Cholesterol

By most measures, I'm a pretty healthy guy. I exercise regularly, avoid exposure to harmful substances (secondhand smoke, sunlight, fissile uranium, government bureaucrats, etc), and I try to eat at least one piece of fruit each week. I weigh far less than Orson Welles did at my age, and I am constantly playing Minesweeper to keep my brain cells engaged. My youthful appearance and Ferrigno-esque physique would make you think I'm the poster boy for robust vitality...but my doctor might argue otherwise.

Back around the first of the year, the blood analysis they did during my annual checkup revealed that my choloesterol numbers were a tad high. I am pretty sure it was simply residual elevation from my stressful days at Lockheed Martin, but the doc wanted to blame it on innocent elements such as pizza, nachos, and ice cream. I'll admit that those items have played a significant role in my nutritional routines for the past few decades, but I remain convinced that neither pepperonis nor chimichangas could possibly cause any harm.

Nonetheless, I agreed to try to cut back on the cheeses for a couple of months. I would also attempt to increase the ratio of plant matter on my plate, and would rely less upon products manufactured from pigs and cows. If after three months my cholesterol hadn't declined, we would explore other options. My follow-up blood draw was scheduled for Friday.

I don't particularly mind having them take blood, especially if the technician is experienced. But I'm not a big fan of having to fast for 12 hours, which is a requirement for this particular set of tests. It wouldn't be quite so bad if I could get stuck and drained immediately upon awakening, but it never seems to work that way. I had to do our "Fun Friday" swim practice, and then wait for another hour for my appointment time to arrive.

I used the time between swim practice and bloodletting as an additional opportunity to exercise a little bit, trying to ignore my hunger. I parked at the clinic (still not open), and went for a nice long walk. I have no idea if swimmin' and walkin' affects the cholesterol numbers one way or another, but I sure as heck didn't want to sit in the waiting room reading Modern Pregnancy or HiLights for that entire interval. It was a gorgeous day outside, and so I savored the opportunity to wander the neighborhood.

The extraction went smoothly. I'm not sure why they needed to fill so many of the little tubes with my hemoglobin, but the stuff pumped out quickly and I was bandaged and release within 10 minutes of my arrival.

I'll get the results next Friday. And then it's decision time. If the numbers are still high, I'll have to decide if I want to get medication for my condition. If the numbers have come down, I'll have to decide if I have the discipline to continue to avoid all my favorite cuisine and keep on eating rabbit food. If cholesterol has gone UP, well, then I'm blaming it on my recent lack of hot fudge sundaes...and I do know how to correct that situation.

I shall share the results next week. In the meantime, I'm planning to ride my bike up Highgrade Road on Saturday...so we'll have to see how the climb is affected by not having the blood they took out for their tests.

In the meantime, enjoy the spring weather, and have a great day!