Yesterday morning I took Part 1 of Kaiser Permanente's "Health Appraisal". Part 1 is simple enough, pretty much just the basics: weight, height, eyesight, blood pressure, pulse, hearing, lung capacity and blood samples. Everything was going fine... that is, until the lung capacity test.
Since I never smoked, had any previous lung ailments, appear to be in decent shape, and haven't had any major medical problems, the calculations for my lung capacity was something like 4.7 cubic ("somethings" - I forgot the units). So then the nurse tells me to take a deep breath and blow into this cardboard tube that's connected to a device that's connected to a computer. I take a deep breath and let it go...
To my surprise, I only achieved 80 percent of my expected "lung capacity". I tell myself that its just the first try and that now that I know what to do, I'll kick ass on my second try. I give it another go... Crud! STILL only about 80 percent. WTF!!! I try a couple more times with the same result. I was pretty embarassed. The nurse seemed pretty surprised as well that I only hit 80 percent.
Part 2 of the Health Appraisal is in 4 weeks. I'm going to try and do more aerobic stuff to get my lungs working better and try that thing again. 80 percent. BAH!
Then today I find out the results of my blood tests. My total cholesterol is 248. Still high, BUT down 10 from last year. I guess the bulk bags of Oatmeal from COSTCO (that I've been eating for breakfast) and not eating meat for Lent have actually made a difference. Now if I can have more resolve to eating better and exercising more, maybe I can cut it down by MORE than 10 at my next cholesterol screening.
After taking parts 1 and 2, the Health Appraisal takes all the data and cranks out your "health" age. Several years ago, I had the body of a healthy 36 year old. Sounds pretty good, huh? Unfortunately, I was only 33. DOH!
