Ron Swanson – Cancer
December 5, 2011 By: Ron Swanson
Ron Swanson
Did it get your attention? It certainly got mine.
There I was suffering through one of the most frustrating seasons of golf in recent memory and all of a sudden I felt like the “Honey Badger.” If you are not familiar with the honey badger Google it. Briefly stated, “Honey badger, he don’t give a damn.”
I was blithely going about my business, feeling great, still trying to lose “those 10 pounds”, and all of a sudden my priorities got rearranged. Knowing that I would be putting my gym membership on hold for an extended period, I gave Brick Bodies the opportunity to replace my blogging with a new and exciting author but, alas, I was asked to continue writing if I felt up to it. With lots of downtime in my near future, I agreed to continue to try entertaining and enlightening and maybe even shedding some insight into “the Big C” and getting enough physical activity.
Last August I had to see my doctor for a renewal of my BP medicine. The previous year we had decreased my dosage thanks in large part to better conditioning and regular working out at the gym. Doc asked me why I hadn’t called him to discuss an elevated PSA reading from my physical 18 months before. I answered honestly, “I really hadn’t read the test results and figured if it was important he would contact me and, by the way, what the heck is a PSA?”
Prostate Specific Antigen, I think he said… an indicator that we might have to look closer at some things. And with that out came those rubber gloves and I was politely asked to bend over. Upon straightening up I was sent to the lab for a new PSA test and told to come back in a week and we would discuss the results and what we would do next.
From this point the specifics are not germane to Brick Bodies but I will be blogging about some remarkable coincidences and I will post a link on Twitter @BGACommish or #BGACommish (I can never remember which is for sending and which for receiving) if you are further interested.
After a second opinion we decided on having surgery at Johns Hopkins on the day before Thanksgiving. I figured that I might as well treat this first-ever operation as an opportunity rather than a burden. I knew that I couldn’t eat anything the day before general anesthesia so I made a plan that would allow me to not only be cancer-free but also free of those dreaded 10 pounds that seemed to have found a permanent home. And, more importantly, on the day after surgery I would be able to watch all three NFL games! This was going to be a Great Thanksgiving, after all.
They wanted me on a clear liquid diet all day Tuesday before Wednesday’s surgery so I went on a liquid diet starting after 5:00 p.m. that Sunday. Stayed on it Monday; clear liquids only on Tuesday, figured no food on surgery day and by the time I came home those 10 pounds would be gone.
Right up until the weekend before Turkey Day I worked out at Brick Bodies. Truthfully, on the Saturday before, after doing 10 miles on a bike I went into the weight room. After maybe a half dozen reps (a solid 30-second workout!) I had lost interest. I was in as good of a shape before surgery as possible. I was ready to go. Before we left for Hopkins on Wednesday morning I had dropped to 197 with 193 being the goal.
Surgery went fine, the Ravens won on Thanksgiving Day and I was home on Friday. The doctor is confident they got everything but we won’t know for a few days when all of the tissue is examined and, with a knowing and confident approach, I got on the scale. With great anticipation I watched the numbers spin and after almost 5 days of nothing to eat, and the loss of body parts, those dreaded 10 pounds had somehow become the “dreaded 11.” I had gained a pound!
Believe me, I am not going to complain. “Honey badger, he don’t give a damn.”