Filed under: Breast Cancer , Bone Cancer , Diets , Cancer prevention foods , Blogs , Books , Cancer Survivors

Filed under: Breast Cancer , Fundraisers , Surgery There is nothing unusual about a non-profit organization publishing a calendar. There is something very unique about this one. Life is a Carnival is a bold approach to mastectomy and reconstruction education.

Filed under: Chemotherapy , Colon and Rectal Cancer , Politics "Blessings arrive in unexpected packages -- in my case, cancer," writes White House Press Secretary Tony Snow in the July issue of Christianity Today. Snow, who discovered in March that his colon cancer had recurred and spread to his liver, said his life-threatening setback is also life-affirming. It has strengthened his faith and brought clarity to his life. "We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator," says the 51-year-old. Snow has been receiving aggressive chemotherapy. His hair is getting thinner and whiter. His energy is waning. Still he keeps on going. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Filed under: Breast Cancer , Research Here's an opportunity for you to share your personal breast cancer experiences, and help further research too. Molly, a college student at BYU, has launched a national research project aimed at examining the relationship between couple leisure satisfaction and marital satisfaction of couples in which one spouse has breast cancer. Molly and her study partner Dr. Ramon Zabriskie hope to identify new avenues for cost effective intervention targeted at improving the quality of life for adult cancer patients and their spouses. Both the cancer patient and spouse/partner will be asked to complete a short online questionnaire. No identifying information is required, and all responses will be kept confidential. If you would like to participate in Molly's study, click here . Spread the word too -- the more participants, the merrier. Thanks to my breast cancer surviving friend Adriene for this tip!

Filed under: Melanoma , Blogs Sarah has been blogging about her battle with melanoma since May 2006. She begins with a post titled Something About Sarah where she chronicles the series of events leading up to her diagnosis. July 2004 Have a bit of pain in right arm. Feels like "10 bees stinging me at once" deep inside my arm. Thought I pulled something at gym. August 2004 Still have same occasional pain but not worried in the least. I'm enjoying my summer and playing soccer. Have tons of energy, working full time and going to school. Moving at end of August. Early Sept 2004

Filed under: All Cancers Life has no guarantees. No one ever promises we'll sail easily through life, fall into the lap of a loving family, find the love of our lives, land a good and stable job, and have the perfect number of children, houses, cars, and toys. That brings me to health. No guarantees here either. No one ever predicted I would get cancer. But I did. And while maybe it's a blessing I had no advance warning, the future would certainly be much more clear if it came with absolutes. It sure would be nice -- even now, 36 years into my life -- to hear the words: you will absolutely never get cancer -- again. As soon as Joey hopped in the car after school today, he looked at his little brother and announced, "If you have two frogs and one more comes along, then you have three." Joey is in kindergarten, and he is learning math -- specifically, he's learning to add. That's it. Adding, and nothing more. I know this because I followed his frog announcement with, "What if you have two frogs and you take one away?" "That won't happen," Joey declared. "Why?" I asked. "It just won't," he assured me. For Joey, life has absolutes. He is absolutely certain there is nothing more to the frog equation than what he knows on this very day. Fortunately for him, the mechanics of math -- and of life -- will unfold slowly. And it won't be a shock when he learns frogs can actually be taken away. I just hope he isn't blindsided by all the other unpredictabilities that await him. I guess that's why he has parents -- to prepare him for the uncertain events of the world. Joey loves math. I'm glad. Because in the craziness of life, he can fall back on the comfort of numbers -- where there actually are a few absolutes. After all, if you have two frogs and one more comes along, then you have three. There's no way around that one. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Chemotherapy , Cancer Survivors It feels like summer here in Florida. Our temps topped 86 degrees last week and this kind of heat prompts my little boys to request their favorite summertime activity: swimming. My kids don't quite understand that the temperature outside is not the same as the temperature of unheated water. And so as soon as warm weather arrives, they dash for their suits and insist we make a trip to the neighborhood pool. I oblige, convinced they'll want to head home once they submerge their piggy toes in pure ice. But somehow, the temperature doesn't register. They plunge right in, dunk their heads and kick and flop and float. They are happy as clams, quivering lips and all. I am happy too as I watch their joyous moments from the privacy of my lounge chair, tucked away in the shade that borders my kids' perfect playland. Thanks to chemo, I am the mommy who hides in the shadows during any sunny event. It's been two whole years since my last dose of toxic drugs, but something about the sun and the heat and the residual effects of my infused poison causes my skin to produce red, itchy, unsightly bumps. It happened last year and already this year and I'm wondering now if this will be a life-long nuisance, if I will be seeking shade for the rest of my years. It's all OK really. Secluding myself from the sun's rays is a pretty healthy venture. And I'm not a real pool enthusiast. Any my boys are old enough to swim independently. And it's peaceful in the shade. So I'm not bitter about this unexpected side effect of chemo -- it's called UV recall -- and I'm not complaining. I'm merely marveling at the power of the drugs that hopefully killed all the cancer in my body, the drugs that seem to creep back year after year, perhaps reminding me that in the whole scheme of things, red, itchy, unsightly bumps are not such a bad life condition. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: All Cancers , Opinion When I read something powerful -- a quote, a story, a reflection -- I write it down or cut it out or make a copy of it and drop it into a file folder I've titled inspiration. This file, among others, has been on many a moving van and has traveled with me all over the East coast, from city to city, house to house. And every once in a while, when I need a lift, this is my go-to file -- I go to it, pluck something out, and refresh my mind and spirit. This file has been with me since at least 1997 -- the date on a photo-copied Ann Landers column I have sitting before me. It's 10 years old, but there's nothing dated about the words printed on this single sheet of paper. They are as touching and moving and relevant now as they were when I first read them. They may be even more meaningful today, because of the thread of cancer that is now woven throughout my days. These are life lessons, offered by a publisher of the Mount Pleasant News in Iowa, for students about to graduate from high school. They go like this: Dear Graduates: There is the kind of education you get in school and the kind you get afterward. Both are important. Put them together, and you have wisdom. The trouble is, life is generally half over before you figure out what is going on. Graduating seniors can save 25 years of trial, error, and hard knocks by memorizing the lessons of life listed below. On the average, you learn about one big lesson per year after you leave high school. In really tough years, you learn two or three. Some years, you don't learn anything. After 40, you forget things and have to learn them again. Some of this information is borrowed. Some is stolen. Some may even be original, but that's doubtful. It's pretty hard to be original in a world as old as this one. 25 Things You'll Need To Know After High School 1. Don't sweat the small stuff, and remember, most stuff is small. 2. The most boring word in any language is "I." 3. Nobody is indispensable, especially you. 4. Life is full of surprises. Just say "never" and you'll see. 5. People are more important than things. 6. Persistence will get you almost anything eventually. 7. Nobody can make you happy. Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be. 8. There's so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that it doesn't behoove any of us to talk about the rest of us. 9. Live by what you trust, not by what you fear. 10. Character counts. Family matters. 11. Eating out with small children isn't worth it, even if someone else is paying. 12. If you wait to have kids until you can afford them, you probably never will. 13. Baby kittens don't begin to open their eyes for six weeks after birth. Men generally take 26 years. 14. The world would run a lot smoother if more men knew how to dance. 15. Television ruins more minds than drugs. 16. Sometimes there is more to gain in being wrong than right. 17. Life is so much simpler when you tell the truth. 18. People who do the world's real work don't usually wear neckties. 19. A good joke beats a pill for a lot of ailments. 20. There are no substitutes for fresh air, sunshine, and exercise. 21. A smile is the cheapest way to improve your looks, even if your teeth are crooked. 22. May you live life so there is standing room only at your funeral. 23. Mothers always know best, but sometimes fathers know too. 24. Forgive your friends and your enemies. You're all only human. 25. If you don't do anything else in life, love someone and let someone love you. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: All Cancers , Daily news Cancer cases are expected to more than double between the years 2000 and 2030, says the director of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. This upward climb will occur primarily in poor countries due to an increase in population growth, longer life expectancy, more smoking, and a lack of health care in low and medium-resource countries. "What's going to happen between now and 2030 is that the population is going to increase from about 6.5 billion to 8 billion in 2030," Dr. Peter Boyle reports. "So even if the risks remain constant at each five-year age group, because we've got more people around, we're going to have more cases of cancer. It's the unfortunate successes for developed countries over the past 40 years, such as the export of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, that have doomed poorer countries, says Boyle. Consider this definition of doom: By the year 2030, there will be 27 million cases of cancer, 17 million deaths caused by the disease, and 75 million people living with cancer. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: All Cancers , Environment , Cancer Survivors When I sit still in the middle of the day, I fall asleep. I'm not sure if it's a side effect of cancer or of life in general, but as a result, I keep myself moving at all times. I'm always doing something -- writing, emptying the dishwasher, packing a school lunch, reorganizing cabinets and closets and drawers. There's always something to fiddle with, something to keep my body from crashing into a deep sleep. My little boys have been playing with Lego all afternoon. For hours they have been content and happy and full of imagination. They've built flying boats and castles and pirate contraptions. My wish: to just sit and watch them, to absorb their words, their sound effects, their interactions. I tried to just sit and watch, tried to hone my quiet observation skills. And then I fell sleep. It's a dozing-off kind of sleep that creeps up on me and for brief moments, I am lost to the world, sometimes even dreaming for short periods of time. So I find I am more alert and productive in the study of my children when my mind is busy with some sort of task. It's not my ideal scenario. But I figure it's better to be awake and bonding with my boys -- even if it means I'm multitasking -- than sleeping through their special moments. My boys are still building -- they are making flags for their ships -- and I'm awake. And writing and preparing dinner too. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments