Day #21

In spite of all the precautions the symptoms of radiation sickness are catching up with me. Because of the overly sensitive bladder my son suggested to maybe let the intestines protect it a bit, not pull them out of the way just for one day, or else I may end up with severe chronic cystitis. I felt that he has a point, so today I let everything stay in its natural position. Well... within hours I started to run. By now my hemorrhoids are swollen, I feel raw, even though I washed myself carefully after every washroom visit. On the other hand, my bladder is really a bit more relaxed. The pain is not as sharp as it was yesterday. The burning sensation that I felt as a result of abrasions after the sizing has subsided by early evening today, so at least that is out of the way. Except, I will be anticipating it after the brachytherapy.

Tip: do not use baby bottom creams for the raw anal area, like Zincofax or Penaten. They may actually make things worse. The best is to just use a simple petroleum jelly (Vaseline).

Day #20

The symptoms of radiation side effects started to catch up with me. I may have reduced the enteritis problem but my bladder is getting a lot of abuse instead. Now I have sudden urges, painful voiding, and overall sensitivity in the whole lower abdomen.

I also had my meeting today with the doctor who will do the brachytherapy. I was measured and given some information about the procedure. The measurement involved the insertion of a tube quite similar to the one that will be used during the treatment. It produced some minor abrasions both inside and outside in spite of big gobs of lubricating gel, probably because of increased sensitivity of the whole area. This then made peeing a bit more painful by producing a burning sensation around the labia.

I found a good site where they explain the usual amount of radiation one is given both for the external and the intravaginal radiation treatment.

Weekend #4

On Saturday I had a very bad allergic reaction to something. My arms are still covered with red itchy welts, actually the arm itself is swollen. The morning started with a couple of very urgent BMs, of almost diarrhea consistency, but then by noon I was perfectly OK. Whether the two had anything to do with each other, I have no idea. Otherwise I felt quite strong all day, except for a short period while sitting in the hot car for some 20 minutes, waiting for my husband.

Today the day started the same way, with the explosive BMs and then fine for the rest of the day. But the pelvic floor seems to be more sensitive than usual, my belly is extended a bit, and urinating is quite painful. It is not the urethra, I do not have an infection, but as the bladder collapses it produces a painful tweak. The only way I can reduce this somewhat is by stopping and restarting the flow, releasing in two or three batches. I have the impression that the whole floor area is inflamated, causing a general sense of malaise.

I found a few articles on urinary problems during and after radiation: [1], [2], [3].

Day #19

A hard day today... For some reason I was not as successful with my tummy sucking as usual and the result was an almost full blown diarrhea. Of course, I wash myself after every BM, yet the anal area is still quite sensitive now. I also had a rash problem, scratching my arms resulted in lots of red bumps. And I developed odd dry spots, one on my neck, one on my right wrist. About dime sized and just as itchy as the bumps. After all the scratching now it looks slightly raised, red, flat and shiny. I also had lots of weak moments even coupled with slight nausea, so I had to lie down a lot.

Day #18

This was a relatively quiet day. Apart from the bouts of weakness there was no gassiness, no rash. But the pelvic floor is definitely inflamed and it makes urinating uncomfortable. Every time, as the bladder collapses, it produces a twisting, squeezing sensation that brings tears to the eyes.

Day #17

Arghhh... the problem with being gassy! You have to make sure that you let go of any of it ONLY in a washroom. Hold it in even when you are somewhere outside in the open. I had one today that clearly felt like a regular tiny wind, I did let it go, except it had a little soft plug preceding it which then ended up on the underwear. Lesson learned...!

Day #16

I still have this problem with the sudden faint spells, a sudden draining of strength. My older son teases me that it is "radiation sickness", which is of course true in a tongue in cheek way. Although there is no diarrhea, I am again very gassy, and as a result I go to the washroom often (6-7 times today) and pass little soft pellets.

A small tip about the time of day you should request the sessions to be/ If you ask to have them anywhere after 10am, you run the chance of them running behind schedule and you have to wait a lot. Which is not very comfortable, given the fact that you have to drink a lot an hour before so you have the radiation with a full bladder. Best is to have it somewhere between 8 and 9am.