Ugh. Monday night was brutal.
Excuse my use of the vernacular, but I had to pee seven times through the night, and that’s a record for me.
I did what I call a preemptive pee before going to bed at 10:02 p.m., and then got up to pee again at 12:11 a.m., 1:06 a.m., 1:47 a.m., 2:48 a.m., 3:49 a.m., and 7:07 a.m.1 It’s nuts. And exhausting.
I also try to keep track of my fluid intake and to slow it down before going to bed. Monday, I joined a friend for happy hour and had two pints of beer between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., and then had another 12-ounce can of soda at 7:40 p.m.
While Monday night’s experience isn’t typical, I have noticed a trend in that general direction since the salvage radiation therapy three years ago, and in the last few months in particular.
Because it wasn’t a huge issue, I wasn’t doing dedicating tracking, but I would say that I was going to the toilet one to three times a night, and maybe four times on a bad night. Recently, it seems it’s more like two to four times per night.
In writing the above, I was going to make the comment that I stay away from caffeinated sodas because I thought that caffeine was a diuretic. I went to confirm that via a Google search, and then went a little deeper into the rabbit hole and asked if beer was a diuretic.
Of course, the answer came back that alcohol, in general, is a diuretic which I think I kinda-sorta knew but had forgotten. In that search, I came across a study entitled, The Diuretic Action of Weak and Strong Alcoholic Beverages in Elderly Men: A Randomized Diet-Controlled Crossover Trial.
It was a small study involving 20 men that measured, among other things, urine output at four and 24 hours after drinking alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions of beer and wine; spirits; and water. The one thing that surprised me was how much cumulative urine output there was for both beer and non-alcoholic beer, especially when the test subjects were given only 250 ml of beer (a U.S. pint is 473 ml). There was essentially no difference in output between the alcoholic beer (AB) and the non-alcoholic beer (NAB).
One question that I would have for the researchers is that, if alcohol is a diuretic, why is there essentially no difference between the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer outputs?
Needless to say, this little exercise opened my eyes and I’ll definitely consider the timing and quantity of any beer consumption going forward.
On a related note, Tuesday, I had a 16-ounce soda around 6:30 p.m. that took until 8 p.m. to finish, and I only peed 3 times through the night.
Also on a related note, it seems that my flow, while constant and steady, seems to have slightly less pressure behind it. That has me wondering if there are post-radiation strictures forming or if there may be a growth forming in the area as my PSA increases. That, or it could all be in my head. I’ll keep an eye out for changes over time.
My next appointment with the urologist was scheduled on 30 September, but I received a call from the VA this morning cancelling the appointment. I can’t recall the VA having cancelled an appointment on me at any other time during the 12 years I’ve been going there. (They have, however, called me if an earlier appointment became available.)
The scheduler said that the urology clinic would be closed for the day so that they could interview new residents. I found that interesting because I recently read an article that doctors and nurses who were extended job offers by the VA between January and March 2025 were rejecting those offers at a rate of nearly 40%, which is quadruple the rejection rate during the same period in 2024. Given the uncertainty and instability that this administration has placed on the VA with its announced cuts, medical professionals simply don’t want to risk working there.
The first available appointment for me was 30 December 2025, so I booked it.
I did confirm with scheduler that there is an order in for a PSA test, and I can go in for the lab work on or after 1 September 2025. I mentioned to her that, if the PSA results came back significantly worse, I would be writing the urology clinic and asking for an appointment much sooner.
That’s it for now. Remember, that September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, so please share your story with others just to educate and increase awareness.
Be well!
1 I use an app called Simple Time Tracker to record each time I pee and when I drink. I use a widget on my phone’s home screen to just tap once which makes it very easy to record the event. The app, though, is set up to measure the duration of the event, so I have to tap a second time to stop recording the duration. Of course, it has the ability to export the data to—you guessed it—a spreadsheet.
Header image: Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, San Diego, California
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 