Welcome to the Bob and Cancer Show. Hi, I'm Bob Kevoian and we're back after a long pause
and I guess 30 days of not having to worry about anything.
And we've worried a little.
We've worried but...
Don't lie now, Bob.
I know, but it wasn't, there wasn't test after test after test, radiation, that and everything.
That was all, it's all done.
Treatment is over.
And just had some tests and stuff I had to do, but it's been a nice break, but we're
back at it.
This one episode will be the last one before surgery.
Well, did you want to talk about your new partner or is that old news?
The Cancer Show?
No, I'll talk, I'll kill him later.
I mean...
Okay.
Yeah, I mean, no, we don't need to talk about him.
Okay.
Yeah, here we are and it's been kind of an interesting 30 days.
It has been short and long.
I guess I should introduce my partners.
To my left, your right.
If you're playing at home.
If you're at home.
My lovely bride, Becky.
Hello.
And to my right and your left, I'm in best buddy, Whit Grayson.
Hey, Bob.
Hello, Whit.
Hello, everyone.
Good to have you all back together.
Thank you.
Yeah.
This feels weird after such a long break.
Yeah.
We've done all of these on our kitchen table.
We're not in a studio.
We're just sitting here at the house and turn on some mics and...
Hey, I remembered to turn off the ice machine.
Oh, good.
I was wondering, it is kind of silent.
On a few of the episodes, you could hear odd sounds in the background.
Before we get started with anything about what happened in the last 30 days, I want
to thank everyone who downloaded our podcasts.
The first six episodes, we released all at once.
And I'm just dumbfounded how amazing...
The response.
The response has been so wonderful.
Almost 30,000 downloads.
Really?
That's crazy.
It really is crazy.
Hundreds a day, every day since we launched it, which was, I don't remember what date
that was.
I guess about three or four weeks ago.
I don't know.
Yeah.
We've got 1,500 emails from people who are sending their wishes, best wishes, and talking
about their cancer battles.
And it's been very inspiring.
People who went to the effort...
This is what blows me away.
Went to the effort of going to thebobandcancershow.com, clicking on contact or whatever the button
is, and then putting in their name, putting in their email, writing their comment.
And that's an effort.
It's not just like hitting like on a Facebook page or a quick comment.
There's effort involved.
And they went to the effort, and we have read every single one.
And I want people to know that Bob is receiving them and is reading them.
Well, I've read every one of them.
It's amazing.
It really has been very inspirational.
Very emotional.
And I thank each and every one of you for sending your best wishes.
Well, like you said, they go to the effort probably for one or two, if not both reasons.
You've touched them.
They care about you.
They want to know you're doing okay.
And or they've had something similar.
Yes.
Oh, many, many comments from people.
I've gotten those comments from three or four people say, I went through this.
My dad went through this.
My mom went through this.
And thank you.
It's amazing how many lives cancer has touched.
Oh, it's just awful.
It is really something.
The response is just overwhelming.
Plus, thanks for filling things out.
We have a mailer coming out later.
What?
What does that mean?
A mailer?
Oh, we got Jack Ma.
Jelly of the month clip.
You know what?
I do want to mention one of the very first comments we got.
I believe it was a Twitter reply.
I could look it up and mention his name, but maybe I shouldn't.
But he said, the timing of this is amazing.
I'm sitting in the chair at the hospital receiving chemotherapy right now.
And I just got the notification about Bob's podcast launch.
And I'm so grateful.
Thank you for doing this.
And it just was so touching.
And it made me feel like, gosh, you know, we're sitting here, just the three of us talking
and we don't think about the people that are out there going to be listening or having
listened already, and it's touching them and making a difference in their lives.
It's just unbelievable.
I spoke to a buddy who said that the most powerful message he got was that Bob caught
his early.
Yes, I did.
Yes.
And that very lucky that that message is universal.
And you know, as we've said, we've heard we've all heard that early detection, early detection.
But boy, oh, boy, it's true.
It sure is.
I mean, go to your doctor.
We have, for the most part, a guarantee they're going to get rid of this.
And it's all because we caught it early.
I also had comments say we're a little surprised that it was as funny as you've made it.
Right, right.
And I said, you know, I've been Bob's writing partner for 35 years.
There aren't many topics that are off limits when you've got a good joke, right?
I know.
Speaking of good jokes, should I should I share?
OK, my my brother in law, Rex, has been on occasion sending me jokes trying to keep me
in good moods.
And you know, a lot of the jokes I've heard, some I have not.
This is one I had not heard before.
So I'll share it with you now.
All right.
Oh, boy.
What's the difference between a chickpea and a red kidney bean?
I don't know.
I've never had a red kidney bean on my face.
Now, that is very funny.
I know I read that.
That is brilliant.
Thank you, Rex.
That is brilliant.
Thank you very, very much.
Wow.
And it's hard to find.
I told Bob it's hard to find a joke joke that Bob hasn't already heard.
You know, that is when people tell you a joke like that, your mind starts racing.
I'm trying to call her.
You've already solved it.
Oh, sure.
No, I didn't see that one coming at all.
Neither when I read it.
Wow.
Thank you, Rex.
Attaboy, Rex.
So it's been 30 days.
We're earning our explicit.
And also speaking of the podcast, when we were doing, I guess, all the essentials you
need to put a podcast out, which is photographs, I guess, bios.
And Becky and I were looking at each other going, you know what?
It looks like we're actually writing our obituaries.
It does.
Remember when we were collaborating on Whit Grayson and describing your career and your
interests?
It does seem somewhat posthumous.
Yes.
I feel like we could use any of those as our obituary.
Like if we all three get killed in the bus.
I hope not too soon.
No.
But it's very odd when you have to write something about yourself.
Yeah.
It's hard to do.
So go to the website and read them.
Now you've really got me worried.
You've got me worried.
I know.
Is there something missing?
And just in case, God forbid something happens to me, would you put insert decent bowler
in mine?
Yeah, we can actually go back and fix that.
I mean, come on.
All right.
But are you?
I know.
No.
But it's been 30 days, I think, since we did our last broadcast and we were at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway waiting for the race.
We broadcast the day before the race took place.
We got to ring those bells.
Ring the bells and I actually had enough energy to go to the race and watch Joseph Newgarden
win the race and it was a very, very enjoyable weekend for me and the family.
And that Bob was able to accomplish that, I think, was just an enormous goal.
Did it wipe you out?
It did.
It wiped him out.
You guys went out there Wednesday to camp through Monday?
Yes.
We were there for five days.
And even though it's luxury camping, there's work.
It's hot.
And you're entertaining guests.
Oh, yeah.
There was quite a few folks.
Yeah, hosting.
But it was very enjoyable.
I'm glad I did it.
Good.
I was totally exhausted.
I'll bet.
When we got home, I mean, I don't think I did a whole lot.
No, no.
In fact, one day our grandson was here and Bob was, I don't know what you do.
Like you sleep on the couch.
He was laying on the couch, which you rarely see.
I mean, Bob does not lay down on the couch.
And he was zonked out and Andrew came into the room and he said, Grandma, it looks like
grandpa has a dead battery.
Yes.
And I did.
I mean, I was drained completely.
He had to recharge for quite a long time after the track.
Because it just five days of camping takes it out of you if you don't have cancer.
Regardless.
So.
Right.
But we made it home and it was great.
That's when I didn't have to start.
I didn't have to follow calories and protein again.
I was going to ask that.
I thought that regimen is.
We didn't know for sure if we were going to have to.
I was still counting everything.
Becky got a hold of the dietitian asking if we needed to continue.
And she said not as much as we had.
Reduce your calories.
But main thing is to keep my weight.
You know, don't be losing weight like crazy.
And I lost a few pounds, but I'm still doing all right.
OK.
It's it's pleasant when you don't you don't have to force feed your your stomach.
It is nice because I don't have to count every calorie in every gram of protein.
But at the same time, I got into a routine and I loved it.
I loved monitoring everything.
And I got to add and use my calculator and write everything down.
And then one day, boom, I wasn't doing that anymore.
And Bob was on his own.
Well, well, what?
How's that going, Bob?
Well, you know, you kind of fall back in your old ways.
Yes.
You know, so I'm.
Yeah, kind of.
I wasn't drinking the thousand gallons of water I was required every day.
Correct.
OK.
He wasn't hydrating.
Now, he doesn't.
I don't need to not affect my ice cream intake, though.
Good.
Now, we're going to have an argument right here at the table.
OK, let's go for it.
How's your water intake today, Bob?
Today, it's Gatorade.
No, no water.
So, oh, see, he's supposed to be having water.
I know.
And Gatorade.
So almost every day I say, have you had any water today?
Maybe you should have a bottle of water.
And I don't want to bug him.
I don't want to write him.
I'll have one before I go to bed.
Oh, boy.
Not to be argumentative, but I know I know if you have coke or coffee, that's dehydrated.
Right.
But I thought Gatorade was just as good.
It is.
And they say that I do have to keep my electrical electrolytes up.
OK.
And Gatorade's fine.
Yeah.
But he didn't drink water consistently for several days.
Several years, actually.
Well, in the past, we've talked about that.
No, no.
He hates water, but he got used to it and he enjoyed it when his throat was burning
from the from all the treatment.
It was the most soothing drink I had.
He drank it a lot.
And then as soon as they said, you don't have to.
Well, a lot of the pain and everything else disappeared.
And all of a sudden I didn't need that.
That drink to soothe my throat.
So by not hydrating as effectively, OK, we went down a new road, didn't we, Bob?
Which roads that I don't know this.
The road.
Say it out loud.
Oh, oh, the back pain road.
He went down the back pain road.
Yes.
I had.
Well, this during this 30 days of absence, we've had a lot of things happen.
One.
Yes.
We celebrated Becky's birthday.
Yes.
We do it differently than celebrating Bob's birthday.
That is correct.
Mine is much more enjoyable.
Longtime listeners.
No, we don't have to say no.
And many people still celebrate with me.
But I had tests scheduled for my PET scan and it was on the 21st of January.
My wife's birthday is the 20th of January.
June of June.
I'm sorry.
June.
I'm lost.
Right in June.
And I had to prep for this PET scan on Becky's birthday.
So I couldn't have foods and like go out for a nice meal.
I couldn't make anything for him.
So we went out.
Eat.
I planned it all.
So we went out early and celebrated her birthday with family and friends.
I think it was on your birthday with that.
We actually went to dinner.
Maybe the day.
It was the day afterwards.
OK.
So all of a sudden we're enjoying ourselves.
And then I all of a sudden start getting these very bad back pains.
We're all gathered at the table.
All of our family enjoy in the night.
And the pains were just they're very uncomfortable.
It's very uncomfortable.
And it lasts for a couple of days.
The pain moved from my lower back to my upper back and to the stomach.
Well that's concerning.
And it was it had Becky on edge wondering what's going on.
She thought it was cancer spreading.
I just assumed because we were leading up to this PET scan that we were going to see
light up.
You know areas.
I'm like he has cancer on his spine.
OK.
Well now we're going to cross a new bridge.
Here we go.
I was just prepared.
I wasn't depressed or fearful really.
But it was nagging at me because Bob was so uncomfortable and so tired and struggling.
And so it wasn't like you'd hurt your back.
No no.
But it got to a point where I actually had to call our family physician to check out
what the heck was going on.
So I went to my family doctor and he did a couple of tests and we determined that it
was constipation.
Lo and behold.
Really.
Yes.
Severe constipation.
And we learned about water.
Well we also learned about a particular chart.
Yes we did.
While we were doing this while we were doing this someone I think it was a couple of days
after I actually got moving again.
Someone said well have you checked it with the stool tool stool tool.
Have you heard of this.
It's a thing.
Never heard of it.
It's the Bristol stool chart.
It really is.
It's such a thing.
If you go on Google and look it up the Bristol stool chart.
Pardon me.
And it has about I think seven or eight different categories.
Little milk duds.
Little you know.
So it's like when you go used to go in to get a haircut.
You saw different pictures on the wall.
It is.
Yeah I'll do the number five.
Yeah yeah yeah.
Exactly like that.
Because they said when we went to the finally went to the nurse at the cancer center she
was asking about this severe constipation and how Bob had been suffering and and how
are you doing now.
And he said well just normal now.
And she said normal is different for everyone.
And we all think normal right.
You just go well everything's normal.
Well then she pulls out this stool tool.
We're like what.
You should check the stool tool.
It's like OK I didn't know this existed.
But yeah there is a little chart a big chart of different like animated and do they know
they don't smile.
They don't smile.
What's that little guy on Saturday Night Live.
Mr. Oh yeah.
Mr. Bill.
But then there's Mr. Hankey on that.
That's who I was thinking of.
Yeah.
No no no.
Nothing like that.
All right.
Well yeah it was like Mr. Hankey.
But I was surprised when that when she asked about the stool tool and I thought oh boy
Tom Griswold would.
I mean I have never heard that.
Wouldn't you think we would have heard of that.
I know of all people.
I think we should frame a stool tool chart and give it to Tom for Christmas.
Or put it in one of your bathrooms.
Put it in a bathroom over the urinal or something.
Yeah.
Right.
That would be very funny.
I don't think so.
That would be a good memento of cancer treatment.
Well digressing as Bob and I always said you don't go to another guy's house and do number
two.
No no no no no no.
That is a breach of friendship.
That is a home field thing only.
Is that called an away game?
Is that what you used to say?
Home field only.
You don't do that.
Well away games are you never.
Nope.
No.
What if you have to?
Do you leave the party?
Well if you can.
You know you can drive down to the cast.
You don't.
I mean how many times do you go to a party.
You don't.
Not knowing that you're going to have an emergency situation.
That's very true.
I would never.
It kind of reminds me one time Lynn.
My sister Lynn needed help going in and out of the little potty room you know and I when
she was more able.
We had a party and Lynn had to go to the bathroom so I walked her in.
Got her all set up and shut the door.
Pretty soon she hollers for me that she's done and I went in to get her and she said
what are you going to do about that guy?
I said what guy?
And she goes that guy in the pink shirt.
I said what?
She goes he walked right in on me scared me to death.
He had a pink shirt.
See that guy with the pink shirt.
I was like I don't know who it was.
Somebody walked in on Lynn because I didn't lock the door.
During a party.
The door was closed but maybe he didn't knock or she was scared and didn't say anything
but it became kind of.
Maybe he thought it was a coat closet.
Who knows.
And it could have.
It became one of those kind of family legends where over time we would just be like hey
Bob what are you going to do about that guy in the pink shirt?
Maybe it's like Bigfoot, the Mothman, the guy in the pink shirt.
He might not have existed.
Oh I know.
But you know bathroom trash.
So the stool tool huh?
Yes.
I was quite surprised.
Dehydration caused the issue.
Yes.
Water.
Yes indeed.
Okay.
And it does.
And so all of you out there please listen to me.
I can be a little bossy but it's with a good intention.
Drink your water.
Yes.
Flour, cheese.
Fluids.
Bob.
Fluids.
What you did for the first 65 years of your life.
I know.
Maybe it all led up to this.
I don't know.
Who knows.
Do you drink water with?
Yes.
Just a glass of water.
In the morning during the day I don't pound it like Bob had to.
Like you know I don't.
What was it 64 ounces a day?
No it said 80 ounces a day.
I don't even know how you do it.
I probably drink 24 ounces a day.
But they said 80 ounces a day of non-caffeinated.
Non-caffeine.
Yep.
And he got accustomed to his caffeine free diet Pepsi and that's fine.
I don't turn my nose up to that at all.
I love Pop.
That's fine.
And I'm fine with him to drink Gatorade but I do want to see that water once in a while.
It really worries me when he's not because he's still fighting cancer.
It wasn't the treatment that built up and caused that issue.
Well yes it did.
I mean that is a side effect.
It was all part of what they called cooking off the grill.
When all of the treatments ended they said there would be residual stuff going on for
up to 30 days.
And we've passed that 30 days.
It was one of his worst side effects though.
And it was a side effect of one of the drugs he was on.
And that's just natural but the way to counteract that is to drink water to try to not get that
side effect.
And so the side effect came because I'm going to blame Bob for this because he wasn't drinking
enough water.
It's a combo effect.
Yeah.
So residual and then you tapered back, no pun intended, on your water.
And so it was.
And the chemo was still in him or whatever.
So yeah.
There ought to be a medicine for that like Haley's chemo or something like that.
I mean something.
Oh there is a medicine.
It's called Miralax which is what he took.
I've heard that name.
Thankfully you don't have to have it in your closet.
Many people take that with Gatorade.
Large amounts of it for their colonoscopies and stuff.
Oh okay.
It will soften everything up.
You know, boy I bet everybody's happy they tuned into this mess.
This is wonderful isn't it?
So let's talk about the other things that happened in this 30 days.
Oh yeah.
To segue, are you feeling?
Oh I feel wonderful.
Oh yeah.
He feels normal.
I do.
Normal whichever normal is on your chart.
But in the 30 days I still had some pre-surgery tests that we had to take.
And just for people that don't know, I do sadly from experience.
What is a PET scan?
A PET scan is when they inject you with a dye.
It takes 45 minutes for this dye to go through your body and then they run me through one
of those open-ended MRI machines and they scan what they call from eyes to thighs.
Wow.
All of the things going on.
I didn't know that.
I think we're going to talk about it at the end.
Oh sorry okay.
Because I don't want to talk about it.
It was so oppressive leading up to that if you know what I mean.
Not fear really, just it was a wait.
What's the unknown?
Yeah the unknown of it.
It is the unknown.
But we'll talk about that at the end of this.
That's what a PET scan is, they load you up with dye and then they scan you.
It took about I think 45 minutes for the dye to work its way through the body and then
another half an hour in the MRI machine.
And then I had a pulmonary test, a venous duplex test.
Which is an ultrasound of your leg and.
Yeah they come up there.
We went to the heart hospital for this.
We went up to the waiting room.
And while we're in the waiting room.
I'm going to have to wait with Bob.
So I'm going to have to wait for him I should say.
So I have my earbuds.
So I'm sitting there looking around checking out the other people in the waiting room.
And all of a sudden Becky gets up.
I dropped my earbud.
She gets on her knees in front of me.
Was it your birthday Bob?
It wasn't.
And I look around the room and I go not here.
See.
Oh my god.
This is what I have to put up with.
But he did make me laugh out loud.
And I had to dig down in there and find my earbud.
I found it.
So we went in for this duplex test.
Oh wait the ultrasound tech came out to get us.
And we both stood up as we always do.
And he's going to walk away with her.
And he gives me a kiss goodbye.
And then she says oh you can come back with him.
This is the first time out of everything that Becky's been able to go in.
I've never gotten to go back.
To a test procedure of some sort.
Which I found interesting.
But then we're walking toward the little treatment room.
And she says are you two newlyweds?
I'm like what?
No we're not actually.
But we had a smooch and we were holding hands walking down the hall.
And evidently that's unusual.
My guess.
Not for real.
I always held Deb's hand when we go back.
I mean I know.
Right.
Were you newlyweds?
I know.
So but anyhow we go in the room.
She led us back there.
I had to take off my pants.
Leaving my underwear on.
Dropping his drawers.
I had to get on the table.
They put a paper blanket over me.
Every other treatment he had these nice warm blankets.
Would you like a warm blanket?
A paper blanket.
Like a bump?
Like this.
It sounded like this.
What was that going to do?
I don't know.
But I guess just covered me.
Just privacy I guess.
He's so modest.
It was odd.
It was just odd.
So she came in and she starts doing the ultrasound.
Right up in the area here.
I mean way up there.
In the groin-ish.
This is not bad.
So I jumped up with my camera.
Because I thought I gotta take this picture for wit.
So I'm down at the foot of the bed.
She's gonna send you a picture of another.
Of a woman.
This woman had her hand up in her box.
Stand up my pants.
So I jumped up.
Go to the end of the bed with my camera or phone.
And I'm holding it up.
And I said oh I've gotta get a picture of this for wit.
And that tech turned around and said no!
No no no!
Absolutely not!
No photos.
And I said oh it's from the back.
We won't see you.
No no this is HIPAA.
I could lose my job.
I'm telling you that HIPAA rears its ugly head.
I guess it does.
I never would have thought of that.
No it was private for us to show you.
I felt like I'm gonna go look what they do at the hospital or something.
But I stopped and sat back down.
I was a little disappointed because it was very funny.
It was a funny photo.
It really was.
It would have been hilarious wit.
Oh well.
Sorry you didn't get that photo.
This is why you sign up for Medicare part Z.
Z.
Well then about halfway through she's doing this ultrasound all up and down his legs looking
at the deep veins or something.
I don't know it's pre-surgery test.
And then she just starts laughing.
She's like you know?
And she's laughing and she said I've never experienced someone wanting to take our picture
when I'm running this test.
I'm like well you've never had Bob before.
So that's just to see if you're circulating.
I guess the veins are moving if I am you know circulations good.
It's such a big surgery.
It's not like when I had my gallbladder out.
They didn't have to do any a bunch of pre-tests or anything.
This is such a major open body surgery that they're checking his heart, his lungs and
his veins and everything.
They just have to do that.
But I just thought it was funny that she laughed and we made her laugh.
It's done that she I guess she could lose her job I suppose.
I would think.
I don't know under what grounds.
I don't know what the actual HIPAA rules are.
I don't either.
They're obviously very strict.
But when we went back to the radiation area and our friend what was her name Bob?
Paula and Michelle.
Paula and Michelle are in there.
And Bob was a little bit nervous when we went in for that.
That was for the PET scan that Paula might not be there.
I said I wonder if this HIPAA thing is a little bigger and broader than we think and that
Paula would lose her job because she actually attended our podcast.
Remember when we talked about it?
Not the case.
Because we invited her.
And that's what she said.
You can talk about it all you want.
She said I cannot talk about it to anyone that I know Bob or that I'm aware that he's
having cancer treatment.
And she doesn't talk about it.
She honors that.
We are the ones who invited her to be present.
And it worked out.
But Bob was just a little bit trepidatious about it.
And in this 30 days we found out a good friend of ours, comedian Tim Kavanaugh had a major
major pancreatic surgery that I was not aware of.
I saw that.
Had you seen it?
And it was something.
He had and after I read about it it kind of bugged me.
Because he had such horrible complications that it kind of frightened me about my upcoming
surgery.
Understandable.
He had the Whipple procedure.
Yes, he had pancreatic cancer and he had a bunch of stuff that they had to do that it
required him to stay in the hospital for almost a month.
And rehab and all kinds of things.
And then he had rehab after that.
And his wonderful wife Chris was his total support.
They've had a great result.
He's back working, doing stand up.
Yes, he overcame all of the cancer and he is back functioning as a normal human being
and he's actually performing on stage.
So look up Tim Kavanaugh and read about his journey.
And I think there's a couple of great videos out there that he has shared and worth investigating
for encouragement.
But at the time Bob first heard about it, we were early into this, just finished treatment.
And it scared Bob.
Well, I understand.
Because of his long, all the complications.
I have no idea what will happen.
And it just kind of scared me a little bit going, okay, I hope this is that one case
scenario thing that I don't have to worry about.
Didn't you say Saturday you've never had a surgery?
You've not.
No, I've never had a surgery.
Except for the vasectomy.
Right.
But they didn't open them up, did they?
They opened it a little, they got in there and they pulled that macaroni out.
I felt it.
And snipped it.
So yeah, but that's the only surgery.
I would say for about three or four days it brought Bob down to kind of a, I wouldn't
say he was depressed, but he was afraid and a little bit down for a few days.
And then I was down, we just had a few days of kind of a little bit of doom around the
house.
And I talked to Bob's brother Peter who's always encouraging and he's having his own
long many years cancer battle.
And he said, just remember when you have a bad day, there's always going to be a better
day tomorrow.
Just ride this day and know that tomorrow will be better.
And it helped us a lot.
He's always encouraging.
Yep.
And Pete's been going through his cancer treatments alone.
All by himself.
Which is so, I can't imagine.
No.
He's been kind of isolated.
Yes, he has to be geographically.
Driving himself.
He lives out in the middle of the boonies in the Poconos.
He drives himself to his treatments.
Bless his heart.
He comes home and hits the sack for I don't know how long, several days while it knocks
him out.
And then he kind of rebounds for a couple of weeks and goes back in for the next chemo.
But he does it all by himself.
Occasionally he arranges rides for himself, but most of the time he's doing it alone.
And we realize many of you out there who are listening are, I don't know how many.
May have to do it alone.
Yep.
And you can do it.
But I say still, gather friends if you can.
Gather loved ones.
Somebody who can cheer you on and stand behind you and be your team.
Because it made an enormous difference for us to have people like Whit still cheering
us on every step of the way.
And now all of those listeners that we know are out there cheering you on.
I know.
I can't thank you all.
It's just overwhelming.
Yes it is.
But it's just encourage one another.
If you know someone who's going through this, especially if they're going through it alone,
step up.
Give them a call and say, can I drive you?
I had driven a really dear friend of ours to her cancer treatments because she was going
through it alone.
And I drove her, but you know what?
I didn't know what I was doing.
I dropped her off at the door.
That's what she said.
Just drop me off at the door and come back in whatever, 45 minutes.
But I didn't realize then because I wasn't aware of what it really involves.
I should have gone in and sat with her in the waiting room and been waiting for her
in the waiting room when she came back out.
But I didn't.
I drove her.
We chatted in the car, dropped her off, picked her up, chatted in the car, took her home.
I feel like I'm so much more aware now.
Well, and another thing, you said this a while back that they told you stay off the internet.
Oh, absolutely.
And we have.
Because that's going to be the worst case scenario.
Always.
And a corollary to that is when you're sitting in the waiting room, don't assume if someone
is in worse shape than you that that's going to be you.
Right.
Boy, we did early on.
No, it's human nature.
Yeah, we did.
We saw skinny guys with no hair and we're like, oh.
So you go back pain.
Uh-oh.
Yep.
Oh, for sure.
It's human nature.
I wish we could just automatically assume the best, but we don't.
That's not in human.
Not in my nature.
I mean, I tend to be a bit of a Pollyanna, but when we're in the middle of this with
Bob, I'm really not.
You know, we've had fun with this, but cancer is not a lighthearted word.
No, it isn't.
And that's one of the reasons we're doing this.
It's not all gloom and doom.
It's something that you can survive.
It's something that you can do with laughter.
Yes.
You don't have to be depressed the whole time.
But we also don't want to minimize it.
No, but you're going to have your up days and your down days.
That is for sure.
There's no way you're always going to be feeling great.
And there's also days, there's no reason to feel depressed the whole time either.
I mean, you can live your life as they told us when we were going through these treatments.
The first day, he said.
Live your life.
Yes.
And that's what we did.
Yep.
So surgery is the next step?
It is the next step.
Is there anything else?
I had my final pre-surgery test today.
Okay.
Oh, okay.
So they did a, I forgot the word.
They checked my heart with, what do they do with the babies?
Ultrasound.
Right, right.
Man, I'm losing my brain.
What do they do with the babies?
Well, again, that's another thing that you've probably heard those words.
Chemobrain.
We hear people say it all the time.
Oh, I have chemobrain.
Mine is age.
Sorry.
But no, you can become, it's not just the medicine that's in you.
But it's also just the process that we're going through.
There's a lot of stuff you're learning.
It's so distracting and so much going on that it is easy to forget things.
And I keep telling Bob this one phrase, put it on my tab, because I'll drop things, break
things, forget things, missing Lin, whatever.
Things just add up and I just say, put it on my tab.
I'll deal with it later.
Put it on my tab.
Because we're just distracted, I guess, would be.
Oh, very distracted.
But we're going day to day with everything.
I'm feeling better.
Good.
But, of course, I'm not being attacked by poisons right now.
We think you're not cooking off the grill now.
I think you're finished.
No, I think that's all done.
You think it's probably processed through?
Believe so.
Okay.
And his hair, because they told us too, the last time we saw him, they're like, well,
some people would say, nope, it's not going to fall out now.
And then someone else said, well, you do cook off the grill, so be aware.
It could still residual hit you.
But it did not.
It never did.
It did not fall out.
Never did.
He got so lucky that way.
I had the heart ultrasound today, which is the last pre-surgery test.
And I guess everything looked all right.
Takes a day or two to find that out.
But they will, after this test, they will now give us a permanent date.
Okay.
That's what I was going to ask.
A surgery date.
Okay.
The doctor we met with, all of the doctors after our PET scan, and they said that we
will probably do it middle of July.
Okay.
That's what we're hoping.
So we're not sure what day, but it'll be mid-July.
And it's funny because a lot of our friends are inviting us to do things or putting things
on the schedule.
Wip.
Yeah, I know.
And keep saying, you know what?
Our life is on hold.
We don't even have a surgery date.
We don't know.
And we don't know how long that recovery is.
And so we're looking at probably late fall before we can start kind of getting back to
a real life.
We just don't know.
Yeah.
But I mean, I asked the doctor, the surgeon, that how long after the surgery can I play
golf?
Okay.
And he said, maybe mid to late September.
So two months.
Which felt encouraging.
Yeah.
Well, and that's stringent.
It's stringent.
And hitting and turning.
Yeah.
Because his belly's going to be cut open in two different places.
Yeah.
That's probably physical more than just...
Yeah.
But I think it's mostly the muscles underneath that need to heal more than the actual surgery
scars.
Yeah.
But...
We do feel a little more educated now.
Before, it was like, we don't even know.
We just don't know what's going to happen.
Did they tell you how long the surgery is?
Do you have any idea?
Yes.
It's about six hours.
So it's...
It's a big one.
It's a long surgery.
And they keep using the word, this is a big surgery.
And I don't know, when you hear that from a surgeon, that seems kind of important.
This is a big surgery.
And they're not taking your tonsils out.
Right.
Or even my gallbladder, which when I had mine out 30 years ago was a, to me, a big surgery.
As laypeople, we think of the game Operation.
Of course.
He's going to look like that guy.
Yeah.
I mean...
That's what my eyes are going to look like as I go into that room.
I guarantee it.
Yeah.
But you know, again, they probably have to find everything.
It probably takes them a while to...
Well, they've done all the photos.
Apparently all of my organs are where they're supposed to be, which is very good.
Cut you open.
Yeah.
Yep.
Dig around, as I say.
Yeah.
Poke around.
That feels like an esophagus.
Yeah.
Students over here, which one do you think it is?
I did ask the doctor.
I didn't challenge the doctor like I did the radiologist, but I did ask him if this could
be done laparoscopy, as a laparoscopy.
Which is just a...
The tiny little holes in the cameras.
And he said no.
No.
He said no.
Okay.
Because they're going to remove a lot of his stomach and esophagus, even for a very small...
This is a very small tumor.
They want the margins.
They don't want...
They want to get everything.
So they're going to take about half of his stomach and half of his esophagus.
That's about the call they made, yes.
That's a lot.
And then move the stomach up to mid-chest area, I guess.
It's going to be horrible.
More towards the back, they said.
Okay.
Yeah.
But I said, now, will my insides feel different to me?
He goes, no, you won't notice a thing.
And I wanted to know if they were going to crack any ribs to do it.
And he said no.
No bones.
Because that's scary.
That's a big deal.
Because they're going in up under his arm, kind of on the side.
Is this a balcony seating opportunity?
I know.
I would like to be in the gallery.
Do they have a glass, you know, med students?
I don't believe they have what they call the surgery theater.
Yes, that's what we want.
No, we don't.
Actually, I wouldn't be able to handle that.
You pass out.
I pass out.
I would pass out so fast.
Yes, good point.
Yeah, we don't want that.
No, not at all.
And again, just thinking now, probably due to HIPAA, that's gone.
You know, it's very possible.
You used to see those shows where...
But it was Hollywood.
I think that was...
I think it was med school though.
So if you're in med school, those are students watching in the theater.
Those humans down there gave permission to be...
So the med school, the junior med school couldn't put that on StubHub?
I don't think so.
Okay.
I just wondered.
I don't think so.
Okay.
All right.
I don't know.
Okay.
So we did the PET scan, and it took a little while to get the results.
But the results came back very, very well.
Phenomenal.
That's very good.
Fantastic.
So we sat down, we had to go back through and see Paula and Michelle go into the room
waiting for our doctors.
There's a team of doctors, including our radiologist, our quarterback, as they call them, who you
know, and the surgeon, the nurse practitioner, who's our navigator, and all these people
came in, and no one gave us any indication of what we were about to see.
So I was likening it to if you were on trial and the jury comes in, the jury never looks
at the defendant.
They don't give any indication of whether it's guilty or not guilty.
And I'm just imagining, of course, the worst, thinking his back is going to light up because
he had all that back pain and fatigue and nothing lit up.
And the doctor showed us side by side images of how it was before and how it is now.
And it was a beautiful thing.
Isn't that amazing?
It truly is.
That just gave me a chill.
Oh, it was so beautiful.
I haven't heard you say it that way.
Now they'll be able to go in and just take that area out and rebuild me inside and life
goes on.
Well, I just, I wanted to just reiterate how joyful that moment was.
I can't imagine.
Because it was a weight that we both walked in carrying.
And when they said this is an amazing result, everything is looking just peachy.
And it was like, whoosh.
And I couldn't think of another moment in my life where I had that because I've never
been on trial.
But another moment where I was just waiting and waiting.
And then the grand relief of, oh, gosh, okay, this is good.
That's a great analogy because they walk in with poker faces.
I've been on many juries and you do not look at the defendant.
You don't give him a thumbs up.
No, you don't have the one guy winking at you.
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
We got you.
So no, but it was a tremendous feeling.
And then congratulations.
Yeah, it was quite a relief to know that they had got it all.
And I actually said that to our radiologist.
Well, it appears you did hit the right spot.
And he did.
Yeah, got it all.
And now we move forward and take out.
And then all the questions come about the actual surgery, the hospital stay, the logistics
of the hospital stay that we we have yet to find out.
Really?
I mean, we still have questions and a long stay.
Yeah.
Becky was worried about not being able to stay in the room with me.
What did they say about that?
Well, I asked and they were kind of hemming and hawing like, well, I think you ought to
be there'll be a little chair in there.
But it's about it's not about whether there's a spot for me.
It's about whether I'm allowed to stay.
Is he in the ICU?
We don't know all those.
Oh, okay.
So you don't know you.
I don't know that they let just a regular person like me stay.
I don't know.
I've never been in the ICU with someone.
I stayed with Lynn in her room, but that's like a hospital room.
Right.
So I just don't know.
We're going to find out.
But Bob said when I said, I don't know, will there be a place for me to sleep?
And I said, I know where I'm sleeping.
Right.
I mean, I got a bed.
He's got no words.
I don't know where you're going to be.
Right.
He has no.
They're not going to say anything if you want to stay the night and stay as long as you
want to.
So I'm figuring he's going to be well drugged up, which I'm hoping for.
I would imagine so.
Yeah.
And so he's not, he doesn't have those logistical worries at all.
Those are all coming down to me.
And those are things like prior we arranged.
Actually, this is before the PET scan.
We arranged to have eye appointments and dentist appointments to get things all covered.
Oh yeah.
Okay.
And in fact, Bob has an issue with one of his teeth and we want to get that done before
surgery.
Right.
So I have no chance of any kind of infections or problems.
I want to get our bills paid and our, you know, uh, why would we pay bills?
We don't do that now.
See, I mean, like just practical things around the house.
I want to get all done because when he does come home from the hospital, we're going to
be focusing on him getting better, getting better.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm sure I won't be able to walk around the house as freely as I want to, but it's
going to be slower.
He's not going to be able to help me.
Not that he does anyway.
Oh, what?
Oh, wow.
Oh, you know I'm seasoned.
That was a joke.
When I walked in, you were on the couch, Becky, resting and he was running the sweeper.
I heard it.
I know.
Scrubbing the pan.
Yeah.
No, that's, I'm sorry.
But we're just trying to get a few things accomplished ahead of time.
Seeing the grandkids as much as possible because afterward.
You probably won't be able to lift.
No, I bet not.
And do any kind of.
Somebody told me that I won't be able to lift anything over, I think, 10 pounds.
Okay.
And for an extended period of time.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
So I don't know how I'm going to urinate.
But I would surmise you're not going to come home in a wheelchair.
Nope, he won't.
You will be able, you will be ambulatory so you can walk.
Yeah, his legs aren't getting operated on.
No, I mean, I would think you'd be sort of okay.
It's going to hurt to laugh.
Right?
It hurts to laugh when you have your belly.
Well, then I'll come over.
Oh, no.
You're banned from the house.
No, I'm going to say.
Yeah, so that'll be the tough thing is I'll not be able to really.
And then the food.
Laugh, cough, whatever.
Because as we said, they're taking out esophagus and stomach.
And I will be on a feeding tube for about seven days.
To get you, yeah, because you probably.
To heal that joint that they're putting in a new joint for the esophagus and stomach.
I wondered this after we saw each other Saturday.
I wondered if your taste will change.
I know, I don't know.
It has already.
Mine's been poor all my life, so why.
No, I mean food, tasting food.
You have good taste in ladies.
I do have ladies and ladies.
Yes, but no, I mean, because we went from not drinking water because he didn't like
the taste to all of a sudden it didn't bother you.
Right.
A few other things.
His taste did change after chemo and radiation.
I can't think of them off the top of my head.
Not much.
A couple things.
And who knows what it'll be like after surgery.
I just was curious.
Yeah.
And I asked the surgeon if it would change my voice with the esophagus shortening.
And he said it shouldn't affect the voice at all.
Unless he hits this one particular nerve, which I'm like, shut up.
Which is going to be nowhere near.
He's going to be nowhere near it, but it is a side effect they have to mention.
You know, they have to tell you all the terrible things that could happen, which then I'll
just ruminate on.
But only if he hits this one particular nerve that is not even in that tube.
It's a remote possibility.
He said like 3% of people.
Highly unlikely.
So if it changed his voice, that would bum him out because he sings and writes and talks.
We have to start the next podcast with you being a soprano.
Oh!
Hi!
Well, it happened.
That's a really good one.
We have to.
And our next podcast will be after the surgery.
So we'll, I guess, update you.
If you don't hear the next episode, you'll know things didn't go well.
Oh, stop it!
Bob!
Oh gosh, see now those are...
I don't see now.
Don't do that.
Let me tell something fun.
Go ahead.
Something fun.
So while we were kind of feeling down, which I mentioned, and it came and went in little
waves.
We'd feel great, then we'd feel not so great, then we'd feel great again.
And we were feeling not so great.
And I said, hey honey, I have an idea.
What do you think of pretending...
Pretending what?
Pretending we're on vacation because we can't go on any of our Junebug journeys.
We can't take the camper out.
We can't go do stuff.
So we did a one day trip.
We did a one day pretend we're going on vacation.
So we got in the truck.
I didn't know this.
Where'd you go?
We drove to the beautiful little village or burg of Nashville, Indiana.
Beautiful.
Just there last night.
We got in the truck and I said, well, I don't care where we go.
And Bob said, well, he got online and kind of looked at the right distance.
And he said, what if we go have lunch in Nashville?
Like yes.
Hour and a half.
So we drove there to have lunch.
And I had no idea that everything's closed on the...
It was a Monday or a Tuesday.
Everything closes on Monday in Nashville.
They're all closed.
All the restaurants.
I had no idea.
Although we did find one.
There were a handful open, but the majority of them...
The shops were closed.
The shops and a lot were shopped.
Nashville, Indiana, for those that don't know, is like a very mini Gatlinburg.
It's great.
It's an artist colony.
There aren't rides, but artists...
And it's full of log cabins.
Full of log cabins and...
Legit log cabins.
Full of FUD shops.
Yes.
Closed.
Which I wonder if there's a fudge tool.
No, probably not.
Oh, there you go.
You can put that on your stool tool.
Where you go, what size do you want?
Fudge facts is what you want.
Fudge facts.
That's right.
There's the alliteration.
I was looking for fudge facts.
But honestly, it really was a very uplifting day because we listened to our book on tape,
which we do on our journeys anyhow.
We had a Reacher book.
Ooh, very big fun.
Jack Reacher, yep.
Jack Reacher.
I love a Jack Reacher.
So we listened to our book on the way down.
We listened to the book on the way back and it just felt like we were driving back to
a campground.
Did you feel like you could get rid of the...
Yes.
Oh yeah.
It was just great.
We just pretended.
We didn't think about it at all during the day.
It was like that first week leading up to treatment before we ever started treatment.
Bob said, this week is my free week.
I want to be the guy who doesn't have cancer.
And he golfed and he golfed and he golfed.
And that's how it felt.
Like, oh, we had a free day to literally do whatever we wanted.
We didn't have responsibilities or tests or treatment.
It was great.
So I'll encourage anybody out there who's going through this, when you do have a free
day, make it something special.
Even if you're just at home, say, okay, today we're going to watch movies all day or something
that's just different out of your routine.
It gets you out of your own head.
Yeah.
It does.
Oh yeah.
It was great.
And even though some of the stuff was closed, we really enjoyed ourselves.
So I'm glad we did it.
Hey, we were going to mention your specific drugs because we had a couple of listeners
ask about that.
Oh, yeah.
Remember that?
Yes.
So it was Taxol.
Yes.
These are the drugs, the chemo drugs.
Yeah.
Taxol and you have the other one.
Carboplatin.
Yeah.
Those were the two chemo drugs.
That I took and then radiation is radiation.
But those were the...
The zapping and all that.
Those were the big drugs.
And then people have asked and I don't know, I guess everybody has different drugs and
different timing.
I'm sure there are in different doses.
I'm hearing a lot about people who have their chemo once every three weeks.
They have it on a day and then it knocks them out for several days and then they kind of
build back up and then they go back in after three weeks.
Bob's was every week.
So each person...
It's all different.
...is different.
Yeah, it is.
I didn't know that.
I'm sure that's all related to...
Yeah, I think a lot of people think everyone does it the exact same way and they don't.
Right?
No, it's different doses, different amount of times where some people have been on chemo
for six months.
And it was not the case for us.
We do have some really close friends.
He's going through some chemo treatment and he said he and his wife have been listening
to the podcast.
He thought he was going to have to stop listening because we were making it sound a little too
easy because he wasn't having as easy of a time.
And he said, you're setting the bar awful high because his wife was laughing about the
fact that I'm basically babysitting Bob every second of the day.
And she's like, ah.
Ain't going to happen on this day.
And ain't going to happen at this house.
Sorry, pal.
So everybody is different and we got very fortunate.
And I'm assuming by your comments earlier that between now and the surgery, you still
like to hear from people.
Oh, sure.
Oh, please do write these notes.
Yeah, it's not reminder.
Thanks, Bob.
It's it's.
Yes.
Thanks for mentioning that.
Yes.
Because Bob is loving seeing those.
I do.
It's really nice to read the great words from and he really does.
He sees every single one.
One guy wrote and he said this actually moved me quite a bit when he said, long time listener,
very concerned about you.
You'll probably never see these words.
But and he went on and I thought, oh, heartbreak.
I want him to know that we read that we do.
We've read every email and every message that because they go to quite a bit of effort to
write this note.
We even had one listener write us poems.
He sent them in the mail.
Now, just beautiful poems.
People are being so thoughtful and it's just amazing.
It's amazing how they've responded.
Not anything we expected.
No, nothing like that.
I didn't.
We thought 20 people, 100.
I thought maybe a thousand folks might do it.
And just did you have any experience?
Expectation?
No, I because no, I had none.
I've never done anything like this.
You have no idea.
No, no, no.
And it hit.
We didn't mention it hit all of the local news.
Every single news site and news channels actually featured Bob's podcast launch because they
did it on the air.
And we have to thank Tom.
Oh, Tom.
He's been on the Tom show.
He was very gracious to let us let me come on the air and talk about it.
Tom has been brilliant.
He's a great man.
For those of you who think Tom is the reputation that they built over the 30 years on the air.
Aspag, I believe what you're looking for.
You know what?
He has been loving and kind and absolutely.
I know that.
But it's so manifested now in the middle of what Bob's going through that he's just he's
been brilliant.
Beautiful.
I thought the morning you were on the show, he was as good as I've ever heard it.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, it's good to be actually fun to visit the program again.
I wonder if it's something listeners can go back to and hear that.
I think but I don't I don't know.
I don't know how to do that.
That's high tech.
Right.
It's too well.
But it was a very excellent hour of radio.
Good day.
Fun hour with the boys and Christie.
Journey is almost at its end.
Yeah.
And it's been an interesting journey.
And we'll we'll do another I guess post op episode and let you know how everything went
and we'll close up this chapter of my life.
May I say one last thing?
Absolutely.
And I do respect HIPAA.
You couldn't get that photo, but Becky could do a reenactment.
Absolutely.
I have my phone camera right out here.
Paper blankets.
Yeah.
Paper blankets.
And when you said today, let's pretend I thought you were going to say I'm your nurse.
I mean, my mind did not.
No, she did not go to national.
Yeah, she is my nurse.
Oh, yeah.
That really surprises me when your mind went there.
I'm sorry.
Thank you all for downloading.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you.
It has been our pleasure to share our experience.
I don't know if you've enjoyed it or not, but I have.
We have.
And I just want to say I hate my partner.
I'm going to kill him.
Thanks for listening.
You've been listening to the Bob and Cancer Show.
Tune into our next episode as we continue to follow Bob's journey.
Bob Kvoin appears courtesy of Stool Tool.
Dual Tool if you're in doubt when it finally comes out.
This is Whit Grayson speaking.