How old am I?

I'm one of those guys who never sees the doctor when he should, and usually not even after he should. I'd rather let a cold die off by itself, even it means a bit more suffering. Infection? My body can heal it. But, I've had this cyst growing on the back of my neck for about a year now, and it was finally starting to bug me, enough that I actually made an appt to go see the doc about getting it cut out. When I asked my wife "guess what I did today", she never came close to guessing that I saw the doc. The cyst is no big deal, it just needs some local surgery. I also had the doc check out some moles to make sure they aren't skin cancer (I've known 2 people recently who've had it); there is one that we need to watch, but nothing immediate.

So, the doc asked me to get some blood work done (the appt was last week) and she'd check for the usual problems. Today, I had the appt to go over the results - all is well... except I have "high cholesterol". C'mon, I'm just a kid, right? Isn't "high cholesterol" that stuff Florence Henderson used to sell on commercials? I'm invincible! I don't get sick, I don't get hurt, not me! I'm sure the doc saw some of those thoughts in my eyes as she told me that my count is actually pretty high (264 total, 197 LDL), it's not just a "wait and see" type of count. She showed me a few pictures of blood vessels and such, but I was mostly thinking about how I would need to do some "real" research later.

Once I actually submit to the idea that this might actually be a real issue for me, it appears that the 2 main changes would be diet and exercise. Fortunately, we started exercising at the Y back in about November. We've been trying to go twice a week, but it looks like I'm gonna have to do more. As for diet, I'm not sure our diet was that bad before, but it's really changed in the past few months with Grant's dietary changes. We've been trying to have him eat the same foods with us and that of course has meant a pretty drastic restriction in our menus. Of course, that doesn't cover lunches while at work, or my really bad habit of snacking late at night.

Oh, c'mon - say it ain't so! One thing's for sure, I'm going to have to cut down on my 100x100 burgers at In N Out.