|
Like millions of other Americans, I come from a family with a history of the heart disease. My father had his first three heart attacks when he was only thirty-one. I was three years old at that time. I grew up with heart disease. It was there, but I didnt take it seriously. When I was thirty-one, my blood cholesterollevel was measured for the first time. It was 311 mg/dl, the doctor told me an extremely high level that put me at a very high risk of heart disease, especially with my family history. He sent me to the National Institutes of Healthto be screened for participation in a clinical trial. The trial was designed to test the effect of lowering blood cholesterol on the risk of heart disease. At NIH, physicians explained the degree of risk associated with my blood cholesterol level and the nature of the experiment. This test involves putting a tube through a leg artery up to the heart. The death rate for the test was only 1 in 100, I was assured. Learning about the risks of the experiment as well as the risk associated with my raised blood cholesterol level scared the life out of me. Although I was excluded from participating in the study, the experience may well have saved my life. For the first time, I began to realize the seriousness of high blood cholesterol. It was a heart attack just waiting to happen. But equally important, I got a taste of what it is like to be a patient, to have tests done on me and to think of myself as sick. This was hard to take. | 
