When I had my seeds in 1999, I had virtually no problems with urination;
however, I had no external radiation, so may not be a direct comparison.  I
did take my Flomax for the prescribed period.

...

George,

I had an HDR brachytherapy, followed by 19 EBRT treatments,
then another brachytherapy, then the final 4 EBRTs.  (The original plan
was to complete all the EBRTs between the two HDRs, but OR scheduling
made this alternative approach more practical.

I had no problems at all until the second brachytherapy.  I woke up from
that, was wheeled up to the hospital room, and had the catheter pulled
out.  Within an hour or so my bladder was full to bursting but I couldn't
get anything out.  It was unlike anything I had ever experienced and was
no fun at all.

They gave me a steroid injection + flowmax.  It alleviated the problem
enough that I was able to urinate - though not well and not completely
emptying the bladder.

I continued the EBRT.  It didn't get better, but it didn't get worse.
Taking
two flowmax a day I was able to leave the hospital and return to work.
At that point I would leave my desk as often as 7-8 times during the day,
and get up at night as many as 7 times to dribble out what I could.

It was inconvenient, but not unbearable.  About 3-4 weeks after the end
of treatment, the problem began to subside.  I went from two flowmax a
day to one, then one every other day.  After about 6 weeks I stopped
taking flowmax.  By about 10-12 weeks the problem was gone and I was
doing about the same as before radiation began.

Here is my free medical advice - worth just what you pay for it:

1. Radiation causes the prostate to swell, clamping down on the urethra.

2. Continued radiation does not necessarily cause it to swell worse
than it was.  Eventually (the theory goes) even with radiation still
continuing (as it does with low dose seeds), the tissue swells only so
much and will eventually adjust and stop swelling.

3. When radiation stops, the swelling does not go down right away,
but it does go down.

If I were you, I would ask about the possibility of self-catheterization.
They could give you the implements you need.  You could do your best
with the flowmax and anti-inflammatories (hopefully just ibuprofen
rather than steroids).  If things got really bad, maybe try a steroid pill.
If that doesn't solve the problem, try the self-catheter.  If you couldn't
get that to work, then run to the emergency room to have them place
the catheter.

The idea is that if you can just keep dribbling, you can get past this
problem without any radical surgical interventions - which always
seem to me to be a last resort.  From everything I've been told, the
problem is always temporary and will resolve itself if you can
dribble long enough to live through it.

Finally, I would be leery of stopping the radiation treatments.  All of
the studies that show radiation works are conducted using specific
protocols with radiation given at specific, regular intervals.  There have
been reports of women with breast cancer interrupting radiation
treatments in order to heal their side effects, and then resuming, and
then finding that the cancer was not completely killed.  The theory
is that you hit the tumor again and again, not giving it too much
chance to recover.

Having said all that, I hate the idea that, facing two experts who
disagree, you might use my totally ignorant opinions to resolve the
difference between them.  But maybe I've given you some ideas
that you can turn into questions when you talk to the doctors
again.

Best of luck,

   Alan

Hi George,
Sorry you're having such a problem. I had my 12th of 25 today so we're at
about the same place in the process. I will have seed implants June 10th.
I started to have some problem urinating but FloMax fixed the problem so far
<holding my breath>

I wish you well, . . .

Larry

I am glad that I chose IMRT (42 trips). Three months after treatment, I have
no problem with erections and ejaculation (the prostate decreases in size
and function gradually).
Only side effects were frequent urination at night and rectal iching due to
an active (irritated) bowel. My dermotologist helped with the skin iching
and slight inflamation.
--CDS in TX