Pauly Shore is on the mend after undergoing surgery to remove a benign tumor in his pancreas.
The comedian, 57, took to Instagram on Wednesday, August 27, with a health update from his hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
“About two months ago, I went and did a preventative scan on my body, head to toe, because that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Shore told his followers in a video recording. “And they found a small tumor inside my pancreas. So I’ve been dealing with it for the last couple months.”
He added, “They’re gonna be taking it out. We’re gonna get rid of it. It’s like a devil that’s in me.”
The clip cut to footage five days later, with Shore reporting that his surgery was “successful.” Doctors “scooped [the tumor] out. It was benign. It’s gone for good.” He thanked his medical team and said, “I’m OK. Now it’s healing time.”
He continued, “My advice to anyone watching this is to get a scan, ‘cause you never know what the f***’s inside your body. Because I didn’t know. I just did a preventative scan because I was bored.”
Shore began crying and confided, “It’s been tough. The aftermath of a surgery — of an abdominal surgery — is pretty f***ing hard.”
The Encino Man actor added more thoughts in his caption on the video post, telling his followers that the tumor “might have been there for 15 to 20 years. It wasn’t an emergency, but my doctor felt removing it was the right thing to do.”
“Mentally, it really messed with me,” Shore continued. “Knowing there was a tumor inside me… Could it grow? Burst? Turn into something worse? You just don’t know.”
He said he’s “always been on top of my health. Going to the gym, using saunas, massages, having my teeth checked, doing blood work, colonoscopies, chiropractor, etc., but I had never done a full-body scan. I had no symptoms. This was just me following my instincts. … Instinct played a huge role in this. If I hadn’t followed mine and gotten that scan, I might have never found out about the tumor.”
Shore said that his surgery took place on August 21, and afterward, “I still have my whole pancreas. I stayed one night in the hospital and then three nights at home with pain medication.”
He stated: “Preventative scans are rare. Most people only get a scan when something is already wrong. People avoid them for different reasons. Maybe they can’t afford it (a full body scan costs around $1,000-$2,000), or maybe they don’t want to know.”
Shore urged people to share his message in hopes that he “can help save someone’s life by encouraging them to get a preventative scan, or even just going to the doctor and talking about prevention.”