Bob's Story
Not really. I was fortunate that sex wasn't as important to me as it was in my younger days.
Many of these side effects are temporary so it is worth plugging on through some discomfort which will be less in future
I no longer sleep through the night uninterrupted because I have to get up to pee. The initial fatigue has lessened, but I get tired sooner than I used to when I exercise or have a long day I am more cautious to make sure that I make use of toilets whenever I pass one because I may be caught short on occasions.
Yes
The alternative offered to me was RP (radical prostatectomy). Many men I have spoken with who had RP still experience uncontrollable urine leakage but I can handle this by being cautious in what I drink and making sure I know I can reach a toilet when I need one.
You might have to buy larger size trousers like I did because of weight gain around the waist.
I put on weight around the waist. I experienced continual fatigue and had to cut down on exercise activities
Yes
Because this treatment was recommended as a necessary precursor to my main treatment - high dose rate brachytherapy
My prostate function was effectively destroyed by earlier radiotherapy treatment so many of these side effects are inevitable. Fortunately this did not worry me as much as it would have had I been younger
I only had radiotherapy for three weeks, at the end of which I did experience some loss of bowel control. Fortunately this cleared up fairly soon afterwards,
Some loss of bowel control for a very short time. Tiredess after returning from treatment. Long-lasting fatigue which still troubles me over ten years after completion of treatment
Yes
Beam radiotherapy was recommended as a 'mopping-up' exercise to eliminate any cancer remaining after HDR brachytherapy. And it seems to have worked.
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