Starting SBRT Treatments In A Week: What to expect?

I’m working with a guy who had his last of five treatments Friday. He had no real side effects, Was already on Flomax and Myrbetriq Which helped if there had been any urinary issues which there weren’t.

My brother had five treatments SBRT when he was 77. The only side effects he had were some urinary issues which require required him to take Flomax every other day for a month. He did take two 3 month shots of Lupron and it gave him hot flashes, but nothing much else bothered him. It did take almost a year After the second shot wore off before his hot flashes completely went away.

Some people do get diarrhea during or after those five sessions. The urinary issues are more common with burning or retention.

They told Stephen to drink 30 oz of water an hour before the MRI/CT scan if he needed to pee after a test drink another bottle of water. Also start OTC GasX 3 days before the MRI.
All this information has been so helpful.

It’s great that you’re starting radiation treatments soon; sounds like you have a medical team that will get you there! (I didn’t have SBRT so, I don’t know how long each treatment session typically lasts?)

However, it also sounds like you’re having a challenge getting the full bladder/empty bowel routine spot-on.

Just as the radiation team has to do their jobs exactly right in order for you to finish treatments relatively unscathed, you have to as well.

> what were their instructions on how much water? And how far ahead of each treatment?

> as for not eating certain foods, you’re gonna have to do without your favorites for the next week or so. (A catheter procedure?!?!?!?)

Sounds like whether treatment sessions go smoothly (or not) is totally up to you.

(In the weeks leading up to my 28 proton radiation treatments, I practiced the full bladder/empty bowel routine every day. By the time of my first treatment, I had the routine down to a ritual. Did it exactly the same way every time; had no issues.)

Good luck! The goal is to get through treatments with no adverse side/after-effects.

Praying for successful outcomes !!!!

Yeah, trying to imagine a catheter procedure to relieve gas. They must be paid well. Lols! 🤧

One thing I will say: Do NOT make that mistake during treatment because you will pay for it down the road.
If you’re lucky you’ll get kicked off the table before any harm is done but it all depends on your team and how vigilant and disciplined they are.
YOU have the important job of bladder and bowel prep. If you are lax the radiation will cause all kinds of issues and make your life miserable.
Just follow the rules exactly to the letter and SBRT will be smooth and uneventful.
Phil

My husband finished SBRT about last month. He has almost no side effects other than a slightly slower urine stream and a mild "gizzy" feeling when he urinated. Maybe a smidge of extra fatigue for about a weak as well, but he's on ADT, so everything melds together. He says he feels fine now.
We drive 3.5 hours to Duke and were in radiation about 20 mins total (as long as the bladder looks good). The actual treatment is minutes.
Good luck - it's not terrible as far as radiation goes.

I was told to drink 30 ozs of water 1 hour before treatment. By the last week of 20 sessions of IMRT, that recommendation was down to 16 ozs because my bladder was always too full. Bland diet and Gas-X are your friends. Also, I set a cut-off time at night where nothing else was ingested until the following day's treatment. Practice now and by next week you'll be all set. I used this as a reference...https://www.nutrition.va.gov/docs/Oncology/RadiationTherapyforProstateCancerNutritionMar2025.pdf

Good luck!

The prep for my pre-SBRT sessions (CT, SpaceOAR, fiducials) was more demanding than the SBRT. However, they were neither painful or stressful. Each SBRT session took about a half hour and required that I drink 8 oz of water a half hour before the start. The machine I had was not MRI-guided. It took a new CT scan of the pelvis each day and using AI re-planned the dosing to allow for any shifting of the organs. During treatment, my daily activities were no different than before. However, I did have some unpleasant side effects following the last session but over the next two weeks, they disappeared.

@mjp0512 you are lucky you had that VA document! I wish the Mayo doctors had given that to us before my husband started radiation for aggressive PCa! They just said no broccoli or cabbage! That’s it! Poor hubby was on a roller coaster between explosive diarrhea from the MiraLax they told him to use 2x per day and having to do Imodium because he couldn’t leave the bathroom. I totally changed the way I was cooking for him after finding that doc! (With my own research!). I gave it to the radiation oncologist’s PA and told her Mayo needed to do a better job educating patients before treatment.