Yeah, [my August] post is late. I was really struggling to come up with something to write about to hit my normal publish-on-the-11th-of-the-month date, and then I remembered that it’s been two years since my salvage radiation therapy ended on 26 August 2022.

So here’s a quick update on how things are going post-radiation.

Impact on PSA

Of course, the biggest and most disappointing thing is that the radiation didn’t do what it was supposed to do, and my PSA dipped for a bit and then continued to rise to a level higher than when we started the SRT (0.52 ng/mL vs 0.37 ng/mL).

I’ll take my next PSA test in October, and we’ll see if another PSMA PET scan is in order to determine the location of any hotspots. If it’s identified, we’ll look at whether additional spot radiation is needed/desired, or if we consider starting androgen deprivation therapy. More to come.

Side Effects

For the most part, I believe that the side effects two years out from the SRT have been relatively minor.

Urinary Issues

I’m not sure if the radiation really impacted my urinary issues much at all. If anything, I have a slight increase in stress incontinence and sometimes a slight increase in urgency.

Frequency, on the other hand, seems to be all over the place. Some days, I go multiple hours without needing to urinate; other days—especially at night, unfortunately—I’m running to the toilet about once an hour. That can be quite annoying and have quite the impact on my sleep. It’s not every night, thankfully, but enough to have noticed a change.

Bowel Issues

A few months ago, I talked about how my bowel patterns had changed from a once-a-day movement to three to five movements a day. Thankfully, that has calmed down, too. I’m back to one or two trips a day now, and that’s a good improvement. Hopefully, it stays that way (or gets better).

Summary

The radiation failed to do what it was supposed to do and, thankfully, the cost of that failure in terms of long-term side effects caused by the radiation seems to be relatively low so far.

I have an appointment with my primary care physician on 4 November and one with the urologist on 14 November, so I’ll get another PSA test done the last week of October in advance of those appointments.

Be well!

This post originally appeared August 26, 2024, on Dan’s Journey Through Prostate Cancer. It is republished with permission.