I am 64. My total cholesterol has been between 170-175 my whole life, and my parents both had cholesterol in that range until they died, both at age 88.
In March, three months ago, I had an aortic valve replaced, congenital bicuspid, leaflets were calcified. Arteriogram and echo found nothing alarming at all in my arteries, which were "surprisingly," they said, clean. Prior to surgery, my total cholesterol was 171, where I usually am. Today, it is 235, and HDL is not that high, I think they said 58.
Recovery has been uneventful. I have experienced no diet or lifestyle changes (if anything, I'm eating a little better), and I am pretty much doing everything I was before surgery. What happened?!?
Needless to say, I am very distressed. Something may have opened a whole new area of potentially disastrous health issues that I never imagined would suddenly pop up like this. Anything you can tell me about whether this is common post-surgery and how it will come out would help.