Join Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) for a free educational teleconference titled Medical and Quality-of-Life Updates from the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The teleconference will be held on Monday, June 11, 2007 at 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (EDT). You can participate by using any telephone or by computer using Real Network Player or Windows Media Player. Register online at www.lbbc.com or call 610-645-4567.

This teleconference brings to you groundbreaking research presented at the largest annual conference of cancer professionals in the United States. Some topics discussed will be:

• Advances in surgical, hormonal and chemotherapy treatments
• Using diet and nutrition to improve quality of life
• Clinical trials measuring the long-term impact of treatment on health and well-being
• New information on how to treat and manage metastatic breast cancer

Following the speaker presentation there will be an interactive question and answer session.

Each month, about 22,000 women log on to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) web site and answer seven questions to determine their risk of developing invasive breast cancer. The Gail Model, named for the NCI's chief biostatistician, Mitchell H. Gail, generates a five-year risk and a lifetime risk for each woman who answers each of these seven questions.

• Does the woman have a medical history of any breast cancer or of any ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)? Note: This assessment tool cannot accurately predict risk for a woman who already has a medical history of breast cancer.
  
• What is the woman's age? Note: This tool only calculates risk for women ages 35 and older.
  
• What was the woman's age at the time of her first menstrual period?
  
• What was the woman's age at the time of her first live birth of a child?
  
• How many of the woman's first-degree relatives -- mother, sisters, daughters -- have had breast cancer?
  
• Has the woman ever had a breast biopsy? How many breast biopsies has the woman had? Has the woman had at least one breast biopsy with atypical hyperplasia?
• What is the woman's race/ethnicity?

A simple drop-down answer menu is provided for each question, and explanations for each question are available. Upon completion of the short survey, the Gail Model spits out a five-year breast cancer risk and a lifetime breast cancer risk with comparisons to the general population of women.

While this is only an assessment -- based on statistics that do not always take into account individual differences -- it is still a helpful tool. Because it's clear that women can minimize breast cancer risk with behavior changes and sometimes medication. And generating a personal rating on risk is a rating worth knowing. It's also worth knowing that this tool was designed for use by health professionals. If you are not a health professional, consider discussing your results with your doctor.

I told my little guy Danny today that he and his big brother would be going to their Nana's house so I could go to the doctor -- for an echo-cardiogram to test for possible heart damage due to Herceptin therapy for breast cancer. Danny -- age three -- asked me, Why you keep doing that? This is the same question he keeps asking -- because he wants to know why I keep going to the doctor. I give him the same answer each time -- that I need to keeping seeing doctors so I can stay healthy. He always seems satisfied with this response, although he continues to ask the same question. He either forgets that he's already asked or he forgets my response or he finds comfort in my routine answer -- or perhaps he is completely aware of his repeat question and just wants me to provide a better explanation. Which is hard to do -- in a three-year-old kind of way -- when my response is the best I've got. I keep going to the doctor in search of health. It's simple. And fortunately, so is Danny -- simple in a young and innocent and pure way. And Joey is too.

Right after my exchange with Danny, Joey -- age five -- said to me, Won't you be glad when you don't need to go to the doctor and you can be healthy all by yourself? Yep, I told him and then realized that these boys have a definite pulse on my cancer journey -- almost two years after it started. They wonder about it and try to figure it out and predict how I must feel. And through it all, I am happy they are involved with me in this intricate adventure. And I am concerned at the same time that what they do know may cause them some stress, some worry, some uncertainty about our future together. My hope is that this experience in their young lives strengthens them, humbles them, prepares them for a future that is not always as simple as the responses I give them about an illness that is so complex. But when it comes down to really simple terms -- that we all can appreciate -- I have my boys and they have me and for today, that is all that matters. Well, that and the fact that my echo-cardiogram today revealed that my heart is just fine.

I will share anything and everything about my own experience with breast cancer -- how I found it, how it was removed, how it was treated, how I fared through the whole ordeal, how I'm surviving now. I figure that if I spread the word about what happened to me, that others will become more aware and some -- especially those with a new diagnosis -- will benefit from whatever wisdom I have to impart. So I am an open book. I talk about breast cancer, answer questions about breast cancer, and probably insert my opinion about the topic to some who don't really care. But I will continue talking and sharing -- and writing -- because the alternative would be a disservice to the few I may be able to help.

So a card stuck in the middle of a magazine caught my eye the other day. The slogan on it reads, Tell Someone and the illustrations on this card -- that functions as a postcard -- show women reaching out to other women. There are women talking on the phone and a woman tapping another on the shoulder. The message they appear to be spreading is highlighted in the text below the graphic representation of this campaign to raise awareness of cervical cancer. The message is about HPV -- human papillomavirus -- and about how millions of women already have it and how some don't even know they have it. I learned from reading this card that for some, HPV will clear on its own. But for some, cervical cancer may develop. This is why Pap tests are critical. And so what all women should be telling other women is this -- ask your doctor about the importance of Pap tests. And be active in your own health. And follow all recommendations for detecting health concerns early. I learned from reading this card that I should tell someone about this. And so now I have.