothing. My bladder was empty.😡

The technicians had me stay in the area, drink some more water, and wait while they mapped the next patient. About twenty minutes later, I was back on the table, absorbent pad still beneath me, and we zapped away. By the time we were done, I was making a second mad dash to the toilet because my bladder was filled to capacity again.

In the end, the session was completed successfully.

Watch “Biochemical Recurrence Post-radical Prostatectomy” on YouTube

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer3 Comments

I stumbled across this presentation in my YouTube feed and even though it’s about 10 years old, it contains a lot of good information for those with an increasing PSA after radical prostatectomy.

It gets into:

  • Biochemical Recurrence definition
  • Value of regular vs. ultra PSA tests
  • Survival
  • Imaging (again, dated because this is 10 years old)
  • Identifying good candidates for salvage therapy
  • Salvage RT toxicities and success rates

The video is about 52 minutes long, and the presenter shares information in an understandable way for us patients.

Zapping Session #7 – Canceled

This was interesting… About half an hour before my scheduled zapping time, I received a call saying that their Death Ray machine (my term, not theirs) was down and they needed to cancel today’s session. “We’ll just add it on at the end. See you Monday at your normal time.” Alrighty then…

That will take me to 31 August to wrap it all up, assuming there aren’t further hiccups.

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy6 Comments

Zapping Session # 6

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy, Side Effects6 Comments

I started my zapping sessions a week ago today and wrapped up my sixth session this morning.

Practicing filling and holding my bladder the week before the zapping started has paid off. I’ve been successful at filling and keeping a full bladder for every session. Although, on Tuesday there was a delay with the machine of about twenty minutes and I nearly had a bladder explosion on the table. That was cutting it a bit too close.

Every week, usually on Thursdays, I meet with the radiation oncologist to review how I’m doing and to discuss any side effects and answer any questions. That’s good.

As far as side effects are concerned, there are a few already popping up.

I’m not sure that it’s actually from the radiation yet, or simply because of the need to keep a full bladder, I am finding that I’ve been emptying my bladder more frequently. I mentioned that to the nurse, and she asked how frequently. I pulled out my phone and opened my log, looked at the numbers, and told her.
“You’re keeping a log??? I wish more patients did that!” (It’s good to be a nerd at times.)

It’s taken me a few days to get in the habit of documenting every time I pee, so that’s why you see so many incomplete entries on the first few days.

I’m also beginning to sense some skin irritation (itching, mainly) at the zapping site. It’s very mild and intermittent right now, and may increase over time. The irritation seems to be most prevalent within the first few hours after zapping. I guess it’s like a sunburn—it compounds itself as you go along with little time to heal in between. The doctor said that I could apply a moisturizing lotion after being zapped, but definitely not before being zapped.

The final side effect that’s beginning to take root is fatigue. I’m not sure that it’s actually from the radiation yet, or the fact that I’m peeing frequently through the nights, interrupting my sleep, or a combination of both. A little nap in the afternoon works just fine.

The radiation oncologists and the technicians both confirmed that they check that my bladder is sufficiently full and my rectum sufficiently empty on their scan before they start zapping to minimize any collateral damage. They said that if I wasn’t properly prepared, they’d tell me to get off the table and drink more water or poop. That’s reassuring to me.

I have to admit that it’s a tad annoying to have my retirement non-schedule interrupted by having a structured routine again. I was really getting used to not having to commute or show up to the office at a certain time every day. 🙂 Of course, I shouldn’t complain much because the whole process—driving there, waiting, zapping, and driving back—takes less than 45 minutes. Heck, yesterday, I was through the whole thing in exactly 30 minutes.

I have to admit, too, that I’m being a bit more cautious when going out in public with BA.5 COVID cases on the rise. I continue to wear my mask and am a bit more judicious in determining whether I want to go out. I know that radiation doesn’t necessarily compromise your immune system, but the last thing I need is a week or two delay in zapping if I came down with the virus.

So that’s my first week/six sessions of zapping under the belt. Thirty-three more to go.

Be well!

Zapping Session #1 – Done!

On By DanIn Radiation Therapy10 Comments

Just a quick post-zapping session post…

My appointment was at 9:45 a.m. and I arrived at the facility at 9:30 a.m. and met a friend who was there to provide a distraction and moral support—it was great to have him there.

I checked in and had about a ten minute wait before I was called back to the zapping room. There, the technicians explained what was going to happen and had me lie down on the table. We had a little challenge getting me lined up initially. I’m 6′ 1″ / 185.5 cm tall, and all of my height is from my waist up, so I had to scoot up on the table to get aligned.

They told me to wear gym shorts or sweat pants—something easy to pull down without metal (i.e., zippers) or items in my pocket. They put a sheet over my private parts, had me pull down my shorts to mid-thigh, and lined the lasers up on my new tattoos.

After that, they went into the control room and slid me into the machine. I stayed there for a good five minutes or so as they evaluated the fullness of my bladder (just right) and my positioning. They adjusted the table a few millimeters, all under the radiation oncologists supervision, and he gave them the green light to zap away.

The head of the machine rotates around the table, first in one direction and then in the opposite direction, buzzing as its delivering the radiation. That lasted probably around 5-8 minutes or so. It’s not like being in an MRI or CT scan tube at all. No need to feel claustrophobic.

As soon as they were done, they moved the table back to the start position, I got up, and walked out and hit the nearest toilet to empty my bladder. Easy-peasy. All totaled, including the drive there and back, I was gone about an hour.

The only surprise that I had was the paper copy of my zapping schedule that they handed to me. They have me scheduled for 39 sessions instead of the 35 that I thought we were doing. That has me ending on 30 August 2022. No biggie, I guess.

Lastly, they gave me a little ID card with a barcode on it and I simply scan it to check in for all my future zapping sessions.

I’ll have to admit that, a few days ago, I wasn’t all that emotionally worked up about this, and even this morning I thought I was pretty okay. But I can tell now just from the tension releasing from my body right now, I was far more worked up than I thought I was. The subconscious can do some weird things.

Going forward, I’ll probably not post about this after every session, but only when there are noteworthy things to report (like shorting out a multi-million dollar machine if I pee all over it or if/when the side effects start kicking in).

I need a nap. Or a beer. 🤣

Be well!

Day 4,255 – Green Light for SRT

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy8 Comments

I’m good to go to start my salvage radiation therapy on Thursday. Yippee. <sarcasm font>

You may recall in my last monthly update, I commented that I was having a dull ache in my testicles and groin. I really wanted to ensure that something weird wasn’t going on. Unfortunately, I experienced my first bit of a run-around with the VA Medical Center. After nearly a month of back-and-forth with the office and schedulers, I was able to see the urologist this afternoon.

In a nutshell, she did a physical exam and determined that there was no hernia. I can proceed with SRT Thursday.

I’ve continued my bladder-filing experiment through the weekend with mixed results. Again, I’m scheduled for zapping at 9:45 a.m. and I’m trying to be able to hold my bladder to at least 10:15 a.m.

Saturday, I had a complete fail—I couldn’t hold anything past 9:30 a.m., 15 minutes before my scheduled start time. Not good. Hopefully, I get this sorted out and what’s in my bladder will be sufficient for the zapping.

DateStart
Drinking		Stop
Drinking		Urgency
at 9:45 a.m.
(1-10)		Need to
Empty
Bladder		Volume
(1-10)
30 June8:459:15510:455
1 July8:359:10710:157
2 July8:309:0589:306
3 July8:459:15410:107
4 July8:409:15410:255
5 July8:309:15410:405

Regarding Eligard / hormone therapy side effects, I’m not complaining. Fatigue remains the prevalent side effect. Luckily, no hot flashes yet and, surprisingly, I can still achieve an erection and orgasm to about the same level as before the Eligard. (A bit more effort is required.)

I’m not sure how much I’ll write about the actual SRT once it gets started. I’ll probably stick to the noteworthy items along the way. Let’s hope it does the trick with minimal damage along the way.

Be well!

Day 4,251 – Experimenting

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy6 Comments

The engineer in me is alive and well. In preparation for starting salvage radiation therapy next week, I’ve started experimenting with the timing and volume of water needed to have a full bladder at just the right time.

The instructions I was given were to drink a liter of water and have completed doing so by 30 to 45 minutes before my scheduled appointment time. Because I can’t drink an entire liter in one shot, I give myself about 30-40 minutes to do so. I also created two rating scales (purely subjective, of course).

The first rating scale is the sense of urgency that I have at the scheduled start time of the zapping. I use a scale of 1 to 10, with one being, “I got this,” to ten being, “Get outta my way I’m gonna to pee in my pants!!” The second scale is an estimate of volume when I finally do empty my bladder. (During my mapping, we had to wait because my bladder wasn’t full enough.)

For reference, my zapping appointments are scheduled at 9:45 a.m. I figure that I’ll have to hold my bladder until at least 10:15 a.m. to allow for getting me aligned and get through the actual zapping itself.

Yesterday, my first experiment day, I started drinking at 8:45 a.m. and had consumed the full liter by 9:15 a.m., 30 minutes before the scheduled zapping start time. At 9:45 a.m., I rated my urgency at a 5 and, interestingly, I was able to not empty my bladder until 10:45 a.m. However, I was surprised that the volume was lower than I expected it and rated it a 5 (out of 10). I suspect that would have delayed the zapping a bit.

Today, I started drinking a little earlier at 8:35 a.m. in hopes of having a more full bladder. I stopped drinking at 9:10 a.m., 35 minutes before the scheduled start time. At 9:45 a.m., I rated my urgency as a 7 and had to empty my bladder at 10:15 a.m., with a higher volume output than the day before (also rated a 7).

DateStart
Drinking		Stop
Drinking		Urgency
at 9:45 a.m.		Need to
Empty
Bladder		Volume
30 June8:459:15510:455
1 July8:359:10710:157

I’ll continue to do this up until the start date to try and zero in on the perfect timing so the zapping goes as smoothly as possible once it starts next Thursday.

Yes, I’m a nerd.

Be well!

Day 4,236 – Mapping Completed

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy10 Comments

This morning, I got my first tattoos as part of the mapping process.

The whole thing went quite smoothly. My appointment was at 10 a.m., so I started downing a liter of water around 9 a.m. to make sure that my bladder was full. I may have consumed it a little slower than I should have, because when I was on the table, the technician said my bladder wasn’t quite full enough so we waited a few minutes to let my kidneys process my intake.

The cool temperature in the room accelerated my desire to run to the toilet to let all the water out, but I was able to hold on until the scan and tattooing were completed. But not by much.

The actual zapping will begin on Thursday, 7 July 2022 and go for seven weeks, which should put the end on 24 August if I counted days correctly while waiting. That means I have a few weeks to play before being tied to the zapping schedule.

Be well!

The photo is somewhere in central Kansas as storms were brewing. I didn’t see Dorothy or Toto. 🙂

Month 139 – Eligard Side Effects

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Radiation Therapy, Side Effects10 Comments

It’s been almost six weeks since my very first Eligard injection on 3 May 2022, and it appears that some of the side effects are kicking in. There are also some other things that I’m experiencing that I’m questioning. But first, a little detour…

I just returned from a monster 16-day, 5,357 mile / 8,621 km road trip from San Diego to Chicago and back. Each Memorial Day weekend, my sister and her family gather at a small lakeside resort in southern Illinois, along with a few mutual friends and their families. As I hadn’t seen some of my family members in four or five years, I decided it was time to return.

Not knowing what the side effects from the upcoming radiation and hormone therapy will be, I decided to have one last giant road trip fling for what may be the next year or so. If it works out that I can travel again this autumn, great. But I just didn’t want to leave things to chance.

[The photo above is Trout Lake in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.]

Now back to Eligard side effects…

Fatigue is the most prominent side effect. I’m constantly tired to varying degrees, and there are times where I just push through it and there are times where I simply give in and take a nap. Thankfully, these really didn’t start kicking in until the tail end of my road trip on my return to San Diego.

I’ve also noticed a slight increase in the number of trips I make to the toilet in the night. The last six to nine months, things had settled down to where I could sleep through the night or make one trip. Now, though, I’m in the one to three trips per night range, with one night being four trips. That certainly doesn’t help with the fatigue.

On the positive side, hot flashes have not kicked in yet. That’s great because things are beginning to heat up for the summer here in San Diego and the last thing I need are hot flashes when it’s 90°+ F / 32°+ C outside.

There are two other things that I wasn’t sure if they’re related to the Eligard or not.

First, I’ve had a dull ache in my groin and testicles and, second, I’ve had this general, low-grade musculoskeletal ache in the right side of my torso. Both seemed to kick in on my return to San Diego.

I emailed these symptoms to my urologist, asking if they could be caused by the Eligard, and she didn’t seem to think so. She ordered an ultrasound of my testicles to see what may be happening there (scheduled for Tuesday), and referred me to my primary care physician about the ache in the torso. She didn’t see any reason why either should delay the salvage radiation therapy (mapping scheduled for Thursday).

My biggest concern about the mapping on Thursday is the timing of filling my bladder and being able to hold it during the process. Often, when my bladder is really full, there’s a strong sense of urgency to empty it, and there’s little time for error.

That’s about it for now. More to come after the mapping and, as soon as I figure out why Adobe Lightroom (photo editing software) is acting up on my computer, I’ll get my travel blog updated with my trip’s photos.

Be well!

Month 138 – So Far, So Good (?)

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Side Effects2 Comments

It’s been just over a week since I’ve been injected with my Death to Testosterone juice, a.k.a., Eligard, and things seem to be going okay so far.

The injection site was through being sore within a matter of hours after the injection, so that was a positive thing. (My arm was sore from my second COVID booster for about 48 hours after that injection.)

About the only real side effect from the Eligard that has kicked in is a bit of tiredness or fatigue. It’s as though I’m firing on seven out of eight cylinders right most of the time. Nothing that is debilitating, but it is noticeable. No hot flashes or wild mood swings yet.

I did email the radiation oncologist to let him know that I did, in fact, get the injection, and his response kind of hinted at the fact that it may take a few weeks for the Eligard side effects to really kick in. Time will tell.

As a diversion to all of this, I spent the afternoon watching the my hometown Chicago Cubs take on my adopted hometown San Diego Padres at beautiful Petco Park. I can’t say that I’m a huge baseball fan, so this is a once-every-few-years thing that I do when the Cubbies come to town. One day, I’ll make it to Wrigley Field for the first time ever (blasphemy that I haven’t been, I know).

I’ve got a few other fun things lined up between now and the start of the Zap Fest in late June and hopefully the Eligard side effects don’t kick in and ruin those plans.

A few photos from the game today.

Be well!

You may want to turn down the volume before playing. The pre-game music was a bit loud.