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Day Two of radiation treatment. Questions about diet, gas, exercise.
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Oct 9 3:55pm | Replies (18)Comment receiving replies
Thanks to all for the input. Very helpful.
There's the diet to minimize/eliminate gas for the actual radiation treatment. But also to minimize most fiber rich fruits and veggies that might make diarrhea more likely/problematic? At least that's what the doc said. I'm not very "regular" as it is. But it seems constipation is better than regularity during prostate radiation treatment. But that doesn't help with the "empty your bowels before treatment" request. No enemas requested/mandated before my treatments though I have heard that some are asked to do that every time. Not sure if that's for a different form of radiation.
Ironically. I used to work for the company that makes the radiation machine that I'm being treated with (Varian). But I moved from the Oncology division of the company to the semiconductor division very early on so haven't seen them for over 25 years. Immediately started thinking about the people I saw building, testing, calibrating those machines. The quality of the technician that comes to calibrate and certify them at the hospital. The quality of the technicians that are in charge of aligning the machine and my body and their due diligence with making sure my body and the machine are ready for treatment. At the end of the day, it's in God's hands. But I will do some research on how critical the accuracy is on the success of treatment when it comes to how well the machine is calibrated and how well the techs align you and do their thing.
Will they stop and do something when gas, bladder, or full rectum may be an issue and do what's needed or do they just move forward because they're having a bad day, ready for lunch, or whatever? Just saying, these are the thoughts going through my head as someone that has managed employees who's responsibility it was to perform high precision work. Not paranoid. Just the thoughts that crossed my mind when I noticed the "Varian" label on the machine.
Regarding the exercise:
I'm glad that I maybe don't need to minimize my exercise/resistance training too much. I have worked out my whole life but only in the last few years have I stopped. Long days at work, long commute, and I moved my parents in to my house 7 years ago to help with their care. Didn't have a lot of motivation to work out at the end of the day. But now that I'm home and not working (53, laid off after 30 years in the semiconductor industry, and not sure if I'm going to return to work or try to retire), this seemed like a good time to get back to a regular exercise routine and stave off any weight gain/muscle loss from the treatment.
Interested to hear others thoughts.
Replies to "Thanks to all for the input. Very helpful. There's the diet to minimize/eliminate gas for the..."
I laughed out loud reading your thoughts on the knuckleheads Calibrating these very precise, sophisticated machines. You probably shrugged off some of their laxness or devil may care attitudes since it wasn’t you being treated, right?
I am Reminded of the scene in Annie Hall where Christopher Walken is painfully describing to Woody Allen his suicidal urges while driving to just suddenly veer into oncoming traffic and end it all. Allen just rolls his eyes and with a smirk mumbles ‘what a loser’……until he finds himself in the passenger seat of the car Walken is driving and the look of terror on his face is priceless!! That was YOU!😂😂
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The important thing is reproducibility between the simulation (initial CT scan) and the treatment. During the simulation, they no doubt made sure the rectum was empty (that is standard) so and enema is a good way to do that.
I "shopped around" at 4 different hospitals and these were protocols for 2 of them:
→ enema 2 hours before at home (these are unpleasant!) , and then empty the bladder and drink 300ml water 1 hour before.
→ arrive at the hospital 1 hour before (they provide a laxative suppository) and then empty bladder and drink some water (forgot how much).
Some hospitals do not say to use an enema but personally I would anyway just to make sure the rectum is empty. I think microlax is not in the US but fleet is probably similar, a pharmacist can advise on what is best.
As for the technicians (nurses at my hospital) having a bad day, I had the same thoughts, but there is not much you an do about it except try to be as friendly as possible!
After a while I knew there was nothing to worry about, they were really professional and concerned about the patients welfare. Also with two it is less likely anyway.
💡A tip: each time ask if the bladder and bowel were OK, and if you should do anything differently. They will see that it is important to you and so will tend to make sure it is OK each time.
Exercise is good and given you have already a lot of experience with it, I think getting back into it gradually shouldn't be an issue even with treatment, personally I'd try it in your place as well. Without much Testosterone muscle building will be slow though.
For the filling the bladder part initially I oscillated between too much (very uncomfortable when in the MRLinac for an hour! ) to not enough (needing to swap my appointment with the person before me).
Even with the directions, my hydration was never consistent. In the end I drank more than enough and had quite a full bladder just before appointment time and let out enough to be comfortable for treatment (not so easy) in the toilet.
They are typically very punctual (I always asked if they had any delays).