PCC 5: With Friends Like These

Unable to eat or hold anything down, losing weight fast, Jay ended up back in the hospital last week. Brother Gary returned to Champaign to be with Jay and family. When he got there, Jay perked up for a moment and grabbed his hand, but he wasn't able to speak - it hurt his throat, which had a tube running down from his nose. They were trying to feed him by pumping food directly to his stomach, but that wasn't working, either.

It wasn't all bad news. Scans showed the chemo was working - the tumor on his pancreas and liver had shrunk. But now he was too weak for more chemo. The doctors wanted to install a somewhat more 'permanent' port (a 'G Tube") into his stomach, but his white-cell count was way too low for surgery, because of the risk of infection.

The white-cell drop was an after-effect of the strong chemo. White cell boosters and a temporary feeding setup through his chemo port began helping. So did some music. Then three old, very close friends arrived, and Jay even laughed a bit.

Jay introduces this episode. It's about all the energy he could muster for podcasting, and you'll probably be a little shocked at his condition. But he wanted to say hello. Then Gary rounded up the friends for a little trip down memory lane, something Jay (and you) can enjoy watching. Gary learned a lot about his brother, as their adult lives were pretty separate.

The Friends Like These are Jay and Jock Hedblade (Jock is the one on Zoom on the phone screen), and Wade Ferrel. Wade's wife Mary was hanging out off camera, and she was also one of Jay's friends from way back.

That's the story so far. The doc's expect his white cell count will shoot up, the G Port can go in next week, he''ll start getting some real food, and he can get strong enough for chemo to start again. And Gary's hoping that his podcast partner will be able to get back on the mic 🎙