Radiation long term effects

[beads8]

Hi all,
This is myfirst day here. I'm a 47 year old TC survivor which occurred in June of 1998. I had an orchiectomy and radiation treatment right after. I've been clear now for 8 years..but I have a question regarding the long term effects of radiation treatments. My oncologist had suggested a few years back that I could have side effects from the radiation treatments down the road. Well I have avascular necrossis of the left hip which my doctors are saying was a side effect of the radiation. I will be having my hip replaced this fall. I also have had stomach problems that have steadily gotten worse over the years since my radiation treatments took place. A precautionary CT scan that I had to have last fall when I ended up with a DVT in my right calf, indicated that I had a "mild thickening of the intestinal wall of the descending colon as well as the sigmoid colon". I have an almost constant dull pain in my upper abdoman and pain througout my stomach if I'm lying down and push on my stomach. Anyway sorry for rambling on....My question is has anyone encountered long term stomach/intestinal problems that have been associated with the radiation treatments you received?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Mark

[Fish]

Hi beads:

Sorry to hear about the issues you've been having. Radiation can certainly have long term effects and these might be more serious for some people than others. I have a collegue whose son had radiation and chemo to treat a tumor of the maxillary sinus. That was about 20 years ago. Since then, he has lost most of the vision in his eye on the side that was irradiated, and the bone in that cheekbone has become brittle and does not "remodel" properly. He is also having dental issues. The doctors have told him these problems are all a result of his facial irradiation. Of course without the radiation, he would have died. I know these are somewhat different from you symptoms, but it also illustrates some of the long term issues with radiation.

I hope that you can get some of your problems resolved.

Best wishes.