How to prepare for IGRT radiation - full bladder & empty bowel?

Did they tell you to do a fleet enema? That was what I was told to do prior to Sbrt.

@bl2023, No I was not told to do that. I did use fleet enema when I had a colonoscopy a number years ago. Did you use fleet enema for every radiation session? If you did, how much you use each day?

I did. Sbrt consisted of 5 treatments every other day. They recommended a very bland diet (think BRAT), no antioxidants/vitamins/supplements, and a fleet enema at least two hours before the treatment, which were around 11 am. I did a fleet enema the night before as well on 3 of the sessions. Which was probably overkill.

I had my sessions around 9 every day. I'm lucky in that you can set a watch by my morning "constitutionals" anyway. So I'd get up at 7 have a couple cups, move my bowels then do nothing till around 8:15. At that time I'd drink about 24 ounces of water and didn't urinate no matter what till after the treatment. This did the trick.
I had one session where I was at 75% and they let me know but treated anyway.
After that I was never below 85% ish. Once I felt really bad I asked how my bladder was after the treatment, they said 105%! (..as I was running for the can....)

After a while you get to know long it takes from when you drink to when you pee. Many times I was very full and would leak. Staff said good to be full and I had a clamp ok my penis to stop leaking. When done they knew to get out of the way and run to the bathroom holding your penis shut. Now have lots of radiation caused problems. Only 35 treatments. Had to do 40 HBOT to stop bleeding and clots. Good luck.

It's interesting reading how we dealt with our radiation sessions. I just finished my 30th session of IMRT. The way I handled it was to drink 20 oz of water 20 minutes before the treatment, (this was based on guidelines from the technicians). I never had an issue with having too little water in my bladder. As far as bowel movements went I just did what my body wanted to do I would have bowel movements Sunday - Tuesday and none for the rest of the week. Again, this repeating schedule was always good enough to proceed with each session. I hope all of you are doing well.

I completed 39 IMRT(VMAT)/IGRT sessions during the summer. Though I followed the directions very carefully, at the mapping session I was told my bladder was not full enough and I had to drink water for several minutes before they resumed that procedure. I believe I was probably a bit dehydrated before starting to drink and the water was taken up by cells in my body instead of being diverted to my bladder. So for the first radiation session, I made sure I was well hydrated before drinking the recommended 24 ounces starting 1 hour before the treatment and finishing 30 minutes prior. After that session one of the techs told me my bladder was TOO full. After that I had a good idea of what to do and had no further issues properly filling my bladder. As for the bowel, I too am fairly regular and was always able to complete a movement in the morning before my typical 11:30 AM session. I did not use an enema. At my mapping session, the lead tech did tell me “no vegetables!” as they wanted to avoid having gas in my colon. She recommended “steak and potatoes” and to “go crazy on the weekends”. I also avoided/limited carbonated beverages and other gas inducing foods. There are lists online of what foods to avoid during this time. Good luck!

@bl2023: Thank you for you reply.

To all: Thanks for all your comments and advice.

Today my RAD treatment was at 8:15 am. I finished drinking 1 litre (32 oz) of water 30 mins prior appt time. I told the RAD tech that I had no bowel movement this morning. The last bowel was yesterday afternoon around 3pm. I had regular dinner last night. She said I should have a bowel before the treatment but she would scan to see if it is OK. She showed me the scan images on the screen. It came out that the bladder is 100% full and there were some contents in the rectum but they were higher up which did not interfere. After the treatment, I almost needed to run to the washroom right away. Thank God! I did not need to wait and re-prepare today's treatment. Mostly all of my appts are very early in the morning from 7:45 am - 8:15 am. I think I have some ideas how to fill up my bladder (thanks everyone). I hope I will have bowel movements in all the rest of the sessions. Anyhow, Three down, Seventeen more to go!

When I had my SBRT at Mayo Rochester 3 yrs ago, always drank a 16 Oz bottle prior and they gave me an enamia prior to the procedure. Never got complaints about not enough water or not cleaned out well enough.

An update on my last post on Oct.24:

My previous nine rad sessions went ok. A few times my bowel was not empty and had contents in the lower part but full bladder pushed it away so Rad went fine (as I was told). I tried enema once but was told by rad tech still had loose stool in the bottom rectum. They suggested to try "Milk of Magnesium" (MOM). The MOM instructions says 30ml-60ml for adult before bedtime. I had 45ml of MOM last night before I went to bed. It made me poo right afternoon midnight at 12:30AM. The stool was soft with a bit diarrhea at the end. At 6 AM today, I went to poo as I felt I needed to. This time was all diarrhea (- not a lot) and I have warm and burning feeling but no blood. Then I went for my 7:50 AM rad appointment. The rad tech said my bladder is perfectly full and my rectum is empty so the rad went fine. However, there is some swollen in anus. I did not have swollen anus or diarrhea in all my previous rad sessions but only today. I am pretty sure the diarrhea is caused by "Milk of Magnesium" not by radiation. I think I will stop using MOM until the swollen goes away.

I wonder if someone has some experience of swollen anus (-- not cause by radiation) during radiation sessions.
1> If this happens, do they continue/skip/stop the rest of radiation sessions? If not, what usually does the oncologist suggest?
2> Any suggestions to speedy recover swollen anus? (e.g. what to eat or not eat, etc.)
3> Has someone used "Milk of Magnesium" before and what is your experience?

Thanks in advance.