Radical Radiotherapy, my journey continues.

Your ordeal with a full bladder did make me smile Steve, why oh why do so many hospital procedures require us to have a full bladder. When I was 38 weeks pregnant with my youngest son (now 10) I had to have a scan. This also requires a full bladder and being clever I thought I would drink the water before leaving home. I had calculated the 6 min walk to the hospital and then the 3 min's to the dept. What I hadn't calculated was A) it was a very cold day and B) said dept had been relocated to a porter cabin at the other side of the Hospital only accessible through the car park.

Thankfully I was wearing a long Maxi coat but I bear the humiliating scar to this day of being heavily pregnant and clutching the hand of my 5 year old son as this very large puddle got bigger and bigger in the middle of Southend Hospital car park. http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif

Hope day 17 goes smoothly

BFN

Julie

Day Eighteen (Thursday):

2.30pm appointment.

Arrived about 1.30pm, wanted to see if I could have a quick meeting with the senior radiographer about my side effects.  I had my treatment a little late, there was a twenty minute delay when I arrived. It went ok but again I was a bit desperate to empty my bladder again.  I think that's probably because I'm not emptying my bladder fully when I arrive because my flow is becoming very restricted again.

I had to wait a while to see the person I wanted to see but it was probably my last chance to do this. 

I mentioned about my restricted pee flow but was told that this would improve over the next few weeks.  I also mentioned the fact that when I'm straining to have a pee I have an overwelming urge to have a bowel motion too.  Also, I'm having a problem of a discharge of mucus and blood from my rear end too which I can't seem to control, mainly when passing wind which has increased in the last week or so.  All that was really said was that these are fairly common side effects and they would get better in the weeks following RT.  I think I will have to live with the problems for a while, it will be all worth while if it results in a cure.

Onward to Day Nineteen, my final day.

Steve

Day Nineteen (Friday):

9.25am appointment. My final Day.

Arrived about 8.15am, partly to make sure I got a space in the car park and also to have a few moments to fill in some survey forms I'd been given about updated patient info leaflets they intend releasing soon.

It's strange but I felt quite sad that this was my last session.  Even though it has only been four weeks, it has become a routine part of my day.  At the same time, it was nice to think that it would no longer matter how much I drunk and I could go for a pee when I wanted.  Having an empty bowel has been a constant challenge too, especially with appointments at different times of the day.

Last night before going to sleep, I suddenly thought that, at this late stage of the treatment, I could be cancer free.  This thought was soon followed by a feeling that this last treatment today was possibly be my last chance of a cure.  Made me quite nervous about this final day.

I drank my water, for the last time from the Coke bottle I've used throughout my RT, given to me by wife.  I'd asked her to get a Coke bottle with my name on it.  She came home with a bottle with "Stephanie" on it!  She thought this was a laugh because when I first went on hormone treatment my wife had nicknamed me "Stephanie" because of the effects of the HT.  She did claim she couldn't find a "Steve" one.  I decided to use it anyway because I thought it was funny too.

I was called in for my treatment, everyone commented on it being my last day, and went through the usual routine.  When the machine delivered it's last burst of radiation, my feelings were "Well that's it, I hope it's done it's job".  It's a similar feeling to the one you got when you finished an exam paper and just hoped that you'd answered everything correctly only this time it seemed more important because it was my life at stake.

Everyone wished me luck for the future and I handed them a thank you card and a tin of "Heroes".  I thought, at the moment they are my heroes.  I said my thanks and made my dash for the loo.

I left the hospital, thankful for being fortunate enought to have the chance of a cure.  Just hope it works.

Steve

Edited by member 08 Nov 2014 at 12:01  | Reason: Not specified

Well done Steve, another milestone passed.
I know how you felt, I too felt I was leaving the party early on my last day of RT. It's a bit weird.
I also did the self realisation that you had just completed the only chance of a cure.
That fact did lay a bit heavy for a while, but you do get to give that virtual shrug and get on with living.

I'll buy you a pint at the flyer so we can commiserate with each other.

All the best

Kevin