Cholesterol Is Thicker Than Water

Desktop Blood Test, swiped from juhansonin on Flickr.

In 2010, I did a yearly blood test at Pathlab and found that my total cholesterol had shot up from borderline high to 7.00 MMOL/L. The recommended range is for it to be lower than 5.20! From then on, I started taking rolled oats every morning and even tried plant sterols that supposedly compete with cholesterol absorption in the bloodstream. I was already very conscious about my diet (no chicken skin and lard) and mum never did believe in fried and oily foods. So, during my morning marketing, I took a simple test at the pharmacy. The results from the handheld device didn't show any improvement. According to it, my LDL had shot up to 5.15 from 4.80! The only good news was that my HDL was slightly higher at 1.56 and my triglycerides dropped from 1.40 to 0.75. The Total Cholesterol / HDL ratio was also slightly better at 4.50. KH consoled me by saying that at least things did not get worse. But truthfully, I expected to see at least some kind of improvement! I plan to go get some medical advice already. Heart disease runs in my family. The two patriarchs died of heart attacks. Should really do something about it. Goodbye egg yolks? Goodbye internal organs? Goodbye prawn heads? In short, no more good food? Gratitude will taunt me every day! Lets see how I can also increase my physical activity. It's gonna be a challenge. Wish me luck!

At noon, I went to my church's Parish Assembly to get to know the state of things. It's the same story each year really. Boring stuff. Luckily I had my iPhone to fiddle with this time round. At around 3:00pm, tea time was declared and SK and I loaded up on fried noodles, sausage buns, red bean kuih and coffee. While the rest were mingling, we made a run for it. Picked SK up from Bandar Puteri Puchong as she left her car there for a Groupon car waxing / polishing treatment (interesting to note that the shop owners pinged SK's gaydar). Next up, we went to buy spare parts for my kitchen faucet. Frustrated that the staff failed to get me a quote after two weeks, I decided to engage the boss instead. She made a call and I immediately left with the spare part in hand. Then we made a cheque drop at Citibank before proceeding to Giant for a quick grocery run. Had a quick drink of coconut water before making my way home. At about 6:15pm, I went out again to send SK to pick up her car. This time round, mum and Cyan tagged along. I revisited the kitchen and bathroom accessory shop AGAIN to pick up a missing piece and stopped at the nearby bakery for a spell. Dinner was a simple meal of soya sauce chicken and chicken soup at home with little Cyan. His parents were working late again due to increased demand for calendars and greeting cards during this final quarter. Signing off.