In my case, I had a slightly enlarged prostate before starting any
treatment. About 1/2 way through my  IMRT's I began "slowing up" due to
swelling of the prostate. My URO went in and "stretched" things a little,
which helped for a few days. He said that he would not consider any surgery
(TURP,etc) until long after I had completed Radiation. I was originally set
up for 25 IMRT and then Theraseeds. But he was afraid that since the Rad was
causing swelling that the seeds would definitely cause more cutting off the
flow completely and at that point all he could do was to give me steroid
shots(requiring hospita;ization) to try to bring the swelling down as
surgery can't be performed after the seeds are in place. So we decided to
forgo the seeds and do 42 IMRT instead, which the RAD ONC said would be
equivilant to 25 IMRT plus seeds. I have been taking 2 Flowmax a day for
about a year and have a good flow. I finished RAD in June 04. Will continue
the Flowmax for a while yet and then have a TURP or will just stay on
Flowmax since I am still having some side effects from the Rad.
our URO will probably do a Cystoscopy which involves going in and taking a
look see and also a little streching to see if that helps. In can be done in
his office or as Hosp outpatient(which is the route I took. I doubt if he
will attempt any surgery while you are getting RAD or seeds.
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 MD
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 - Completed 6/8/04
No seeds due to Prostate problems
8/30/04 - 1 yr Viadur Implant instead of 4mo Lupron
1/14/05 - Removed implant - trying intermittant HT for a while.