Health News

Cholesterol. For the last 16 years this steroid derived molecule has been running uncontrolled in my body. At the age of 12 I had a total cholesterol of over 220, and at the time this fact was discovered, my dad was recovering from a triple bypass. My Dad was 36 when he had his bypass. In his prime he was the first white All-American Track and Field Athlete from Texas Southern University, could bench press the weight room, and was nationally ranked in the Hammer Throw. Yet 12 years later he was having to endure the most violent and invasive of surgeries anyone can have. Normally it is associated with overweight and physically inferior body types. This wasn't the case for my father. Indeed, he was not in the same physical status as the previous decade, but he was not soft and out of shape either.

As time prevailed, I worked hard to modify my lifestyle, and maintain a physically active routine, but genetics would turn out to be the gatekeeper of my lipid profile. The day would come when being a vegetarian and working out twice a day just wouldn't cut the mustard. Not that I have attempted those methods, but those were the next in line, if I were to advance my current eating and exercise habits. So when the results of an advanced lipid profile proved to deaden my natural methods of curtailing cholesterol, medicine it was. At 27 years old!

Without doubt, my most convincing reasons for starting medicine at this age, have to do with my medical knowledge, but more than anything, it is the idea of not being the best husband I can be to my loving wife. For us to have the successful and meaningful marriage we intend on having, I must remain healthy and preventive in terms of my medical standing.