@pesquallie Don’t beat yourself up for your decision! Your situation called for quick action and your RO was correct in that long term outcomes are the same for photon vs proton.
However, SE’s with proton are supposedly less due to their lack of penetration of healthy tissue. But there ARE men who’ve suffered SE’s similar to yours even with proton radiation; it is really a function of YOUR response to radiation.
This is why your team gives you (or should) a pamphlet with a list of all possible SE’s and a warning that they could be severe in a small number of cases.
Diarrhea and tenesmus are kind of the same animal except one produces a stool and the other doesn’t, which is way worse- - I had it myself after RARP and it almost killed me, no lie…ugh!!
But you do seem on the road to recovery so that’s a big plus. If you ever do need to use ADT, ask for Orgovyx - as an oral tablet, MUCH less of the initial blast of Lupron and if it bothers you, you can discontinue it and be done with any SE’s in about 3 days…it’s far from perfect but amazingly well tolerated by most people. Best,
Phil