Saturday, May 10, 2008

Cleaning out the sludge


Blame it on my dad. We Perkins men have high cholesterol. We're locked into it by our fiendish DNA. Back when I ran 60 miles a week training for a marathon, I still registered in the mid-200's on the cholesterol scale. A couple of years ago, I was just over 300, all the while watching my diet reasonably well.

My internist put me on Lipitor. The next checkup I was down to 168 or so. But then the checkup after that had me inching toward 200. So a 2nd drug, Zetia, was added to the protocol. After six months, I returned to the doc this week to find out how things were going. It was with a little nervousness, too. I knew in my heart of hearts (what does that mean?) that my sweet tooth (silly phrase, eh?) had gotten the best of me lately. Too many candy bars and desserts had forced their way into my diet. I had been powerless to stop their assault.

I had been fumbling for excuses in my mental prep for the visit with Dr. Dimmitt. "Gee, doc. Think of all the holidays we've had since I saw you in October: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Arbor Day." Or, "At my age, shouldn't I be making concessions to cravings?" So imagine my amazement when he announced that my cholesterol level was a cool 140! I know Dimmitt must have been inwardly impressed with my discipline even though he suppressed his admiration. Even the HDL and LDL numbers were spectacular.

Pass the pie, please.

5 comments:

Carole said...

So, is this why I saw you scooping into the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla this afternoon? When I asked what it was doing in the house, you replied, "It's for the kids tomorrow!" Yeah, right. I hope there is some left for the kids. And their mother!

Blake Perkins said...

How come with our high cholesterol we haven't had heart attacks with our family?

Tim Perkins said...

Who knows? Maybe because of our low blood pressure. Mine has been excellent all my adult life.

Brooke said...

What about the Perkins women? I wonder if MB and I have high cholesterol? I can not imagine adding more restrictions to my food right now!

Tim Perkins said...

I wonder about that as well. I'll ask MB.