External Beam Radiation Therapy
Hi everyone... Thank you for reading this post. My husband is a fit, strong, wonderful 57 year old man. He has just had his brachytherapy and we were told yesterday that the next step would be 6 weeks of External beam radiation... Starting end of november... Id like to know if anyone has done this before and took a break inbetween treatments? We have plans to go away for 2 weeks in December with our family as my husband said that's all he has been hanging on to... The thought of get away and try to be free for a while but now the EBRT will fall over that time... Not sure if it is possible or safe to take a break in radiation therapy... I will research possibilities of getting radiation done at a hospital near where we will go for holiday but not sure if that would be allowed... Would appreciate inputs... Thank you so much. Carmin
Hi
. Sorry your husband is looking at additional treatment. Did the doctors explain why this was necessary following the brachytherapy? Has some time passed since the brachytherapy and has had a persistently raised PSA? I ask this question because this article from the Mayo clinic notes that "It's not unusual for your PSA level to rise suddenly after prostate brachytherapy and then decline again (PSA bounce). Your doctor will likely continue monitoring your PSA level to make sure it doesn't continue to rise" and that "A persistently rising PSA level after brachytherapy may indicate that the cancer has returned:" https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/prostate-brachytherapy/about/pac-20384949. Concerning any delay in further treatment, while it may be possible, any guidance on that front will have to come from a doctor. Each individual's case and personal health situation is different and, for the protection of the patient, we cannot give medical advice over the internet. Please know that there are people here who understand, including the need to have life events to look forward to and attend. Feel free to keep us posted on how things are going. Wishing both of you the best. Richard (ProstateCancer.net Team)
