A side effect of EBRT

[Guest guest]

Folks,

I thought I'd share with you all a side effect of EBRT that I've just had diagnosed, something that was never pointed out to me at the outset of treatment, but which I gather to be fairly common.

It's now some 25 months since I completed EBRT andI'm about 30 months into a Zoladex regime. ( I was Gleason 9 and PDA 62.3 at the outset, now a steady 0.7, after a nadir - so far at any rate - of 0.3). I experienced some slight blood staining in my pee (just in the first teaspoonful or so) during the past month, the most concerning being an involuntary discharge overnight on a couple of occasions, just a drop or two. I'm continent so I knew it wasn't from my bladder, but my brother had had bladder cancer as well as PCa before he died (not from either of these) so I thought I'd better have it checked. I had x-rays and a CT scan today and also an endoscopy, topped off with a DRE (I really appreciated that bonus). What has been discovered is that the EBRT has reduced my prostate gland to a very small size and its through passage has narrowed. It seems that wear and tear on this

constriction has produced the slight bleeding. I also learned that my bladder walls have thickened a bit, but I think that's probably just ageing (66), and nobody has suggested I should be concerned about it.

The solution is that I've been placed on Finasteride - daily 5 mg - normally given to BPH patients and supposedly a deterrent to PCa developing - with the aim of reducing the size of the prostate further and opening up the urethra. I confess I'm a bit dubious about downsizing my soft, smooth little prostate further and can't quite understand how this would open up the urethra, but I'm prepared to give it a try. I read that this drug can reduce PSA readings, perhaps by half, but whether that is so in guys like me undergoing successful ADT, I'm unsure. If that is so and my PSA does drop, I shall not know whether I'm heading for a new nadir, which is possible up to three years after EBRT, I gather, or whether it is the effect of the Finasteride. We shall see. I'll keep my profile on Terry's web site updated as a source of information to all.

I'd be interested in any thoughts from the group.

rgds