Bill Jerman- My Prostate Cancer Journey

Day two went well. Two different radiographers who were again really lovely and the process was exactly the same-including helping me off the ‘bed.’

Days three, four and five followed the same pattern and I found that I was more relaxed and confident. Without doubt, this was due to the staff and the absolute consistency of the process whoever was working with me. There were no surprises.

We continued to have a good chat with Julie on arrival, make good use of the 45 minutes waiting time and I was able to drink my 900ml of water in a more relaxed way. My bladder was at the correct fulness each time and we found ourselves usually finished by midday with the rest of the day ahead of us.

On day ten, we had a review which was helpful. They flet it was going well as I did. At that stage, I was not having any side effects of the radiotherapy. I was reminded to continue doing my pelvic floor exercises and to drink at least two litres of water every day. In fact, I discovered, that I became quite fixated on drinking water and was consuming between 3.5 to 4 litres a day!

The second half of the sessions continue in the same consistent way. We met new radiographers and there was always a little chat and the same questions about your name and date of birth. I nearly dozed off a couple of times on the ‘bed’.

I started to have some side effects around day 18, when my urgency to wee increased and I had a couple of ‘accidents’. I was wearing pads everyday now so this helped but it’s not a nice feeling.

On day 19, the scanning was running late and on this occasion, the board hadn’t been changed to say so. This was stressful and made me feel very anxious. I focused on my pelvis floor exercises but the urgency was significant probably enhanced by knowing that I had to try to hold on to keep my bladder at the correct fulness.

When I did get into the scanning room, I was agitated and when I got on the ‘bed’ I had an small accident. I called the radiographers. I felt awful and embarrassed, but they were brilliant, practical and reassuring. I managed to hold onto enough wee to enable the scan to continue.

I had my second review on that day and again this was helpful. practical and reassuring. I was told, as we had read, that the side effects could continue for a few weeks and this turned out to be the case but mine were relatively mild.

Day 20 and the final session arrived and the process was just the same. The centre and the people there had become very important to us. We had brought in flowers and vegetables from out allotment for the staff and that was lovely to be able to use it in such a positive way. One of the cleaners is a great baker and we brought in  very big bottle gourd for them to use. My consultant is brilliant. She knows every member of her wider team at the centre and has communicated with us so well throughout the last few months which is so important.

It was good to complete the sessions, but it also felt strange as I didn’t know whether the radiotherapy had done what it was supposed to do. I will know more about that at my next review in Mid October.

What useful things have I learned?

• I decided to use pads from early on, particularly as I work in schools. This hasn’t been an issue for me and I have been buying the £3.60 packs of ten from Morrisons.
• From my very first appointment, I was told about the importance of doing pelvic floor exercises to strengthen the muscles that support your bladder and bowels. I have subsequently been told by virtually all the staff! I can understand why. Radiotherapy can weaken these muscles and the side effects of urgency means you need strong pelvis floor muscles! I do them during the day, sitting in the car waiting at traffic lights or working at my desk. I do them standing up in queues, in the kitchen or in the garden. little and often!
• The use of the water bottle in the water drinking part of the radiotherapy sessions, really helped. It was measured out and easier to drink.
• I had a ruck sack that I took in every day containing my water bottle, lap top, phone, a gardening magazine, any work that I wanted to do, my kindle, an extra pad and my timetable with each session being ticked off on completion.
• I was advised to moisturise the area around and to the sides of my lower stomach covering my three tattoo marks and where the radiotherapy was be focused. I did this day and night and used a thick moisturiser called Aquamax in the morning and E45 at night. I did this from a week before the sessions and continued for three weeks after them. It has worked well and I have had no irritation.
• Read the booklets or get a Sarah to read them and tell you the key points. In the early days, I wasn’t keen to read the booklets. It was almost as if I wasn’t ready as I was in denial. Once the treatment was fully underway, then I began to read them and it seemed to make things have sense.
• When you are ready and able talk about it, ask questions to any of the team you work with (there is definitely no such thing as a silly question)
• Get yourself a disabled loo keY. It has proved to be a ‘Life saver’ on a couple of occasions.

I hope some of these thoughts might be useful to someone.