One day long ago (24 years or so), a certain obstetrician was about to begin yet another C-section. As he set about his work, another physician sat waiting and watching. I'm not sure what his technical job was but apparently he felt oblitated to keep the expectant parents entertained and therefore, oblivious to the surgical procedure.

Since the doc has only seven minutes in which to extract the baby, this entertaining stuff didn't require a lot of work, but Dr. Comedy has his act prepared. The husband found this whole gig highly amusing. I, on the other hand, simply wanted the whole thing over with. But...in the midst of this process, I remember one comment from the comedian -- nothing funny, just a statement.

"Wow. There's no fat in there. All that running has paid off." Okay, this may not mean anything to anyone else, but to me it signaled that I must be healthy.

Hmmm...about one month later bloodwork appeared suspicious so I found myself in the waiting room of an internist. This guy -- stern with nary a hint of a smile -- sat and hmmmmmed over the reports. He ordered additional bloodwork and sent it off to various labs. It came back with the same result -- cholesterol near 400. This he blamed on my hormones and insisted that I quit breastfeeding. A month or so later, the bloodwork was repeated and sure enough, said cholesterol had dropped to 230ish. Still high, but maybe we'd wait and see.

Well, fast forward 30 years. I'm still waiting for those hormones to revert to normal. In fact, they've probably veered of onto a whole new course. But the cholesterol remains high. Always has. Probably always will. I've resigned myself to the fact that I -- along with three of my four brothers and countless cousins on the Suter side -- have genetically high cholesterol. Most of us are on the thin side, exercise regularly, eat well (i.e lots of veggies, fruit, lean protein, etc.) and do not fit the stereotypical "high cholesterol look."

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