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I never knew any of my grandparents. They were all gone by the time I was born in 1947. The only cousins, four of them, I had were from one brother on my father's side of the family, and they're all gone too. His youngest brother served in WWII and died from blood poisoning at the age of 40, less than a year after I was born. My mother had one brother who served in WWII as well. He and his wife never had children, and they lived most of my early years in California, so we never got to see them. When he got very ill, they sold their house and moved back east, and stayed with us until he was placed in a VA hospital. He died in 1964 at the age of 48.

I was the only one in my family that didn't smoke. My only brother, a Vietnam Vet died at the age of 51 of a massive heart attack. My mother and father also died of lung cancer. My father at 73. My mother at 69. My sister was also 69 when she passed of lung cancer. The only one who lived longer than them was my oldest sister, who was an alcoholic, and was basically institutionalized the majority of her adult life. She died of a massive stroke at the age of 74. Had she not been put in psych centers and assisted-living homes, and instead had been living on the street all those years, she never would have lived to be 74. You can understand why sometimes I feel like I'm living on borrowed time.

I can see how you feel that way. Genetics means a lot with your health.

My dad had a stroke in his 50’s but it was his fault. He smoked, had high BP, high cholesterol, and was 300 pounds. He still lived to 81.

Other than Dad’s self-inflicted stuff, there are no heart attacks, strokes, cancer (besides skin), or any other possibly inherited causes of death in my family. We all have genetically high cholesterol, including me, but it has never caused a problem. When I had my physical six months ago, my LDL was high enough to scare the doctor. She put me on Nexletol since I can’t and won’t take statins, and it brought it down but I feel awful when taking it.

I go every three years and have my arteries scanned for blockage and none has ever been found. They also test for PAD and AFIB and those are always negative too. She has sent me to the hospital for scans because she can’t believe that somebody with high LDL for over 30 years can have clear arteries. LOL They never found anything either.

When she tried to make me take infusions for mild osteoporosis in one hip, I fired her. I’ll be seeing a new doctor next month and will lay down the law on meds starting out.

All of the small built women in my family have had mild osteoporosis later in life. My maternal great-grandmother had it and didn’t break the hip until she was in her 80’s and wrecked her Harley. She still lived to 96 or so. I don’t ride a Harley. 😆

My new doctor and I will discuss the Nexletol and why I’m taking it. You’d think that if a person could make it to 70 with high cholesterol and no problems they would leave him/her alone. I’m a medical puzzle to doctors.