Author Leah Hager Cohen says her blog is inspired by her mother, for at least two reasons. One: it is because of her mom that she's a writer. "She has seen me for a writer my whole life, ever since I could make up stories and dictate them to her," says Cohen. Two: her mom is fighting ovarian cancer, has been since April 2006 when she was 62. Cohen's blog -- Love As a Found Object -- is for her mom and about her mom. It is quite a blog.

In an entry written in September 2006, Cohen shares:

My mother is perhaps the most energetic person I know, and my children, who collectively run a close second, have grown accustomed to having her set the pace when she is around. She's the one who persuaded me, six years ago, that the kids and I did not need a dining room nearly so much as we needed a "project room." She usually arrives for visits bearing the raw materials and mental blueprint for some art or engineering project into which she and the kids then plunge together. Even though we've all had months to get used to her cancer, her tiredness still seems strange, as does the chemo-haze from which she regards us more quietly than is her wont. She seems almost an imposter in this muffled state, so accustomed are we to having her lead us on capers and jaunts through real and metaphorical woods.

I was at the book store yesterday and picked up a cool book for my friend and fellow breast cancer survivor Deb, her birthday is this week.

The book is titled Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, a practical (and funny) survival guide with insights of other young women with cancer. Sheryl Crow writes the forward for the book!

I learned that they have a website and also a documentary called Crazy Sexy Cancer, an uplifting documentary about a young woman looking for a cure and finding her life.

In 2003, 31-year-old actress/photographer Kris Carr was diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer. Weeks later she began filming her story. Taking a seemingly tragic situation and turning it into a creative expression, Kris shares her inspirational story of survival with courage, strength, and lots of humor.

Advertising executive and author Lois Wyse died Friday at her Manhattan home of stomach cancer. She was 80.

Perhaps best known for her famous slogan, With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good, Wyse -- who founded Wyse Advertising with her first husband Marc and went on to win the J.M. Smucker Company account -- was also the brains behind this name: Bed, Bath & Beyond. The small retail chain began as Bed and Bath. Wyse thought it would fare better with a more complete name.

Wyse was a powerful woman in business. Her company was chosen to create the first television advertising campaign for New Woman magazine. She was was the first woman on the board of the Consolidated Natural Gas Company and the Higbee Company, and she was a founding member of both the Committee of 200, a group of women with executive jobs, and of Catalyst, a women's research organization.

Attention cancer survivors: Do you want to inspire others with your story? Reader Anna Rubin (thanks for the tip, Anna!) e-mailed us with the following information. The American Cancer Society is putting together a new book called What Helped Get Me Through, which, in their words, "is a collection of first person accounts in which cancer survivors talk candidly about what helped them through the ordeal of diagnosis, treatment and recovery, offering practical advice and wisdom, from people who have walked down the long road of cancer and back to health."

If this appeals to you, please visit this link and fill out their questionnaire.

The book is set to be released in 2008, and I know I'll be picking one up. What about you?

Sidney M. Schwab, M.D., the author of Surgeonsblog, is a mostly retired general surgeon. With his blog, his intention is to inform, entertain, and possibly educate the reader about the life and loves of a surgeon.

He also has written a book, Cutting Remarks; Insights and Recollections of a Surgeon. It's about his surgical training in San Francisco in the 1970s, aimed at the lay reader with the goal of entertaining with good stories, informing with understandable details of surgical anatomy, procedures, and diseases.

Here is a little taste of what you can find on the Surgeonsblog --good stuff!

We cannot be silent is one slogan printed on specialty clothing offered by a company called Privacy. Other slogans include United We Cure and Mission. Purpose. Cure.

The slogans say a lot -- but the accomplishments of Carolyn Jones, Founder and President/CEO of Privacy, say a whole lot more.

Think about this:

Jones lost her mother to breast cancer on November 16, 2000 during a time when too many questions about the disease were left unanswered and not enough options were available for women fighting for their lives.

Times have changed, in part due to outspoken pioneers like Jones, who are spreading the word and funding the cause.

Part of the Privacy corporate goal is to support medical research and to educate women about early detection and treatment.

"It is very clear that more information and research is needed due to the yearly increase in new cases nationally," says Jones who cites statistics such as this: every 12 minutes a woman in America will die from complications associated with breast cancer. And this: more than 1,500 new cases of male breast cancer will be diagnosed this year.

Privacy, a California-based company with a social conscious, offers for both women and men an assortment of t-shirts, sweatshirts, jeans, hats, recommended books, accessories, breast cancer facts, and even a contest or two. A portion of all profits are donated to breast cancer initiatives with an emphasis on low-income and uninsured populations.

Check it all out right here.

The experts at Canyon Ranch resort and spa know what they're talking about when it comes to health and happiness. They make a living off their expertise, in fact. But they're not stingy when it comes to sharing their know-how, and on the Canyon Ranch website, they offer us all a chance to better our lives.

I promised in an earlier post to share more of what the Canyon Ranchers have to say -- so here are seven more healthy habits you just might want to embrace.

To Carb or Not to Carb

Canyon Ranch has watched "fad" diets come and go, never falling for their quick, easy-fix mentality and consistently advocating for balance, moderation and basic good nutrition. In recent years, some diets have forsaken whole grains for foods rich in protein and essentially free of carbohydrates. Whole grains, which are carbs, have always been a vital part of good nutrition. And while removing high-carbohydrate foods from your diet may initially help you lose weight faster, over time their absence can negatively influence your health.

Making Time for Time

People take classes to learn time management, they rely on the latest technologies to make the most of it and budget time as carefully as their money. Still, when it comes to health care, you may find yourself in a time crunch. Fortunately, Carl Pratt, managing director of the Canyon Ranch in Lenox, offers a timely solution: The 90-Minute Program. "It really only takes 90 minutes a week to stay focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you aren't willing to dedicate 90 minutes, you aren't willing to take care of yourself, and you need to accept that fact," says Carl. Carl breaks down the 90 minutes per week as follows:

• 15 minutes of planning for "mindful eating"
• 45 minutes of exercise (15 minutes, three days a week)
• 30 minutes of relaxation (five minutes, six days a week)
  

Commuting Bliss

When you change your mindset and treat commutes as a transition time for relaxation or education by listening to music or books on tape, your daily drive becomes a worthwhile experience. "We all see commutes as inconvenient, and we need to think of them as something valuable. Remember, the ultimate removal of commute time is not what people want. Otherwise, we would go directly from birth to death and skip everything in between. If you can't enjoy the commute -- and indeed, some are more difficult than others -- you are simply losing part of your life," says Robert Rhode, Ph.D., clinical psychologist at Canyon Ranch in Tucson.

Family Bonds Tied to Well-Being

Even painful family connections can be a significant part of personal growth. Learn to feel reverence toward yourself even as you feel pain. This connects you with your humanity and your ability to give and receive love. How to get comfortable with painful memories? Relax your body and allow yourself to feel emotions -- anger, pain, sadness -- while maintaining a positive attitude toward you.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Being thankful each day for the good things in your life and the ability to appreciate what you have rather than what you do not have is an important aspect of emotional health and well-being.

Think Big

One key to spiritual well-being is to get outside yourself with activities such as volunteering or contributing to worthy causes."Get involved with others and become committed to something greater than yourself. You start worrying about the greater good and you feel better about yourself," says Evan Kligman, M.D., at Canyon Ranch in Tucson.

Not a Morning Person? It's OK

Giving yourself a workout boost first thing is great for some, but an early morning workout may not be for everyone. Phil Eichling, M.D., sleep expert at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, encourages people with sleep problems to put off their workout for later. He says to enhance sleep, the best time to exercise is usually late afternoon. And people who have cardiovascular issues or certain other health concerns may also want to ease into the day before they strap on their running shoes or cross trainers.

One man. One cancer diagnosis. One feature-length film. About how 17,000 men gain membership every month in a group this one man calls, The Men's Club.

The man is Rocky Galgano. He is 58 years old. He is a retired police officer. And he happens to be a member of the very club he features in his film -- a club full of men living with prostate cancer.

Galgano created his documentary as a companion to all the densely-written books and resources he found filled to the brim with medical jargon about a disease that will strike 218,890 and kill 27,050 men this year alone.

Men are reluctant to talk about prostate cancer or get tested for the disease, says Galgano. And yet this form of cancer can be cured if caught early. So Galgano stepped to the plate and started talking. He talks about his personal experience, and he talks about different types of treatment. He has nine different doctors talk. He has cancer survivors talk. And he says he wants as many people as possible to see this film.

Galgano is working on distribution and says he's close to a deal with Amazon.com. He also plans to market the not-yet-rated film to urologists across the country, and he will soon sell his masterpiece -- a trailer can be seen here -- on his website for $19.95.

The YSC produces a variety of educational materials which provide information on breast cancer in young women and the issues relevant to this population. Brochures: Changing the Face of Breast Cancer: Provides an overview of the YSC and its programs and outlines how, through Action, Advocacy and Awareness, the YSC works to change the face of breast cancer and increase the quality and quantity of life for all young women affected by breast cancer. Spanish version also available. YSC Educational Brochure -- "What Every Young Woman Needs to Know about Breast Cancer": Offers important information on young women and breast cancer including statistics and what a young woman should do if she feels a lump. This brochure is a resource for all young women and the members of the medical community who serve them. Spanish version also available. YSC ResourceLink Brochure -- Provides an overview of YSC's ResourceLink program, which provides peer support, information and resources to young women affected by breast cancer, their family and friends and health care professionals. Fact Sheets: YSC Fact Sheets provide basic and important information on young women and breast cancer and highlights some of the most critical issues affecting this population. The Fact Sheets give introductions to specific issues, answer the most common questions, and provide resources for further information. Fact Sheet Topics: Hereditary Breast Cancer Inflammatory Breast Cancer Young Women and Breast Cancer

DVDs/Videos:

YSC DVDs/videos are appropriate for young women at any stage of diagnosis, including those who are at increased risk but who have not been diagnosed with the disease, as well as their family members and caregivers. Medical professionals will find them informative and supportive and may want to use them as a resource for your patients and colleagues as well as place them in your medical center's resource libraries.

The Beautiful 8: Learning To Live with Advanced Breast Cancer

The YSC's newest educational DVD presents an intimate discussion among eight young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Join them on this journey filled with hope, fear, laughter, anxiety and determination to live life to the fullest. To order a copy, please send your full name and address to YWABC@youngsurvival.org or call 877-YSC-1011.

Fighting for Our Future

"Fighting for Our Future" is the only comprehensive survival guide for young women diagnosed with breast cancer, doctors, and caregivers. The Lifetime Television original documentary of the same name chronicles the lives of three young women with breast cancer and how they deal with issues such as dating and sexuality; fertility and pregnancy concerns; and mortality at a young age. It also chronicles the formation of the YSC and the movement behind young women and breast cancer.

This video also has a companion book entitled Fighting For Our Future.

You Are Not Alone

The YSC's educational video is an intimate conversation with six young women diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age. The companion resource guide, published in collaboration with the New York/Bronx division of the American Cancer Society, provides support, education, and hope for young women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Please note: a limited number of VHS tapes are available; contact info@youngsurvival.org for information.

Breast Cancer Legacy

"Breast Cancer Legacy" focuses on the role that genetics and family history play in young women affected by breast cancer. The documentary tells the story of four young women and their families while illustrating the psychological, medical, ethical and interpersonal issues these women face as they confront their family histories of cancer and make life-altering decisions about their futures.

In addition to the film, the YSC has created a fact sheet on hereditary breast cancer in conjunction with FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered,a non profit organization focused on education of risk and family history of breast cancer.

Publications

Fighting for Our Future

The companion book to the film "Fighting For Our Future" is available from the YSC and in bookstores. "Fighting for Our Future" is the only comprehensive survival guide for young women diagnosed with breast cancer, doctors, and caregivers. The Lifetime Television original documentary of the same name chronicles the lives of young women with breast cancer and how they deal with issues such as dating and sexuality; fertility and pregnancy concerns; and mortality at a young age.

Young Perspective Newsletter

Our informative newsletter contains updates on how the YSC is carrying out its mission of improving the quality and quantity of life for young women affected by breast cancer through action, advocacy and awareness.

Someone asked me the other day how I continue to come up with topics for my posts. I wish I could say it was a chore to find material on cancer, but it isn't. There is always something to write about -- so much to write about, in fact, that if I had the time and energy, I could write volumes each day.

I find my topics in newspapers, in magazines, and in books. I spot them on television, on the radio, on the internet. I draw from personal experience and from others' experiences. I write and write and write because cancer just keeps on appearing in my life. I wish it didn't.

Cancer is everywhere. And it offers me an endless reserve of material that just keeps stacking up. So how do I come up with topics for my posts? I don't. The topics come to me.

My nose was buried in books just after my breast cancer diagnosis. I craved information and thought the pursuit and acquisition of it would somehow help me gain control over a seemingly uncontrollable disease.

For the most part, reading helps me. But sometimes, I read too much -- "Stop reading", my oncologist instructed me one day after I rambled off a bunch of worries I'd gathered from research -- and I've been known to get overwhelmed by statistics and numbers and theories and clinical jargon. When this happens, I usually find refuge in the personal stories of women living with breast cancer. Those who have weathered the cancer storm are often the real experts on cancer and know how to sift through the details, offering just what's important to all who follow.

For more than a decade, two-time breast cancer survivor Pat McRee searched for the perfect guide she could recommend for women she saw at the Flying Colors cancer resource and support center she directs.

"Too long," "Too detailed," "Overwhelming," "Just plain scary," were the responses she heard about the books she had found.

So she decided to think outside the book, to create her own support guide. An unbook is what she calls it. And it's not too long, too detailed, too overwhelming, or too scary.

Support to Go, The Unbook for the Journey through Breast Cancer is instead a compilation of survivor secrets, affirmations, inspiring quotations, poetry, song lyrics, attitude buttons, funny anecdotes, and referrals to expert resources in oncology, radiology, surgery, psychology, and complementary therapies.

McRee considers her book a support group of sorts, a place where survivors can turn their wild rides into unforgettable journeys.

However unintentional she says it has all been when it comes to the sultry and seductive persona that oozes sexuality through the television screen during her cooking shows, How to be a Domestic Goddess author Nigella Lawson has made a career out of making food sexy and the act of food consumption sensual. It is part of her not-always-so-subtle coy kitchen charm.

But if we believe her life to be as silky smooth and decadent as warm cream flowing over a morning bowl of juicy plump strawberries, and equally as charmed as she is charming, we would be mistaken. Yes, she is remarried to multi-millionaire, ad man and art dealer Charles Saatchi, but she is also the widow of journalist and writer John Diamond, who died of tongue cancer five years ago, leaving her suddenly mother and father to their two children, Cosima and Bruno.

A decade earlier, Lawson's mother had died of liver cancer. Her sister Thomasina died in her 30s of breast cancer. Cancer changes people. It is unavoidable, and the change can take many forms. For Nigella, who in the public eye has taken criticism for her ample figure and lack of concern for the fat content of food, has an almost unreasonable fear about thinness. After watching three family members waste away and die from cancer, she sees thin as a sign of illness.

"So even though I mind it when I put on weight I have a visual memory of seeing those people become skin and bone, and that gives me a slight reality check," explains Lawson. In watching her cooking show Nigella Bites, she came through as warm, down-to-earth, without a care for pretentious protocol or rules for the sake of rules. It is the way she cooks, and I get the feeling it is the way she lives. Cancer changes every person it touches and shapes perspectives about what is truly important in life. Being comfortable and enjoying yourself, including the food you eat, is a good recipe for life. A recipe Nigella seems to dish up with ease.

Nigella Lawson is Food Network's newest host in Nigella Feasts. On January 7, the theme of the show will be Feel Good Food featuring Smoked Salmon, Avocado and Pumpkin Seed Salad, a Vietnamese Prawn and Glass Noodle Salad, a colorful Antioxidant Fruit Salad, and a Syllabubbed Yogurt. Yum.

This past summer, a man in the business of helping smokers quit, was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Just months later, anti-smoking guru Allen Carr lost his battle with cancer. On November 29th, Carr died at his home in Malaga, Spain.

A heavy smoker for 33 years before quitting 23 years ago, Carr claimed to have found an easy way to quit smoking. From that discovery, he founded The Easy Way to Stop Smoking Program, which would eventually grow into 70 clinics in 30 countries. In addition, his company publishes how-to quit smoking books, CDs, tapes and DVDs.

Using cognitive therapy, Carr told smokers interested in quitting that they could do it without willpower, without suffering withdrawal and without gaining weight. The celebrity endorsements for his program include Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sean Bean, Marie Helvin, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Lisa Stansfield, Sir Richard Branson, Britney Spears, Susannah York, Bruce Oldfield, Stefano Gabbana and Julie Christie.

Carr is credited with helping over 25 million people to quit smoking.

An Easy Way to Stop Smoking Program clinic spokesperson was quoted as saying, "Allen spent many years in smoke-filled rooms after he quit, while treating smokers for addiction. He is certain that had he not quit, he would have died 20 years ago." Near the time of his death, Carr wrote a letter to Tony Blair urging his government and NHS to accept the easy method program. Carr was 72.

Breast cancer survivor, actress and anti-pharmaceutical advocate Suzanne Somers, author of Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones, suggests that if she had it to do over again, she would not undergo radiation treatment for breast cancer. During an interview Somers shares information on bioidentical hormones with The Desert Sun's Bruce Fessier, Somers is quoted as saying, "The whole time I was lying on that radiation table and I was so sick from it, I kept thinking, isn't it radiation that gives us cancer? I couldn't get that thought out of my mind."

At the time of her breast cancer diagnosis, Somers researched Iscador, a mistletoe extract, and chose to include the alternative therapy as part of her treatment. Somers said she refused to give up her hormones, insisting that she knew more about hormones than the doctor treating her for cancer.

Somers has critics in the medical and pharmaceutical communities, and perhaps rightly so. Manipulating hormones with bioidentical hormone therapy is not nearly as simplistic as she makes it sound, nor is cancer.

In her defense, while she does hold some unorthodox beliefs about health and cancer treatment, she readily adds that her approach to health is not something she advocates for everyone. Even with that caveat, people must be interested in what she has to say, as most of her books become bestsellers. Without a formal medical education and scientific expertise to back up what she has to say, I am not certain why so many seem to be listening.

I understand cancer is a scary diagnosis, and current treatments including chemotherapy, radiation and chemoprevention drugs are an inexact science. Not everyone diagnosed with cancer is cured. But cancer is also not a disease that allows the patient a great deal of time to experiment with various treatments.

As a breast cancer survivor, with a keen interest in cancer and cancer treatments, I believe there is a place for some alternative treatments. I also believe, in time, that some of the current conventional treatments will be replaced with more effective treatments. I am relatively certain that Suzanne Somers is a lovely woman. However, I try to chose my authority figures and the experts whose advice I value very carefully. Your thoughts?

I've never had a problem with crying. My tears of joy and sorrow have always flowed easily, and I have never regretted shedding any one of them. I once told a college student I mentored who was hesitant to cry over a work-related scenario that I cry all the time. She later told me my confession sticks in her mind -- my ability and willingness to cry freely, without reservation. I told her I consider crying a cleansing, therapeutic process. I told her that I always feel replenished after a good cry. And I still believe this, years and years after my encounter with this student.

I cried just a few days ago while talking to my doctor and then my mom about how cancer may prevent me from having another child, if not physically, then emotionally. I just don't know if I could peacefully experience a pregnancy with the fear of cancer recurrence. And this makes me cry. Because I want another child. But I don't think I will have one. I cried at my oncologist appointment the other day while talking about the death of a friend. I cry while reading certain books and while watching sad movies and television shows. Two nights ago, I cried while watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, about a breast cancer survivor. I cry when recalling the births of my babies and while marveling at my little growing boys. And I know I will cry when I read a journal a friend just shared with me, written by his uncle who lost a daughter to brain cancer.

Tears cleanse my soul. And sometimes, they complicate matters. They make me wonder how well I am, two years after my cancer diagnosis. I interpret my tears now more than ever, in an effort to determine how well I am coping with life in survival mode. I wonder if the tears that frequently well up in my eyes are normal or if they are indicative of the depression that prompted my oncologist to prescribe an anti-depressant. I consider that perhaps I should be better able to handle some topics, some situations, some tough experiences without becoming weepy. And I also realize that perhaps my tears are completely normal, that I could be ultra sensitive to my every emotion, that as long as I feel happy and function easily, I am just fine.

I plan to iron all this out at my next and final counseling session that I need to schedule. This closing session will allow me to wrap up two year's worth of cancer issues, to close one chapter of my life and begin another. I just need to make the appointment. Which I have yet to do. Because contemplating the end of something so healing seems so daunting. And for better or for worse, this makes me cry.