I had a cystoscopy about a week ago. My symptoms are similar to those your
husband is having. The dialation procedure Stretches the uretha. It also
allows the Dr to get a look inside up into the bladder for any problems. It
can be done in the Drs office, but I had mine done in hosp(outpatient) at
Drs suggestion. For 3 days afterward I peed like a race horse and then thing
slowed up again. Radiation shrinks the bladder so it holds less causing more
frequent urination. It can also cause the prostate to swell which puts
pressure on the uretha which causes it to close up resulting in a slow
stream. I had some prostate swelling befroe I ever started radiation so mine
got worse with the treatments. I am taking 2 Flowmax a day plus 2 Advil
every 6 hrs and the results are manageable though annoying  after 18 of 42
rad treatments. I was originally set up for 25 rad treatments and then seed
implants, but that was changed to just 42 rad and no seeding  because of my
problems. I also just got my second 4 month shot of lupron which should also
relieve some of the swelling. So far I have had no bowel problems, but I
expect to have some  as the treatments continue.
As your Dr said, the reactions (side effects) vary and your husband's probs
(and mine) seem to be more pronounced than with most who have radiation.
There are other things the Dr can do if the situation continues to worsen so
you might talk to him about it such as surgery(TURP). As long as your
husband is still maintaining a urine flow he might have to put up with
things until he completes his rad treatments. After rad is completed things
should get back to normal-or close to it.
Good luck, George
Age - 69
8/12/02 - PSA 3.7
10/13/03 - PSA 4.69
11/11/03 - PSA 4.8
11/18/03 - Biopsy - 10 cores
one core-25% of core-Gleason 4+4=8
all other cores benign tissue
12/10/03 - Consult - Oncologist
12/16/03 - Consult - Radiation Oncologist
Treatment Plan - Northeast Ga Cancer Center
HT - started 12/17/03 - Eulixen & Lupron (2nd 4 mo Lupron-4/26)
2/10/04 - Started - Flowmax and Megastrol
Radiation - IMRT to begin 3/30/04 - 42 treatments

I've read a number of posts where Metamucil is recommended to stop
radiation-induced rectal bleeding...Best wishes and good health, Ron

See Georges post as George is having similar problems to what I encountered
too.  I had 40 3DIMRT at Stanford.  I did not get problems with the bladder
being sensitive as my main tumor was further down the line.  But as a
result, I did get scar tissue buildup over time.  If your Husband can
relieve himself and is not having flow problems, it is probably from the
radiation.  You should ask your Dr about getting some Pyridium (excuse the
spelling).  It really helps with burning and irritation in the bladder and
urethra.  It is also wonderful for the day you remove a catheter.  If his
flow is slowing, he should look at going ahead with a catheter for a while.
I don't know how long it is until he will be complete with radiation, but I
started having real flow problems in my last two weeks.  I hade a catheter
put in after they used a Urethral Dilator to make room (a 8 would not even
get through) and left it in until a week after my radiation was complete.
This ended up being around two weeks.

I also had a Cystoscopy at two years past.  This stopped me form having
dilation about every 4 to 6 months for a while.  I do a self insertion of a
14 or 16 cath now every couple of weeks to be sure it stays open.  My Uro
thinks I will end up needing to have the tissue removed not too far away
though.  I must admit it will be nice to not have to do a cath for a while.

Dwight

Dilation basically widens the urethra. It is for the relief of stricture or
inability to urinate and empty the bladder, It is also sometimes necessary
in order to do a cystoscopy as cystoscopes, as I remember are about size 18.
There are two kinds. Soft dilation which is done under local anesthesia in
the Urologist's examining room, and hard dilation which is done under
general anesthesia in an operating room.

After five weeks external radiation and two HDR bracyhterapy treatments in
early 2002, followed by 4.5 weeks of self cathing, I finally developed a
retention problem and a severe hemorrhagic bladder infection in the third
quarter of 2003. After that I had to self cath again and could only do it
with a size 12 catheter, the smallest they make. They then attempted a soft
dilation, but that failed.They next completed the cystoscopy with a hard
dilation under general anesthesia and relieved the stricture by performing a
TURP. Since then I have had the opposite problem, incontinence, which has
eased to the point of 1 pad/day unless I do coffee.

I didn't have a problem with rectal bleeding, but even though I defecate
normally, it feels like I'm forcing "it" around a square corner.

The good news is that the PSA is down to 0.03.

I had a painful hemmorhoid with small amounts of bleeding
during radiation.

Immediately after each session in the radiation room I went
to a bathroom and applied a Preparation H type ointment
inside the anus, and smeared some around the outside
of the anus too.

It's impossible to know for sure whether this does any good.
Maybe it would have been about the same without it.  But it
seemed to me that it helped.

I read somewhere, or a doctor told me, I don't remember
which, that I shouldn't use ointments immediately before
radiation.  It might interfere with the treatment.  I don't know
if that's true or not.  It's something to ask the doctor.

Another thing that helped me was a doughnut cushion,
purchased at a drug store.

I continued using ointments for some time after treatment.

When radiation ended, the difficulties gradually subsided.
After about four weeks, everything was healed up and I
stopped using ointments.  Difficulty with urination took
longer, but after about six weeks I was doing reasonably
well there too.

Best of luck.

   Alan

Thanks again for your help.  I am going to have to buy a new legal pad
as I have used all the existing paper for notes!  I do remember hearing
about the TURP, but was in such a fog at the time that I retained none
of it.  I will hope that since HB's last treatment is Thursday we will
see some improvement in the near future!