Welcome to the Bob and Cancer Show. I hate my partner. I'm gonna kill him. Good for you.
It's week two of my cancer treatments. Yeah. If you didn't hear the first episode, I was diagnosed
with a stomach cancer. They're actually calling esophagus cancer. It's at the joint. Well, it's
both. It's the main cancer is actually in the stomach. It's at the EG joint. Whatever that is.
We're gonna talk about dope again. Speaking about joints, we will. That's a fact. So yeah,
this was a new week. I have the treatment. Monday is my chemo. Monday through Friday is my radiation.
I have this cancer that we're in the process of trying to eliminate. And it's a lot different
than I had imagined. Yeah. When I was first diagnosed with this. It's not as frightening
as I thought it would be. We have a week under. Well, now we have, you know. A week. Two weeks
under our belt. Mm-hmm. That's true. And we're much more educated about it. Less afraid. We
don't cry every day. Well, I might. She does. I don't. Honestly, I don't. It's usually kind of
happy cries or love cries. I'm not like afraid crying. Okay, good. What's looking at me like,
what are you? I mean, I rarely cry during a day. No. No. I just, I mean. You're a man. Bob doesn't
cry either. I cry for him. She does. She does all the crying. So. Yep. But there's right now,
there's nothing to cry about. Yeah. We're not afraid. No. I've been sailing through this with
great ease, actually. It's amazing. Great game plan. He's been a rock star. He's been a champ.
My. He's still heavy. Second treatment with the chemo treatment on Monday. Went as smooth as the
first one. Okay. We had a better view. Oh, really? Yes. And we had different personnel with us. Well,
you mean you brought your sister? It was the doubled shirt lift. That's the kind of view he's
looking for. We were on the opposite side of the building away from the dumpster. So we actually
had a nice street view. Still a hospital to look at. Still says emergency room. Yeah. We had a new
staff with us. Some very nice ladies who took very good care of me. Just fantastic. One of the young
ladies was pregnant. Well, we weren't sure. And well. You can't ask. No. No. I learned that
lesson. You can't ask anyone. I learned that lesson long ago. How'd you learn that lesson, Bob? Well,
I asked an Indianapolis Colts linebacker's wife when the baby was due. Oops. And she said, I had
it six months ago. Oh, Bob. That's just the worst. And I have. There's nothing you can do. You know,
you just crawl away into a corner and never ever, ever ask that question again the rest of your life.
I've heard people say that. Never. Even if it is so obvious. You still don't ask. Even if she's
delivering that baby. Don't ask. Don't ask. So my lovely wife. She was so great with child. A darling,
darling girl. I won't say her name, but just darling. Beautiful woman asks. It's different.
It's different. I would still be a little nervous. I eyed her a few times just to be certain before
I said anything. But I wanted to know. And she wanted me to ask because it's fun. She's pregnant.
She's proud. They're excited. Absolutely. My sons were adopted. I was never pregnant, but I'll bet
she was happy to talk about it and be like, wee-hee. Oh, absolutely. So I just said, when's your baby
due? And she's like, oh, yay. It's actually quite soon. Then she got to talk about it. She's about to go on maternity leave.
She was just a doll. Yeah, very nice lady. And it was just as smooth as the first week. Same thing.
Do the pre-drugs. Get you set up. The Benadryl. No ants in his pants. No ants in my pants. He got a little nappy in.
And you go through the full three and a half hours, four hours of this treatment with people constantly checking on you,
making sure everything's OK. Snacks, drinks. And before you know it, four hours goes by rather quickly.
And we found, and again, for those that didn't hear episode one. And you were at the same cancer center, correct?
Go back because the ants in the pants is a callback. They need to go listen. The view from the private room is a callback.
But no, we went to the same center with my wife and you found the staff so encouraging and just happy.
And we're getting to know them. Did you get to know them? We had almost the same team.
Yeah. And you would you know, you go in and they would welcome you. And oh, yeah. How are you feeling?
And my wife would have to weigh in. Do you have to weigh in every week? Yeah.
So I got to be real famous for putting my foot on the skate. Oh, you are nice.
And the women thought that was a real classic move. Very, very bad move.
But you can't do that. No, no. No, they want you to they want me to gain weight.
Yes. Every week when I go in and I'm a little heavier, they're they're happy.
Yeah. He gets a little cheer, you know. Yeah. So but I will lose it, according to everyone that is involved.
Well, not yet. I may give up weight during this treatment.
That's what they say. But so far, he's two weeks done.
Two weeks in and I have had my first side effect symptom, which is which is a a feels like I have a lump in my throat.
OK, so I have every day. Hard to swallow.
There. Oh, Becky did a joke. She goes back to the old crying thing.
Becky did a joke. A crying joke.
So so it it it feels like when I swallow, it's get stuck.
OK. And then eventually just falls into the stomach.
That's the first effect I've had. First and only.
And I don't know if we said this last time. This is a five week regimen.
Is that correct? Five weeks of chemo and radiation.
And you're two down. Two weeks down.
Yeah. And this is Sunday. So tomorrow we'll go in for week three.
Week three. That's that's I think he's doing great. That's amazing.
Yes. Yeah, it's like I said, it's been very easy compared to what I had imagined.
Right. When I was first diagnosed.
And they give you literally it's like watching drug commercials that give every potential side effect.
Yes. Don't take this drug unless you're prepared for these side effects.
Well, they have to tell you everything.
So out of a thousand people, if it happened to two people, they have to tell us this is possible.
So we're scared or we were scared. Now it's two weeks in.
It's like, well, you're doing great. So far so good.
Something may happen down the road. We're not sure yet.
But so far it has been a breeze and I'm ready to go go on to week three.
Well, he learned just since this slowness in his throat started yesterday, I guess.
Right. That well, he's just going to eat slightly differently.
We're already we told you last week, we're in this small meals throughout the day.
A lot of snacks, a lot of high protein things.
But now today he was eating lunch and.
Just just very tiny bites, tiny bites, chew it up, taking it,
letting it just get down there, that's the main thing.
Yep. So it's just a little difficult swallowing.
And the the radiologist said that would happen.
OK, and it probably will get worse as the weeks go on.
But I don't know how worse. I don't know.
Everybody's different.
Well, our family is so supportive, as I as I'll probably say every week.
But they're bringing us meals.
I have this brother in law next door, Frank, anyone who's familiar with us,
knows Frank. Yeah. What the Frank on Twitter.
And he's an excellent cook and he wants to cook for us.
He loves to cook, too. But Frank cooks for an army.
And the portions are large. They're huge.
Oh, my gosh. They brought us meatloaf yesterday that my sister
Susan made with our mom's recipe. It's just the best.
I love it. And it's enough for, I don't know, a potluck.
It was like a two pound. Yeah, we could feed an army.
So we're just cutting off small pieces for Bob.
It's probably going to last all week. Well, maybe freeze some.
And my brother, Yale, grilled us 20 hamburgers on the Weber
because he is the world's best hamburger griller.
And we froze them up in packs of two.
So you got a burger when you need it.
Yeah. Well, now my freezer is full.
Because I overreacted. I cooked up taco meat and froze it.
I cooked up ground sausage for breakfast.
Protein with eggs.
Frozen. Our freezer is full of ice cream and meat and food.
And we are we are prepared. Well, I'm ready.
I don't think I have to go to the store for the rest of your treatment.
No, it's great.
Well, and we talked about this last time that you have
restricted this information basically to close friends and family.
Yes. Correct. You don't want covered dishes on your porch.
No. Piling up. No, no, no.
Everybody doesn't like a casserole.
You know what I'm saying? Because people would.
They will reach out. And they want to.
And so keeping it private until you're kind of through this phase,
I think is and that's the reason that the the podcast we're doing
will not be released until all the treatments are complete. Yes.
We're not here to advertise that I'm having all this done.
Come on by and feed me.
We're not doing this just to let you know what what it's like to go through this
and we'll release all these episodes when my treatment is complete. Yes.
And to to what's point about keeping it relatively private,
that was the first thing with wrote to me or maybe you spoke the words,
but you were saying it's personal, it's private.
You will hand this knowledge out in small amounts to people as you choose.
Well, I've learned that
some of my close friends who love me and do know the news now,
they want to see me.
Well, I it's not personal, but I don't want to see anybody.
I want to see Bob and that's not a rejection of their care.
It's just this. You've got to be focused right now.
It's not even just being focused.
It's like I have no interest in a social life or.
Do you know what I mean? Right now, I'm having a tough time focusing
because our dog is dancing around our table.
Well, why don't we feed her? She needs to be fed.
That's what all that clicking is in the background. OK.
So we're going to take a break, feed Vera and we'll come back.
And I think we're going to show you too. Good. I'm sick.
Of being sick.
I've been in my bed all week.
I feel like dick.
I'm sick.
Well, we're back. The dog is happy.
She's fed. Vera.
It's the Bob and cancer show. I hate my partner. I'm going to kill him.
So we we were talking about our our second week.
It is it's we've gone through the whole second week.
A few things happened on Monday
when I did the radiation in the morning.
The thing about radiation, which I don't like, you can't have anything to eat
or drink for hours prior to radiation.
I forgot about that part. Yeah, that's so after when I wake up,
I can't eat or drink anything prior to this.
And his treatments are at 1045.
So when we get up relatively early, we're trying for him to sleep later
so that it's so I don't have to sit around. Right.
And no water, not craving for something to drink or something to eat.
But we've I've managed my way through this.
Got there at 1045, did my radiation, went up to the treatment center
after that for my second chemo treatment.
Same thing happened. The steroids, the the blood work, the steroids,
the cancer, cancer treatment.
And then you go home.
Well, when we left, for some reason, the steroids really had me going.
I mean, it's off to the races.
I got home and just started cleaning stuff.
And it's not like he's choosing, OK, boy, I've got energy.
I better do this work. No. He's just like, well, this needs done.
I'm getting up on a ladder. I feel good. Let's go do it.
Yeah. And I'm off.
I'm in the kitchen doing my things, getting him fat and happy.
And he's just gone. He's in. He's outside working.
Whatever. I'm not paying attention.
Well, the over the weekend, there was a storm and it there was debris
everywhere around our house.
So I decided to take our leaf blower, go outside and clean the yard.
Well, I did all that because I was going to be
God, I have it all clean, looking great.
I go back and I place the leaf blower back on the utility hook that is on.
Right. And.
Do you have something to hold on to while you hear this story?
Unbeknownst to me.
There was a can of bear spray, a canister of bear spray
hanging on that hook, as you have.
I know he has bears in the garage, don't they?
No, I don't.
So I believe I put the the leaf blower back on the hook
and it triggers the bear spray and I get sprayed in the face
with bear spray and it's bear spray and it's bear spray.
And it's unbelievable.
I cannot. I can't see.
I think it's like 10 days, 10 days.
It's oh my God.
I mean, I come to this.
Could you see?
No, my eyes were your eyes automatically closed
and I inhaled some of it.
So I now have this huge burning down my throat.
Have we mentioned he's having chemo?
And I just I can't believe it.
I call for Becky and I could tell by his tone.
He said, Becky.
Just in the way he said it, Becky, I need you or something.
And I tore through the house running back toward the garage thinking,
well, he's been working.
He probably cut his finger off or he fell and broke his ankle
or he no, he may trip.
And as Bob said, with bear spray, with bear spray, Bob said later,
I could have given you a hundred guesses as to what happens.
I could have actually given her a hundred days to guess.
And she still would not have guessed what I have done to myself.
I might have when I saw that he had shit in the woods.
That would have been my first clue.
Oh, man. Oh, man.
I and I have never had that much pain and Lord.
We didn't know what irritation I and I just get in the shower.
She looked it up, looked up what to do if you get sprayed with bear spray.
Thank you, Google.
And I had to stand in a cold shower with my eyes open,
blinking into the shower for about 20 minutes.
And, you know, cold showers.
Oh, no, the cold shower alone is horrible.
You did warm it up. No, I did not.
It was just cold. Oh, you're insane.
Well, I had to I had to get this stuff out of my eyes.
And not just his eyes, his throat.
Did we mention he's getting chemotherapy and radiation?
And I'm like, is this going to harm him?
I really was worried that it was going to harm him.
It may have killed all the cancer.
I was going to say Monday, they're going to what did you do?
What? This is a miracle.
Miracle. You are from now on.
They're going to use it as a treatment.
Here's the bad part.
We have to spray as if you were a bear. Yes.
So I said gargle gargle into the water.
I made that up, but it seemed to work.
It worked, I guess.
Swallow, drink as much water as you can, as you can drink, drink, drink.
And of course, he's already so hydrated, you guys.
You just drink all the time. Did you get back to normal then?
In about 20 minutes. OK.
And they said that it was the spray lasts about 20 minutes.
Oh, so I guess it gives you enough time to get the hell out of the area
where the bear is before he comes back around.
And it also one of the things I read said to wash because it's in his clothes.
It's in his hair. It's in his LA cap.
Yeah, it's everywhere. It was everywhere.
So I waited until he got out of shower to run the machine.
But I put his laundry in separate.
I said, wash them separately from other clothes and wash your face
and hair with baby shampoo.
Well, we just happen to have some because we have grandkids.
Grandkids. So I squirted that in his hand through the door.
And I'm like, just wash your face.
Wash your eyebrows. I was constantly washing my eyes.
Good God. Wash your mustache.
You know, he has a very thick mustache that got covered in bear spray.
Oh, it was hilarious.
Truly is the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life.
I said this will be funny someday, but this is not that day.
But we were laughing within five minutes.
When I got towards the end, as I realized that the pepper was disappearing
and I could see, I could breathe.
I just started laughing. It's a cartoon.
Yeah, it truly is.
I mean, a roadrunner or something.
I could not stop laughing about how stupid.
And then he's composing his tweet.
No, I'm figuring I'm going to share this with people.
I've got to put this on Twitter.
I have to let everyone know.
What a dumbass you are.
So for those that don't know, why do you have bear spray?
Oh, that's a good question.
Well, we take you back to the year 2016.
Yes. Seven years ago, we traveled to Glacier National Park.
OK. Part of our June bug journeys adventures that we've been going on.
So we're in Glacier and Glacier is known for the amount of bears in that park.
And there are warning signs everywhere to let you know, hey,
it's real. Beware.
Yeah, we're not kidding around.
And they recommend that you buy bear spray and also at the park,
you buy little jingle bells, jingle bell that you put on your clothing.
So when you're walking around, you're jingling.
They probably don't like that.
Apparently not. They must hate Christmas.
I was going to say, well, I just I don't understand.
I would think a little jingling would attract them.
Call the bear. Oh, food.
Somebody's over there ringing the dinner bell. Yes.
Yeah. But anyway, so we bought this.
Becky wore it on her belt the whole week we were there.
Never saw. We saw no animals whatsoever.
First of all, we had a bust on.
We saw no animals in any refunds.
No. OK. I just wondered how we saw no bears.
So we came home after the journey and I put the bear spray,
apparently on a hook in the garage in 2016.
Wow. It's been hanging there until so I activated it.
So you now have in your system chemo bear spray.
Yeah. Probably past its due date.
Bear. Exactly. It still works.
I'm going to make a suggestion. Double condom. Nice.
Oh, yeah. Thank you. Excellent point. Just in case.
Yeah. Feeling a little peppery.
Oh, man. Yeah.
And one of Bob's Twitter followers replied pretty quickly to this whole song.
Saga with because Bob had posted a picture of it.
I remember that on the Twitter.
And it's very funny anyhow.
But the guy said that little piece of white plastic hanging there is the safety.
And it wasn't on.
Now, why connected properly?
It was just dangling there.
The safety wasn't even. Oh, you. Oh, really?
Yeah. OK. So I had no idea.
I mean, it could have easily been on it properly.
And this wouldn't have happened.
But it, you know, whatever.
It was going to be a dumbass. Go dumbass all the way.
I went full dumbass.
But I'm just saying, man, if I see a bear, I don't want to have to go through a two step process.
No, you have to take the safety off.
I'm just saying. Just remember that.
That Frank then said, you know the joke.
I can't reproduce it. Yeah, it's about.
About bears and how you identify them.
So you go to you find their droppings and you can identify them.
And you can identify the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear.
A black bear has little berries and such in its droppings or a
a grizzly bear has bells and it smells of pepper.
Yes. Yes. So that's that.
And the occasional wristwatch. Yes.
On a. Oh, man.
But, you know, I mean, that's so that kicked off our week two.
And that was Monday. Yeah, that was just Monday.
Right after chemo. I got the steroids.
I just got the funny thing is now it's Sunday and it feels like it was forever ago.
Yeah, that that happened.
That's why I thought it was week one. It seems forever ago.
Right. But it was just on Monday.
Less than a week ago.
But it stayed with us. It's a pretty funny deal.
She's yes. So then, of course, we continued radiation through the week.
Same thing. Fifteen minutes in and out.
And I had my first symptom this week, which is it's hard to swallow.
That arrived on Saturday night. Yeah, just yesterday.
And but we're dealing with it.
Yeah, I'm guessing it'll be a little more difficult as the the radiation continues.
But while he still had the steroids rolling through him, he golfed again.
I mean, he's still feeling great.
And I mean, the steroids last a few days.
So I felt pretty darn good.
I actually played around golf and he's still a heavy honey.
Actually did all right. I'm gaining weight.
Still gain away. Good man.
We've been experimenting with the various foods because I was told he needs to have
protein at least every three hours, because if you're not eating protein,
his body is going to eat the muscle and he'll lose muscle.
So we're really making that protein.
Non-stop protein. Yep.
So I was going to try a milkshake.
I bought a new blender. It's so beautiful and perfect.
So I thought I'll make him a delicious peanut butter and chocolate milkshake.
And we did it together.
We didn't know. We know nothing about making milkshakes.
That's Frank's job.
So I thought, well, I'll I'll add some peanut butter.
Oh, so much protein.
And I just it was a little overboard, a little extreme.
And he couldn't even butter shake.
Usually has a hint of peanut butter.
Tough to get that through the straw.
It was bad.
And I don't know that you've had a milkshake.
Maybe you had one little chocolate one or something.
But he's not interested because I kind of turned him off of milkshakes now.
And they did say that it's very possible that my taste buds and stuff will change.
Might change. This process.
Did that happen to Debbie?
I just a tad.
There were things she just didn't want anymore.
Yeah. And they said it's also possible that you might be cooking something
and I might be offended by the smell.
That happened to her a couple of times.
That's the Jimmy Pardo effect.
Yeah. Jimmy can't he can't remember the comic.
Jimmy Pardo. I remember him.
I don't remember the story. He has this thing where he cannot smell food cooking.
It makes him sick. He can eat it.
He'll eat it, but he can't smell it.
That's part of the best part. I know.
For some men. Yeah, it is.
Thanksgiving. I mean, I'm just saying.
He can't smell his wife cooking meat or anything.
So where does he go? I guess the other room.
I don't know. That's his problem.
I was going to say. I'm sure he's figured it out by now.
Probably. OK.
Yeah, that's something that could happen to me.
Well, if not yet. 20 seconds or 20 minutes to prepare a meal, you have a solution.
That's correct. Yes.
Does this involve a bear spray?
Oh, I thought it was going to be another glow stick.
No, no, no, no, no. We've we've mined that.
Oh, I bet not. We've got everything we could out of that.
I bet that's coming back at some point.
And also this week, we actually had a visit with the surgeon.
There will be surgery after this process.
At the end.
And we were a little surprised as to what the surgery will entail.
It's they will actually take part of my esophagus and my stomach.
OK, they'll will be removed and they'll reconnect the esophagus and stomach.
And it's I thought it would just be one simple cut, but it's actual two cuts.
OK, the body.
But they don't have to crack his sternum or cut him open like that way.
It's just an abdominal cut.
And then it's a about a two week healing in the hospital after the surgery.
And hopefully a quick recovery for that.
Yep. Great. OK.
We have we were a little surprised by I might have cried.
Well, if she did.
I mean, I was worried.
I'm just curious.
And this gets in the weeds.
Why do they take part of it out instead of like this is where the cancer is?
What Debs was, they just went in and got the lump, the little lump.
So this must be a different thing.
I guess enough cancer in it that they have to shrink it.
I got it, which is what the radiation is shrinking that.
And then they it will not take it all away.
OK, they said in some rare cases it will take it all away.
So we have that great hope.
But even if it removes all the cancer, he still has to have the operation.
There's no there's no getting around it.
Yep. OK, that makes sense.
And it's a six hour operation.
So that was much more major than I realized.
Yeah. And it's 10 to 14 days stay in the hospital, which seems just huge.
I mean, people get their whole hip replaced and go home that next afternoon or something.
Yeah, it's amazing.
So it just seems so big to me that it felt really overwhelming for a bit.
But, you know, you just plow ahead and they know what they're doing.
They do three of these a day.
Well, our surgeon is a child. Yeah, they're all they're all.
He's a young surgeon.
You know, I don't want that.
I don't want the shaky old surgeon.
No, you know, I want the young muscular surgeon who can take care of this.
We're of a certain age where all physicians seem really young anyhow.
And so he walked in the room.
I'm like, he's good looking.
I suppose. Young, young, handsome fella.
Yeah. I watched the NFL draft.
I didn't realize they're drafting eighth graders.
It seems like they just look like everybody looks so young.
They look like kids.
So anyway, that will be after you're done.
And they said approximately after the chemo and radiation,
it could be up to six weeks, maybe even eight weeks.
OK, to allow his insides to heal.
After all the radiation, there will be scar tissue,
which will look like cancer unless it heals.
In terms of the image, they'll do a PET scan.
Yeah. So we'll let that heal and then we'll do a PET scan,
look at the size of the cancer that remains.
And that's when they'll go in and remove it.
And your target date to be done with radiation is when?
We are done at the end of May.
Race week. OK, all right.
It will be during the Indy 500.
Which gives us great goals, honestly,
because we're working toward Bob being healed
and this cancer being gone and cured,
and then us resuming our normal life and activities.
And that's our expectation.
Well, our first goal is the race.
Every year we go down and camp for four nights, five nights.
I don't know, four or five nights across the street
from the Indy 500, for those who don't know what the race is.
And so our goal is to be able to go down there.
We don't know yet what Bob's side effects are going to be.
I have no idea what condition I'll
be in at the end of week five.
You just don't and there's no way to know.
No, we don't know.
So we're planning right now that we're still
going to camp in the Checkerboard Square compound.
And I told Bob we have to sleep somewhere.
So we're either because you're finished with treatment.
You don't have to go back every day.
We might as well stay down there.
And if we can't go to the race because it's just too hot
or Bob is too tired, that's fine.
We'll stay and watch the race on TV.
Right.
Yeah, they said that there will be a great deal of exhaustion.
By then, I think for fatigue here.
Yeah, I think that's probably true.
I mean, fatigue, I don't want exhaustion.
I think you'll just be tired.
I think your butt will just be dragging.
Yeah, we can't picture it because he's not
a fatigue kind of guy.
No.
And I can't picture it.
I can't imagine it, but we expect it.
So it's kind of like this throat tightening
that he's experiencing right now.
When they tell you ahead of time, it means nothing.
You don't know what it is until you feel it.
And I had bought this journal.
It's called a CAN plan.
It's a cancer planner kind of thing.
So I write down.
It's a handheld.
It's like a, what do you call that?
It's an analog.
It's not online.
And so I'm tracking the food that he eats and what time
so that I make sure he continues and stuff.
And I have a little section that's called a symptoms tracker.
And it has been empty every day for two whole weeks
until yesterday when he said he felt this little tightness.
And so I wrote that down and well, it has a little scale
of one to five.
Well, we don't know how to judge.
No.
Is this a half?
Is this a one?
I wouldn't know how to say it.
It's a one for me because it's the first I've experienced it.
I don't know if it'll get worse.
I'm guessing it will.
It must or they wouldn't have mentioned it.
So we just don't know.
And then Bob had said at one point one of the days,
I feel a little tired.
Well, we don't know if that's because he's been so busy
outside.
And they pumped me up with the steroids at the start of the
week and towards the end of the week, they've worn off
and I am tired.
And you've been busy.
But we don't know if that's a fatigue.
OK.
You know what I'm saying?
There's no way for us to judge until we're further in.
Right.
We're at the end of two weeks and Bob is 99% right now.
I feel all right.
I mean, I feel well enough to attempt a podcast.
Right.
So we'll see how if I'm well enough to do it next week.
I think you will be.
I don't know.
We don't know what to expect.
Yeah, we don't.
So stay tuned for that.
I think so.
And then you were talking about ways to offset symptoms.
Yes, Bob, you were practicing.
Well, as I told you earlier, that when you mention the word
cancer, some people have a tendency to believe that
marijuana is a good cure for cancer or it helps you get
around.
It helps you get around.
To manage your symptoms.
So I have like if you're not hungry, it might help you be
hungry.
It might.
And that's what I've heard.
Well, it does work.
I tried some this week and it brought me back to the 70s.
I wanted to go downstairs and turn up the stereo very loud.
Led Zeppelin.
Yep.
Yeah.
You know, get up there and let it do what it does.
It does make you hungry and it does take away the little lump
in the throat.
He did it last night.
So really, legitimately.
That's what I said.
Really?
Took away that pain.
Well, it's not pain.
It's not pain.
Just discomfort.
Took away that and made it easier to swallow.
And so I'm sticking with that.
So how did you do it?
I've tried two ways.
Right.
I want to hear you describe it.
I've tried the lit.
Yes.
The smoke.
The hilarity of that was that, evidently, it's
like riding a bike.
You have to roll your own.
And I was pretty good at it.
I should have taken a picture because.
I just wish I had an album cover to get rid of my scenes.
Yes, that's what they used to do.
But yeah, it is like riding a bike.
If you know how to roll a smoke, you don't forget that.
So I tried that.
And you know what?
The gummies are better.
Oh.
Because of.
That surprises me.
The gummies take an hour to activate.
Didn't know that.
Yeah.
So it has to go all the way through your system in order
for them to kick in.
When you smoke, it's an instant high.
But it's harsh on the throat.
The smoke itself.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
When you're battling something with your throat,
probably not good.
Oh.
So you rolled all those joints up for nothing.
Well, you know.
What are you going to do with them?
There is the recovery period, hon.
So I'll have to sell those to someone out of state.
Out of state, yes.
Yes.
So it.
Can you talk about where you got it?
I don't want to mention any names.
No, no.
The rolled up part.
Because I think that's funny.
Oh, here's.
Let me take you back to 2016.
Again.
Same trip.
Yeah.
After we left Glacier, we continued west and went to the coast of Oregon.
OK.
And in Oregon, it's legal to buy pot.
It has been for a long time.
I'd never seen a dispensary before.
I've got to go in and take it.
Well, I would have gone in.
We took pictures, put it on Twitter.
Oh, yeah.
Because it was completely legal.
I went in there.
There was every strain you could imagine.
You could get cookies, gummies.
You could get bundles and bundles of joints.
Wow.
So I just bought some leafs.
Is that what it's called?
I don't even know.
Just some leafy.
It was in like a little container
like you would have medicine in.
Like a little pill box.
Oh, really?
Like a little orangey colored plastic thing.
You know, like you get your meds in.
Yeah.
It's grandpa's meds.
It's in my meds.
So I got it and never used it.
It's been sitting in the closet forever.
Seven years.
And I said, well, you know what?
I forgot I had this.
Fired it up.
It still works.
He forgot he had it like he forgot he had the bear spread.
Apparently, there's no expiration date on marijuana.
Now, that's interesting.
So I'm just curious.
When you were in there, how is it priced?
Yeah, I know.
Isn't it weird?
Well, you know, like you bought a, I bought,
I probably bought five joints worth at probably $2 a joint.
So it's cheap.
Yeah.
So I don't understand either.
Do they grow different plants to make the different varieties?
Different strains that they have.
Is it bullshit or is it real?
That those are different?
No, I think I've had some.
Have it's all about the milligrams of THC that are.
And some are light with five milligrams.
Some are as potent with 200 milligrams.
And then are you talking gummies or you talk?
No, this joint.
I'm talking actual joint.
Because then they used to have like Al Capoco gold.
Oh, yeah.
What were some of the others?
All the classics.
Yeah, I think Al Capoco gold.
That's the one you heard the most.
Like when you were young in the 70s.
It wasn't Al Capoco gold.
It was from some guy down the street.
Oh, sure it was.
In the 70s when you were buying it.
Yeah.
In California.
Then you could buy what was called a lid.
But what did you call it?
You could buy a lid for $10.
And what's a lid?
That was, that rolled up about, I don't know, 20 joints, 30 joints.
It was.
50 cents a, that's cheaper than a beer.
I have been making a mistake my whole life.
And Whit and I are here completely ignorant of all of this.
We are the opposite of a pothead.
But it was all illegal then.
And it's legal in half the states around this country.
More and more now, right?
All the ones surrounding the state that we live in that will go unmentioned.
So on the gummies, how do you know?
Gummies come the same way.
They are in different milligrams.
OK.
They, I think the lowest might be three milligrams.
OK.
Are they different strains as well?
Well, this is, it's just different milligrams of THC.
THC.
So it starts low and goes all the way up high.
So it's just a nugget of THC.
It's a nugget, a chewy nugget of THC.
Ah, OK.
With flavoring or whatever.
Yeah.
Mine is a sour apple.
And it's delicious.
But it's, you decide how much you need.
And a.
So he practiced.
Someone from the medical profession actually told me that five milligrams is probably all
I need to increase hunger and maybe relieve.
OK.
That's what I kind of was asking is how you know how to dial that in.
This was a real doctor.
I actually heard it from the medical community.
I can't mention whom.
No, you better not.
Because I don't think they're allowed to.
Probably not.
Prescribe that in certain states.
Well, it was actually a question I asked when we first went in for our teaching time with
the RNs or somebody.
And I said, well, what about pot?
I've heard that that might be helpful.
And they're like, we cannot say anything about pot.
No.
Because we're in a state where it's illegal, even medicinal.
Even medicinal.
Yes, correct.
And so they just said, we cannot discuss or not discuss it.
I mean, they could discuss it with us.
Chit chat, but they can't.
They couldn't recommend anything as an option.
Which is kind of sad, because if he felt last night when he had.
It made a huge difference.
It made a difference for him.
It really did.
And that's ridiculous that they're not allowed.
I've just always been curious on the gummies how you know how to gauge that.
So you're saying.
It's all about the milligrams of TAC.
So you took a gummy and cut it.
I had gummies that are 10 milligrams.
So I cut it in half, took half of it.
And that did the trick for me.
That seemed to be fine.
But did you start with a third or something?
Well, when I first got in it, I had never done gummies before.
I always smoked it.
So I tried a third.
And it was nothing.
Then a half.
The next day.
I mean, it's not right on top of each other.
Then a half didn't feel all that much.
And then I tried a whole one.
That was too much.
So what does that mean?
I was going to ask the same thing.
I'm curious.
What's too much?
Were you like, woo?
Too much.
I could have just said, see you later and go to a concert.
But you're home.
So what's too much?
I don't know.
Tired?
No, the buzz was just a little too much for me.
Like you're confused and you don't know who I am?
No, I know who you are.
Could you watch a movie with too much?
Or would you not understand?
It might be tough concentrating.
I don't understand how it works.
We watch foreign films with subtitles.
It's hard to follow along with the bouncing ball.
See, I just can't even.
I'm just ignorant of it all.
But it worked, I think, for me.
So he was trying without.
It actually relieved some of the.
That's cool.
He was making these experiments leading up to treatments.
So because he wanted to know what he might need,
if it would work to do anything for him.
And then he wasn't doing it because he didn't need it.
He'd already figured out how much.
Yeah, I hadn't had any symptoms.
So why use it?
And then last night he tried it and felt relief.
That's great.
Which I think is great.
That's really good.
It really did calm what was bothering me.
So thumbs up for that.
The symptom away or if it takes your focus away?
That's what I was wondering.
It probably clouds the brain.
Either way, it doesn't matter, right?
It's working.
I mean, that's what happens when a doctor gives you
a painkiller.
It stops the pain in your brain.
Good point.
It stops it.
You still have the hurt.
You still know it.
There you just don't realize.
Well, then I say 100% do what you need to.
That's as that time comes.
I will use it as I need it.
Yeah.
And I'm all for it.
Yeah.
It works.
Well, I'm the one who brings in the touchy feely things.
And I wanted to mention that after we had the surgery
consult and I was feeling discouraged,
and Bob was fine because he's very practical.
And once he's kind of got his, I don't remember what word you
use, but he's focused.
And off he goes.
And he went to golf that day.
And my son Joey came over to borrow the truck
for some gardening things.
And I said, oh, Joey, I just need a hug.
We saw the surgeon.
And so I explained and talked to him.
Of course, I had a few tears.
And he said, mom, let's go for a walk.
Let's just go out in the woods.
We live in a lot of woods here.
And he said, let's just go for a walk.
And I said, oh, honey, you don't have time.
You're working on the garden.
You've got to study for the bar.
You've got so much going on.
And he said, mom, if somebody's here and says, hey,
I'd like to go for a walk with you, say yes.
And I thought, what a great lesson
that my young son would say, say yes.
And so we did.
We went for about a half hour walk.
And I came back up to the house feeling like a million dollars.
Like, OK, now I've had fresh air.
I have a son who loves me and is encouraging and took time.
Just a half hour.
But he took time to spend it with his sad mom.
You're both going through a completely different journey.
Yeah, it is.
It's very different.
I was the caregiver.
Yeah, tell me about your.
And you go into that mode.
And sometimes you want a hug.
Other times, you don't want anybody to stop by.
Right.
You just want to bond with Bob and be there for him.
But he can focus.
Yeah.
You have all the horrible what ifs in your mind.
That's natural.
That's true.
It's just natural.
I was telling Becky when you were out of the room that last night,
I stopped by to let my daughter's dogs out.
And they're just kind of across the street.
And I almost called just to say, do you feel like somebody's stopping by?
But I didn't because you don't know where you are in that arc.
Yeah, we don't normally just say, hey, come on over.
Right now, we're in a kind of keep into ourselves.
But I said, if he's that close, he's over at her house.
He's a minute away from us.
Come on.
Call at least.
And he said, Bob would.
Say, that's why we have caller ID.
That's right.
It's like, it's wit.
It's wit.
Don't answer it.
But you know, it is.
Turn off the lights.
Push me pull you if people want to be here for you.
Sure.
Yeah.
And you should not hesitate to just say not today.
It doesn't mean you're having a bad day.
It just means.
I also liked what you said the other day when you were talking to us
about this same issue.
You can just say when people who are they're not bugging us,
but they are asking frequently any updates, any updates,
how are things going, that when Bob inevitably isn't feeling good,
because right now he is feeling good.
But inevitably in a week or two, you'll probably not feel good.
You can just say, he's not having his best day.
And basically that will let them know, leave us alone.
And it's true.
I will call if I need help.
I promise I will.
Oh, I know you will.
But I don't need help.
I would say that about that she's not having her best day.
And then people would respect that.
Sure.
You don't owe them details.
No.
And you don't know details.
I don't.
We don't.
You're so right.
But I'm just living my life as if I have a job now.
You do.
And I do have a job.
Be there every day, Monday through Friday.
And I'm just, it's my job.
You were talking about trying to get your radiation moved up
a little bit.
Success.
Did you get it done?
It did, yes.
Oh, so tomorrow.
We got it to 9 AM.
It starts tomorrow morning.
So that helps.
So I can wake up and don't have to starve myself for four hours.
Good.
So yeah, 9 AM.
And then it's a 15 minute.
And then right over to the cancer treatment center upstairs.
And that's three and a half, four hours.
And we are so grateful that they were able to do that.
Because those few hours in the morning
were not comfortable for Bob.
I felt like I had to go hide to drink my coffee.
The radiation, they have a number of patients
going through there.
And someone finished their stint and opened up a time slot.
So someone, I got somebody's time slot
who has completed their radiation.
Well, and when you.
But in the mornings, I just felt like I
want to have a bowl of cereal.
Or I'm going to have a cup of coffee.
And there's Bob.
He can't even have a sip of water.
And then you're sitting there thinking, I can't drink.
I can't drink.
It's horrible.
Honestly, he wouldn't mind if I drank my coffee in front of him.
But I still feel like, eh, it's not the pleasure
that it would normally be of Bob.
If I accidentally bump you and spill your coffee everywhere.
Oops, sorry.
He did ask the radiologist if he could have.
And I thought this was such a smart question.
I said, is it OK if I chew gum prior to the treatment?
He goes, sure, that's fine.
Because it's just your own saliva, right?
In that food or liquid in there.
And it's just my bodily fluids that I'm swallowing.
So he went and bought some juicy fruit.
So I went and got juicy fruit.
Haven't done that since the 70s either.
I think they frown on clove.
Yeah, I think they do.
Beats some.
Beech nut.
Beech nut, yeah.
Well, that's a good question.
Blackjack, wasn't there one called blackjack?
I loved all those.
Fruit stripe, you know, the whole nine year.
They don't make that anymore.
I don't think so.
Fruit stripe I used to love.
I was looking for yikes, stripes.
Yes.
Remember that, grandpa?
They don't have that.
There was a lot of gums.
What the hell are these?
I have no idea.
So let me tell again that after we
had this meeting with the surgeon and got the news
about the time frame, it'll be about two weeks
that Bob will be in the hospital 24 hours a day, staying there.
Recovery after the surgery.
Recovery, yeah.
And healing inside and such.
But it's a long stay, and we have Vera,
speaking of the clicking heels in the house.
And I had this because I'm the one who
has to do the logistics now.
Bob is working hard at healing and working toward this cure,
and I need to do the logistics to get us set.
And I started having a minor bout of fear
and a little desperation.
Like, what will I do?
Although we're super grateful that we are so close
to the hospital.
Yeah, we're very lucky.
It's less than 15 minutes from our door to the treatment room.
But still, when you have a dog.
But when you have Vera, and we have a big house
that we have to deal with, there's
things that have to be done.
So I was kind of telling my other son, Wade, about that.
And Wade said, mom, you do not need to fret.
I'll house it.
His girlfriend, Mackenzie, and he will house it.
They'll take care of Vera.
And he said, I may see you in the kitchen or something,
but you just realize.
Bless his heart.
You can be gone all day long, all night if you want,
and we'll be here to take care of Vera.
I was like, now that is some support.
And so many people don't have that.
They have to go through this alone.
A lot of people ask, is there anything I can do for you?
And at the time, we have nothing.
We don't need anything.
You're very blessed.
But we are so blessed.
And you were, too.
But it will come a time where we do need some help.
Yeah.
And we're fine with asking.
It's not in my nature to ask.
It's more in my nature to be the helper.
I'm a helper, nurturer, person.
And so asking for help doesn't come easily, probably,
to either one of us.
But we will do it, because it's going
to be necessary at some point.
We'll just have to tell Frank to make small portions.
We were talking that anymore, it's
not like the old sterile hospital room that he'll be in.
You've got media.
You'll be able to watch movies.
You'll be able to listen to podcasts.
Yeah, I mean, he'll still be connected instead of this.
We were just there with my sister, Lynn, in fact.
Same hospital.
It'll probably be a room very much like Lynn's,
which was nice.
It was her very own room.
The hilarity of the speaker for the television remote
just hangs.
Oh, it's like the remote is the speaker.
Yes.
It's sort of silly.
So I think we can take our own media.
We can take your iPad.
I'm not going there for the media.
I'm going there for the recovery.
No, I know that.
But you have two weeks maybe of boredom.
I don't know.
Oh, no.
I can only do strip tea so much, Bob.
Well, you know what?
I am never bored of that.
And if you'd like, I will help Becky prepare a list of movies
that I know you're fond of.
Oh, great.
I have some titles.
I do.
All right.
So far, everyone, it's been a breeze with a few exceptions.
But it's not bad.
Not yet.
And we're knocking on wood.
Yep.
It's an interesting.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
Yes.
That we have this opportunity to fight, this opportunity
to go to battle against this partner of yours
that you're trying to kill.
I want to kill my partner.
I know you do.
Mm-hmm.
We have an opportunity.
We need a similar Bob.
33 years of.
Let's leave it at that.
No, I love that man.
Yeah, I know you do.
I know you do.
And Tom is just the best.
He's just fantastic.
He's been very supportive and loving to Bob,
which your fans ought to know.
Yeah, he's a good man.
He's the best.
Just reaching out to Bob.
And the fans probably have the wrong idea
of their personalities just from the show.
But Tom has been beautiful about it all.
Just beautiful.
Tom allows to be the ass bag.
He takes it.
He is.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what everyone assumes.
He's just an ass bag.
But he isn't.
He's a great man.
Yeah.
He's that and much more.
Yes, there is ass baggery.
But he is a wonderful human.
Yes, he is.
I also wanted to mention that late at night,
we find ourselves talking differently late at night
about feelings, fears, symptoms, whatever.
And you can find yourself getting overwhelmed with that.
And so Bob had a suggestion of a show
we could watch before bed.
And it has been the most beautiful experience.
Oh, yeah.
It's fun.
OK.
We have the Paramount Plus.
I'm sure a lot of people do.
And they offer the complete black and white.
Yay.
Andy Griffith show.
So our tradition each evening now
is to end with one or two episodes of Andy Griffith.
And I've always been a fan, like an enormously ridiculous fan.
I forgot how well written it is.
Well, but Becky said it's in sequence.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It started with episode one.
I mean, it's not just random.
You're watching.
We started season one, episode one.
That's very cool.
When FB came to them, the first episode.
Very cool.
It's a nice way to end the evening.
And we get to enjoy it in a different way
than we would normally.
It's for the purpose of encouragement, love, joy.
Mayberry is beautiful.
It's a great town.
And it just gives us this peaceful feeling
when we're off to La La Land.
It's nice.
Nice way to end it.
Yeah.
And we get some good laughs out of it.
Well, may I offer a toast?
Cheers.
Here's to week three.
All right.
We're coming up.
We'll keep you all informed as to how things go.
And I'll let you know one more time.
This is the Bob and Cancer Show.
I hate my partner.
I'm going to kill him.
You've been listening to the Bob and Cancer Show.
Tune into our next episode as we continue to follow Bob's
journey.
Bob Gavoyan appears courtesy of Bear Be Gone Bear Spray.
Bear Be Gone, don't try this at home.
This is Whit Grayson speaking.