The important thing to note is that radiation induced fibrosis is progressive and will never just go away. Diligence in managing this can be time consuming and may require many perspectives to improve QOL. The flip side of this coin is it can kill you as well. My issues started in year 4 and relentlessly continued to near death until I fully understood many of the components necessary for long term management. I was late to the party and my current diagnoses includes a few terminal expectations. All are closely tied to restricted blood flow.

I had regular PT almost every other month, various massage techniques almost weekly, exercise and stretching daily yet I could not stop the progression. There is no silver bullet although I have not had pain meds for 14 months now and went from progressively worsening pain 24 x 7 to brief episodes of pain for minutes at a time.

One of the advantages to someone like Steve is the amount of exercise he does. I consider triathletes to be elite athletes at any age. A healthy cardiovascular system is perhaps the single most important piece of a very complex problem.