<\/a><\/p>\nChrisBrennanPhoto.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ecker then began his regimen, taking the treatment five days a week. After a month, the family returned to Lake Charles, and Ecker proceeded with another two months of the regimen.<\/p>\n
At this time, Ecker says, he was \u201cuseless\u201d as far as attending to restaurant business went. Rikenjaks (which Ecker also owns) had done fairly well during the COVID quarantine due to its large outdoor dining area and food truck. But when Ecker was, for the most part, in his sickbed, his partners Randazzo and Buck Maraist had to deal with many of the details of the business.<\/p>\n
Ecker was not a stranger to cancer, having beaten Hodgkin\u2019s Disease 20 years earlier. But since Ecker\u2019s prognosis was \u201cunclear\u201d after his treatments, he was still very much facing \u201cthe unknown.\u201d The time, he says, was \u201cpretty stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n
His surgery was scheduled at the M.D. Anderson Center in Houston. But the Lake Area\u2019s capricious weather once again interfered. The day before the surgery, Lake Charles was hit by its ice storm. The surgery wound up being put off several times before a good time slot could be reserved.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that time, I\u2019m really in pain,\u201d Ecker recalls.<\/p>\n
And the surgery, when it did take place, did not bring immediate relief. Ecker\u2019s throat was still so swollen that surgeons were unable to intubate him. Ecker eventually learned that he had flatlined three times during the attempted surgery.<\/p>\n
The operation was called off. Surgeons had to figure out a way to keep Ecker\u2019s heart beating as they forced the tube through his swollen throat area. They decided on giving Ecker a temporary pacemaker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHe had to go through another week of delay as he recovered from the insertion of the pacemaker. Unfortunately, before the week ended, Ecker\u2019s pain got \u201creally, really bad,\u201d and he was taken to M.D. Anderson\u2019s emergency room.<\/p>\n
Ecker\u2019s surgeons had decided Ecker could not be given anesthesia until the tube had passed his throat. He\u2019d just have to take the pain. But Ecker recalls that after the tube passed his throat, he passed out immediately. The anesthesia was timed that precisely.<\/p>\n
Side Effects<\/strong><\/p>\nSince that painful day, Ecker has undergone physical and speech therapy. His salivary production has dropped 80 percent. His cancer experience reduced his weight by 50 pounds. He\u2019s gained back 30 pounds and seems more or less satisfied with that.<\/p>\n
He still struggles to control the muscles he uses to swallow. But he remains proud of the fact that he never used a feeding tube during the entire treatment of his cancer \u2014 a very unusual approach for a patient with this sort of affliction. He must often remind himself that \u201cyou don\u2019t have to swallow to breathe.\u201d The goal, he says, is to teach the muscles that this is the case.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nChrisBrennanPhoto.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Another post-operative condition that is a challenge for Ecker is the loss of many of the nerves that ran from his neck to his left hand. It\u2019s no longer easy for him to move his hand to the top of the acoustic bass he plays in his popular jazz ensemble. At first, his physical therapist trained him to simply move his left arm up and down over and over.<\/p>\n
Ecker gives Memorial\u2019s Outpatient Training department particular credit for his muscular recovery. And he\u2019s also working with a personal trainer. \u201cI\u2019m in the best shape of my life because I had cancer,\u201d says Ecker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFor a time, Ecker had to quit singing on stage. But he told me that a few days before the interview, he\u2019d been the vocalist for a couple of songs. He said he sounded like Tom Waits.<\/p>\n
Even with the therapy and training, some of Ecker\u2019s side effects will be permanent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nEcker sees an instructive parallel between his fight against cancer and his sustained push to return Panorama to working order. Both of these efforts have been exercises in transforming disaster into opportunity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nJust as he had to fight to retain control of his body, Ecker has had to wage a continuous \u201cfight for insurance and contractors. If we had let up, we wouldn\u2019t have gotten it done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Jay Ecker Fought Cancer, He Worked To Rebuild Panorama Story By Brad Goins ~ Photos By Chris Brennan Even with the remodeling work not quite finished in time for this interview, the reborn Panorama Music House is a pleasure to look at. Scattered among the stacks of building supplies are art and artifacts from [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,1695,4,1081,1859],"yoast_head":"\n
Turning Disaster Into Opportunity: JAY ECKER AND THE RESURRECTION OF PANORAMA MUSIC HOUSE - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n