Is there a need to stay close to the clinic during radiation treatment

@janalynnmoon
Can't tell you what you dad will actually face but can pass on my experience with this and add what my R/Os advised me.

I drove to UFHPTI from my home. It was 1 hour away. I was 73 when I did this. What is his current medical condition now? Is there any restriction on him driving himself now?

I had 30 rounds of radiation treatments and several other drives for other tests, consultations, and simulation. I had no issues driving there or back. Now after about 10 radiation treatmens I did have additional need to urinate and a urgent need to urinate if I did not urinate when felt the urgency.

What I did to offset this was to urinate before I left my home, urinate when I got there, urninate after treatment even if did not feel need to. This stopped the leaking upon urgency and not urinating.

The radiation treatmetns are painless and will feel nothing. I did develop slight fatique about half way in but did not affect my lifestyle at all. He may not get the urination issues that I did and others got but it is quite common including fatique.

My wife was never with me for my drive to/from except for last day of treatments where I rung huge chimes in lobby of UFHPTI so she could take picture of me with my radiation team and ringing the chimes.

My drive was 20 minutes each way. I just went there once a day For over seven weeks. You never have to stick around, you have the treatment and you leave. It actually doesn’t take that long either. Some of the people that had treatment had to sit in their car and get their energy back, I never had that problem?.

Driving him there and back is really the best thing you can do. I was 65 when I had it done so I had no problem driving myself. There were always at least five or six other people there waiting for treatment. All Age ranges, I was probably one of the youngest.

In a larger city, a 30 min drive is a good day, traffic wise. When I had my radiation, I was still in the wheelchair, and my spouse and son-in-law took turns driving me.

Radiation is painless, but the one issue is needing to arrive with a full bladder (just like for a pregnancy ultrasound). If bladder control is challenging for your dad, keeping the drive short could be helpful.

Full bladder (but not too full). I was told 200ml was perfect. The first time I went (to the simulation) I just read 'full bladder' required so I was chugging water all day. I arrived with 1000ml and had to pee three different times to get back to 200ml. Anyway, just wanted to share this as aside.
Driving to/from radiation is not an issue. I've done 18 so far and no issues behind the wheel. I'm 85.

At UFHPTI when you do your simulation you drink 2 cups of water prior to simulation. You have to wait 30 minutes to wait until gets on bladder. Then during simulation they see if the amount of water you drank is moving your bladder away from prostate and will adjust up or down.

At UFHPTI you do not have to arrive with full bladder. You arrive 30 minutes prior to your appointment and drink the pre determined amount of water for you. They have a refreshment area with bottle water, coffee, etc.

UFHPTI uses a welcomd desk and a special electronic check in. When you check in with your badge that information you are there is sent to your radiation team. They know you are there and will come get you in 30 minutes. Reservation times were always very accurate and on time for me. When they came for me they always asked did you drink your water. If you say no they will asked you to and will return in 30 minutes.

The actually time you have radiation treatments (speaking for proton EPRT) at UFHPTI it is around 10 minutes and you are done. UFHPTI has a changing room and bathroom at each treatment gantry (5 of them). I go there directly after treatment even before I change and regardless of strong need to urinate I urinated. Then when dressed I would go out and have coffee and urinate again (regardless of need) before I headed home (1 hour drive). I learned to do this from others there at UFHPTI and prevented issues with ultra need to urinate and accidents.

I'm 62 and drove myself to and from my appointments each day--about 30 minutes each way. I had no problems doing this.

Before he starts treatment, I would recommend practicing to find the "sweet spot" for how much water he needs to drink to have a full bladder but not so full that he can't hold it. It's a different amount of water for each person. For me, it was two large glasses. If his bladder is not sufficiently full they will make him drink water there and he will lose his spot and have to wait longer.

If you are talking about possible emergencies that may arise - such as urinary retention, which can occur in some men - the local ER would be the place you’d go.
The clinic offering the radiation treatment usually does not get involved in any other procedures unless they are physically attached or close to the hospital.
Phil

In my case I was advised to drink water about 45 minutes before my appointed time. In one of my appointments, the patient ahead of me wasn't done on time, delaying my procedure. I was asked to pee and drink again, and I would be just fine when my turn comes. I said no, my bladder might not be sufficiently full during treatment. Soon, a spot opened in another radiation unit (there's about a dozen in the cancer center all fully booked) and I was treated there -- about 75 minutes after my last drink. The procedure went well.

I drove myself for a 45 minute trip each way for radiation treatments. It helps to map out where bathrooms are available between the treatment center and home. Even after using the bathroom at the treatment center, I sometimes needed to urinate 10 or 15 minutes later after treatment. I even carried a plastic bottle for those times when I just needed to pull over into a parking lot. I also carried an old newspaper to provide a drape for privacy in case someone came nearby.

I was 65 and actually went sight seeing between appointments. I had 5 treatments and stayed in nearby housing but felt no reason to continously stay at Mayo. Like others have posted, getting the hydration figured out was the hardest part for me.