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.

Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce

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mark: and Mark.

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And I'm Mark Scarborough, and together

with Bruce, my husband, we have written

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37 cookbooks, published 41 books.

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I think with the knitting books and the

memoir and all that stuff in our lives, we

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share a career about food and that career

spills over into this podcast, which is

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about our passion about food and cooking.

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But this.

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Episode is really an announcement

episode, and it's not so

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much about food and cooking.

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I'm really, unfortunately

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bruce: it's, it's not, we are

going on a hiatus for a while.

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Um, and I'm gonna let Mark

tell you why, what's going on.

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mark: Okay.

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So, for about three years, I have been

facing the threat of pancreatic cancer.

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We found a lesion on the head of

my pancreas about three years ago.

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I have been an incredibly.

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Exhaustive and aggressive

monitoring protocol.

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Every three months, I either have an MRI

or I have an EUS where they get down my

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throat and they put a needle through my

duodenum and into my pancreas and pull it

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out for a biopsy, and it has just become

the point in which it is time to act.

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And, uh, trust me, I'm scared.

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As can be.

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I think we both are scared as can be.

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Mm-hmm.

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About this action and what this

action will involve is if you know

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what this is a Whipple surgery.

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In other words, I'm having part

of my upper GI tract removed.

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bruce: Yep.

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They're going to take out the

head of his pancreas, along with

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his duodenum and his gallbladder.

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The doctor is going to try and

leave the bottom of his stomach,

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which sometimes is removed during,

during this, sometimes it take

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off about a third of the stomach too.

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That will determine it happen.

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In surgical procedure,

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bruce: the doctor did tell us that

he is very, um, hopeful that they

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will actually not find cancer,

although it is always a chance.

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So this is hopefully a preventative

surgery, um, which means Mark

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will be around for quite a while.

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It's a long recovery, and during

that recovery, it's a legend.

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Surgery, podcasting.

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mark: Yeah.

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Right.

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It's a legendary surgery.

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Um, it's about a two month recovery to

retain any normal digestive procedures.

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Mm-hmm.

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And you should just know that this

is a scary moment for us because this

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strikes at the very heart of our career.

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Mm-hmm.

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This strikes at the heart

of writing books about.

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Food and talking about food,

and there is a possibility,

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it's not a grand possibility.

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There's a possibility that I will come

out of this and not ever be able to eat

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the way I have eaten before in my life.

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There's a possibility that it'll take me a

year or two to return to eating normally.

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Yep.

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And there's a possibility that I will

be eating normally within six months.

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bruce: We never know.

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So there's

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mark: just no telling what this is.

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Currently do not have a malignancy

diagnosis, as Bruce says, there

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could be malignancy present.

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There's about a 10 to 15% chance

there is cancer currently there, but

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it has not shown up on any biopsy.

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At this moment.

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It is the time to.

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Act, uh, if you wanna know the whole

gross details, the neoplasm on the head

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of my pancreas has mural nodularity.

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That means it has nodules in

the walls of the neoplasm.

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It lights up under contrast,

which is not a good thing.

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Enhanced neural mural nodularity, right.

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And enhanced septations, which

means it lights up with contrast

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eye and it has become about.

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80% solid.

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Mm-hmm.

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It's time to move.

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Time to take it out.

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It's, it's moving toward a tumor,

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bruce: but we love Mark's medical team.

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We have full confidence

and trust in his surgeon.

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We do.

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If you

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mark: ever have any kind of pancreatic

issues, I know the people at Yale

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to see and they are brilliant.

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My pancreat is a brilliant man.

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Yep.

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A nerdy, nerdy, brilliant Irishman.

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Who loves his pizza more than anything

and has been actually a good friend

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through this three year process.

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And my oncological surgeon is a incredibly

smart and dedicated and kind man and

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bruce: competent, and

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mark: I just wanna say every time I go

see him, I've been seeing an oncological

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surgeon now for about two years.

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Every time I go in for an appointment

with him, I mean he holds my hand.

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He looks me dead in the eye.

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He won't let me sit on an exam table.

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I sit in a chair, he sits next to me,

we talk, and he always keeps saying to

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me, mark, we're gonna figure this out.

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We're just gonna figure this out.

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Yep.

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So it has come that moment

to make a decision and move

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forward with a surgical remedy.

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We hope that this is in fact.

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Curative and I'll, I'll say, and I'm,

I'm throwing this on Bruce's plate now.

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Bruce May be back with a podcast

episode to tell you how I'm doing and

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what's happening in my recovery, uh,

and how I am surviving the recovery.

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Bruce is gonna be pretty much on

nurse duty for about six weeks

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with me, uh, until I'm say about

six weeks, you start to feel like

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you're backing your body again.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then about.

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Three months before you start to think

about maybe I can eat normally again.

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Um, but until then, it's uh, literally

five to six meals a day of one ounce

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of protein, or half a cup of cottage

cheese or half a cup of yogurt.

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It's an incredibly restricted

diet until you start to return

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to some kind of normalcy.

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So that's where we're at.

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Let's hoping for no chemo.

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Let's hope for no radia radiation, and

let's certainly hope for no pancreatic

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cancer to be found in the surgery.

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So.

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That's where we are and that's

where we're going on hiatus.

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bruce: And you can follow on cooking

with Bruce and Mark on Facebook.

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I might put some updates there if

you wanna know what's happening.

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And as Mark said, I will probably

post another, um, podcast

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episode during his recovery.

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So let everybody know what's going on and,

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mark: and if you wanna follow me

and through the recovery process.

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Uh, I'll probably be posting under

my own name, mark Scarborough

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on both TikTok and Instagram.

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I'll be probably posting videos

of myself and my progress there.

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So if you want to follow me there, you

can find me and figure out where I am.

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You might see some disturbing

images of me in ICU, but maybe not.

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Uh, it depends on how brave I

am if I put those things up.

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But I will be in ICU for

a couple days and then in.

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Step downward in the hospital for

about a week and then out to recovery.

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bruce: Okay?

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So that's what's happening with us.

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Um, we hope you have a wonderful

fall and a wonderfully delicious

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holiday season coming up this winter,

and we will be back in touch here

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on cooking with Bruce and Mark.