Photons on the Prostate - X

The faulty waterworks

Just a week after I concluded radiotherapy for malignant prostate cancer, I was back at Christie Hospital to pick up an urgent prescription. The lingering side effects of radiotherapy are the fatigue that I have managed to varying degrees dealing with insomnia, strength, and ambulatory performance. It is the bladder and urinary issues that present the greater challenge and as one nurse politely put it, my waterworks.

The issue I described of having a kettle filling my urinary tract with boiling piss was described to my understanding by a cancer support nurse yesterday. Besides the prostate inflammation that could constrict the urinary tract, radiotherapy could also irritate and inflame the inner lining of the tract and that is what I am feeling as a burning sensation anytime I have the urgency to pee and when the bladder does not fully empty after any attempt to pee.

Hotline for hot piss

By last night, it was beyond tolerable and quite unbearable that I had to call the Christie Hotline for help. After describing the symptoms and the utter discomfort, I was given some advice to take painkillers which are generally anti-inflammatory too, that seemed to ease the discomfort and even eliminate the possibility of a urinary tract infection.

My notes were forwarded to a doctor who called this morning to assess my condition and prescribe some medication and palliatives to help with the waterworks.

Two things might also become an impediment to going out: the sudden urgency to pass water and the frequency at which that happens. At the hospital, in the space of an hour, I visited the toilet thrice.

Vulnerable in stride

Then, on my way home, I got the bus and when I alighted, I was about 300 metres from home when I thought I was going to wet myself. I was not going to make it home on time just as I saw a young man entering a student apartment block and I appealed to him that I had a toilet emergency. He ushered me to the disabled toilet, and I could not wait to get the business done. The compelling urge is literally impossible to control.

Before my treatment, I could hold water for hours, now, it is a matter of minutes that I have ordered a Just Can’t Wait Toilet card that hopefully grants sympathetic access to toilets when I am out and about. Along with that, I have ordered a Radar key to give access to public disabled toilets.

Coming to terms with the fact that the diagnosis, treatment, and ensuing symptoms together constitute a disability is something I am having some difficulty with, but the truth is these are vulnerabilities that would subside. For the duration of the issues, one should avail oneself of all the help available to ease the discomforts and pain.

Blog - Photons on the Prostate - IX

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