COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK is going on hiatus . . . and not for a good reason

Our podcast is going on hiatus because Mark is facing the threat of pancreatic cancer. He is going to have a legendary surgery, a Whipple, to remove part of his upper GI track.

We hope this surgery is curative. But it is a long road to recovery. We hope Bruce is back in a few weeks to let you know where we are in this journey. But it is a long and hard recovery.

Check back soon to see where we are. We'll miss you. We hope you'll miss us. To follow us, find us on various social media platforms.

Episode Transcript

bruce (00:00):
Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce

mark (00:03):
and Mark.
And I'm Mark Scarborough, and togetherwith Bruce, my husband, we have written
37 cookbooks, published 41 books.
I think with the knitting books and thememoir and all that stuff in our lives, we
share a career about food and that careerspills over into this podcast, which is
about our passion about food and cooking.
But this.
Episode is really an announcementepisode, and it's not so

(00:25):
much about food and cooking.
I'm really, unfortunately

bruce (00:28):
it's, it's not, we are going on a hiatus for a while.
Um, and I'm gonna let Marktell you why, what's going on.

mark (00:34):
Okay.
So, for about three years, I have beenfacing the threat of pancreatic cancer.
We found a lesion on the head ofmy pancreas about three years ago.
I have been an incredibly.
Exhaustive and aggressivemonitoring protocol.
Every three months, I either have an MRIor I have an EUS where they get down my

(00:57):
throat and they put a needle through myduodenum and into my pancreas and pull it
out for a biopsy, and it has just becomethe point in which it is time to act.
And, uh, trust me, I'm scared.
As can be.
I think we both are scared as can be.
Mm-hmm.
About this action and what thisaction will involve is if you know

(01:18):
what this is a Whipple surgery.
In other words, I'm having partof my upper GI tract removed.

bruce (01:25):
Yep.
They're going to take out thehead of his pancreas, along with
his duodenum and his gallbladder.
The doctor is going to try andleave the bottom of his stomach,
which sometimes is removed during,during this, sometimes it take
off about a third of the stomach too.
That will determine it happen.
In surgical procedure,
the doctor did tell us that he is very, um, hopeful that they
will actually not find cancer,although it is always a chance.

(01:47):
So this is hopefully a preventativesurgery, um, which means Mark
will be around for quite a while.
It's a long recovery, and duringthat recovery, it's a legend.
Surgery, podcasting.

mark (01:58):
Yeah.
Right.
It's a legendary surgery.
Um, it's about a two month recovery toretain any normal digestive procedures.
Mm-hmm.
And you should just know that thisis a scary moment for us because this
strikes at the very heart of our career.
Mm-hmm.
This strikes at the heartof writing books about.
Food and talking about food,and there is a possibility,

(02:18):
it's not a grand possibility.
There's a possibility that I will comeout of this and not ever be able to eat
the way I have eaten before in my life.
There's a possibility that it'll take me ayear or two to return to eating normally.
Yep.
And there's a possibility that I willbe eating normally within six months.

bruce (02:33):
We never know.
So there's

mark (02:35):
just no telling what this is.
Currently do not have a malignancydiagnosis, as Bruce says, there
could be malignancy present.
There's about a 10 to 15% chancethere is cancer currently there, but
it has not shown up on any biopsy.
At this moment.
It is the time to.
Act, uh, if you wanna know the wholegross details, the neoplasm on the head

(02:59):
of my pancreas has mural nodularity.
That means it has nodules inthe walls of the neoplasm.
It lights up under contrast,which is not a good thing.
Enhanced neural mural nodularity, right.
And enhanced septations, whichmeans it lights up with contrast
eye and it has become about.
80% solid.
Mm-hmm.
It's time to move.

(03:19):
Time to take it out.
It's, it's moving toward a tumor,

bruce (03:23):
but we love Mark's medical team.
We have full confidenceand trust in his surgeon.
We do.
If you

mark (03:28):
ever have any kind of pancreatic issues, I know the people at Yale
to see and they are brilliant.
My pancreat is a brilliant man.
Yep.
A nerdy, nerdy, brilliant Irishman.
Who loves his pizza more than anythingand has been actually a good friend
through this three year process.

(03:48):
And my oncological surgeon is a incrediblysmart and dedicated and kind man and

bruce (03:55):
competent, and

mark (03:55):
I just wanna say every time I go see him, I've been seeing an oncological
surgeon now for about two years.
Every time I go in for an appointmentwith him, I mean he holds my hand.
He looks me dead in the eye.
He won't let me sit on an exam table.
I sit in a chair, he sits next to me,we talk, and he always keeps saying to
me, mark, we're gonna figure this out.
We're just gonna figure this out.

(04:15):
Yep.
So it has come that momentto make a decision and move
forward with a surgical remedy.
We hope that this is in fact.
Curative and I'll, I'll say, and I'm,I'm throwing this on Bruce's plate now.
Bruce May be back with a podcastepisode to tell you how I'm doing and
what's happening in my recovery, uh,and how I am surviving the recovery.

(04:38):
Bruce is gonna be pretty much onnurse duty for about six weeks
with me, uh, until I'm say aboutsix weeks, you start to feel like
you're backing your body again.
Mm-hmm.
And then about.
Three months before you start to thinkabout maybe I can eat normally again.
Um, but until then, it's uh, literallyfive to six meals a day of one ounce

(05:00):
of protein, or half a cup of cottagecheese or half a cup of yogurt.
It's an incredibly restricteddiet until you start to return
to some kind of normalcy.
So that's where we're at.
Let's hoping for no chemo.
Let's hope for no radia radiation, andlet's certainly hope for no pancreatic
cancer to be found in the surgery.
So.
That's where we are and that'swhere we're going on hiatus.

bruce (05:21):
And you can follow on cooking with Bruce and Mark on Facebook.
I might put some updates there ifyou wanna know what's happening.
And as Mark said, I will probablypost another, um, podcast
episode during his recovery.
So let everybody know what's going on and,

mark (05:35):
and if you wanna follow me and through the recovery process.
Uh, I'll probably be posting undermy own name, mark Scarborough
on both TikTok and Instagram.
I'll be probably posting videosof myself and my progress there.
So if you want to follow me there, youcan find me and figure out where I am.
You might see some disturbingimages of me in ICU, but maybe not.

(05:56):
Uh, it depends on how brave Iam if I put those things up.
But I will be in ICU fora couple days and then in.
Step downward in the hospital forabout a week and then out to recovery.

bruce (06:05):
Okay?
So that's what's happening with us.
Um, we hope you have a wonderfulfall and a wonderfully delicious
holiday season coming up this winter,and we will be back in touch here
on cooking with Bruce and Mark.