PCC 1: Some Retirement😯
Welcome to Episode 1 of the Jay and Gary Pancreatic CancerCast: “Some Retirement😯”
Let’s get up to speed. Jay and Gary Pearce are brothers, retired media pro’s who began a fun podcast in early 2024 (because they could). Then Jay was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer (also found in his liver and some lymph nodes). They put the ‘fun’ show on hold, and decided to document Jay’s journey though serious cancer therapy in this new show. (See the About section of the website for a few more details.)
The afternoon of Jay’s first chemo infusion (Monday, June 17), Gary arrived in Champaign to visit for a few days, and hopefully record our first CancerCast episode. Jay had a rough night before the infusion appointment, but he felt good enough to go, and wasn’t feeling too bad that afternoon.
That night was bad, too, but by Tuesday afternoon, Jay was up for recording. Gary set up the mics and cameras, and we shot our Stand Back and Stand By episode for the Jay and Gary Show, putting that podcast on hold. Then we recorded the beginning of this premiere episode of the CancerCast. But the effort was taking a toll on Jay, so we wrapped early.
On Wednesday, we picked back up, with Gary recording on his phone to keep it simple. Then he drove Jay to the clinic, where they were scheduled to remove a portable pump that had been slowly continuing to infuse chemo since Monday. And since Jay hadn’t been able to eat or drink much, they gave him a liter of saline to rehydrate him. We were able to record a little more at the clinic, and that wraps this episode.
Gary headed out, stopped to visit Jay’s son Dale, his wife Caty and their brand new daughter Charlotte about three hours south, then heded home where he spent the past week editing the episode, preparing graphics, creating a YouTube channel and getting the audio pod on Apple Podcasts. And updating this website. There’s a lot to launching a new pod😏
During that time, Jay was slowly improving, and as of this writing, he reports that he had ‘three fairly decent days in a row’. We’re looking forward to the next episode, recording soon.