Toxic Environment?

Nine months spent in Cairo and I am falling apart.

Blood pressure is creeping higher. Wounds don't heal. With so much filth in my nasal cavity, I can't breathe. My lungs are demanding their emancipation. And now the day I have long feared is at hand: hypercholesterolemia. For the medically disinclined, I have high cholesterol. :(

THANKS, DAD.

On the up side, my HDL (good cholesterol) is also fairly high. (THANKS, MOM!!)

I certainly took for granted those things in the United States that make health maintenance so much easier: sidewalks, parks & running trails, air without the stench of exhaust or presence of sand, roads without gaping holes and cracks, nutrition labels on food, the preponderance of healthful food products, respect for pedestrians, semi-civilized driving habits, availability of gyms with functional equipment, America's general acceptance of physical activity and the lack of buffoons who stop, gawk, and harass those engaging in physical activity. None of this is the case in Cairo. Engaging in a health-promoting lifestyle is downright counter-cultural.