High Cholesterol Saves the Day
By Don Hobbs

In "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" Holmes feigns death in order to convince Mr. Culverton Smith that his fiendish plot had succeeded. Smith had sent Holmes a box that once opened, a spring-released, poison covered nib was designed to puncture Holmes' finger. The administered poison was a fatal dose to extract revenge on Holmes for knowing too much about the fate of Victor Savage, another victim of Mr. Culverton Smith.

In the end, seeing Holmes, whom he thought was dying; Smith boasted of his crime unaware that Inspector Morton and Dr. Watson were secretly listening in the next room. Holmes had not eaten or smoked for three days in order to pull off his rouse. If the good Dr. Watson had taken a before-and-after blood sample from Holmes he would not have found any evidence of an Asiatic disease but might have noted that Holmes' cholesterol was lower.

This brings me to my point: my son James's cholesterol. His cholesterol has been high most of his life and his high cholesterol may have saved his life!

My son is in the Texas National Guard. He spent a year in Iraq where he was responsible for guarding and transporting prisoners. On his first tour, he witnessed things that he has trouble speaking about and it took him several months before he could relax when there were more that just a few people around. He refused to go to malls, sporting events, or anyplace else where a crowd would be.

Once his initial tour was complete he settled back into work and going to college. Then he was deployed to Del Rio, Texas where he was responsible for guarding the border against illegal aliens. He did this for a year before being told he was being redeployed to Iraq for another year. This is not the news anyone wants to hear.

James left in mid-May for Fort Dix, New Jersey for ninety days of training before his return to Iraq. I had a phone call from him the other day and he was at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. The Army/Texas National Guard has decided to release James because of his high cholesterol.

After probing a little deeper, my son admitted that he had forgotten to take his cholesterol lowering medication (for 3 -months) and had had his fill of junk food during the same period of time. He was not feigning to be ill like Holmes but used his brain like Holmes to arrive at a favorable spot. I suppose if the Army/Texas National Guard had done a before and after blood test on James, they could saved us from unnecessary worrying but just like in "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" everything turned out right in the end.

Happy Collecting!!