Venous Thromboembolism, also know as a blood clot, is something that cancer patients should be aware. There is now a medicine approved for recurrent blood clots by the Food and Drug Administration called Fragmin. Fragmin is a type of heparin, for long term prevention of blood clots.

Blood clots form when red blood cells, platelets, white blood cells and other blood components form a mass within the blood vessel that can block the flow of blood back to the heart.

Chemotherapy treatments and hormonal treatments can increase the risk of blood clots occurring. Talk to your doctor, especially if you have a personal or family history of blood clots. A blood thinner might be recommended.

Symptoms can include:

• swelling
• warmth
• pain or redness in your legs
• chest pain
• trouble breathing

If you have any of these symptoms call your physician right away.

My mom's best friend died from pancreatic cancer just three months after her diagnosis with the disease. One of my co-workers lost her mother to the same disease just weeks after diagnosis. Another co-worker's husband lost his battle with pancreatic cancer after a 15-month all-out fight. And a family friend has somehow been surviving this deadly disease for years now. He's the exception, defying the odds rarely in favor of long-term survival.

About 33,730 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006. Many of them -- 32,300 -- will die from the disease that is rarely caught early. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Pfizer Inc's anti-blood clotting drug Fragmin effectively prevents blood clots in cancer patients. This was stated by a United States advisory panel who believes that the drug warrants further approval. Fragmin is sold for treating clots in various surgical patients. Chemotherapy patients can be prone to blood clots, caused by intravenous lines or the drugs themselves.

A single study showed that patients taking Fragmin had fewer patients experience blood clots. The FDA does have concerns but they usually follow the advice of its advisory panels.

Blood clots can become harmful when they block an artery or vein to stop blood flow. Some symptoms could be pain in the calf or leg muscle, swelling, tenderness, discoloration, or prominent veins.

If you need additional information on blood clots and the currant therapies available you can go to Chemocare.com.

For women with estrogen-driven breast cancer suffering the symptoms of menopause, being prescribed traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is out of the question. The risks are simply too great in introducing any estrogen into the body. There are few alternatives and many women decide to suffer with hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and cold flashes, a clammy feeling, sporadic rapid heart beat, irritability, mood swings, sudden tears, insomnia, fatigue, feelings of anxiety, dread, apprehension, difficulty concentrating, disorientation, depression and mental confusion -- without any significant relief. One of the alternatives is personalized natural hormone replacement therapy that is individually mixed specific to each woman's needs.

According to Sydney Menopause Centre at Randwick's Royal Hospital for Women director Dr John Eden, who has diagnosed two women patients with uterine cancer, believes the cancer is linked to natural hormone replacement therapy. Australian doctors are warning women to think twice before taking handmade hormone compounds prepared by chemists, due to the danger that these preparations can lead to elevated hormone levels that could lead to excessive bleeding, increased risk of breast and uterine cancer and blood clots.

"Many women think they are getting a herbal treatment and are shocked to learn they are getting a hormone treatment," stated Dr Eden. Dr Helena Teede, research director at the Jean Hailes Foundation, also added that many women were unaware these preparations were not approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

My port -- that thing that pops up from under the skin on my collarbone, that thing that by default stays in place because I can't decide whether or not to remove it -- is now officially in maintenance mode, now that my treatment for breast cancer is complete. My last Herceptin infusion was on June 28. And my first port flush was today. For as long as I keep my port -- and for as long as it has no real use -- I must have it flushed one time each month. So today, I strolled into the cancer infusion center where I've spent many hours and this time spent just a few minutes -- enough time for my usual chemo nurse to puncture the skin on top of my port, push through a rather large needle, and inject a dose of blood thinner into the lines of the port to keep clots away. The whole procedure was harmless, painless, no big deal at all. And I will return one month from today for a repeat performance.

One day these once-a-month visits may become a hassle. After all, I have to find a place for this appointment in my already-busy schedule and find childcare for my kids and find a place to park. I have to numb my port and endure a needle stick and sometimes fight traffic to get home. And the whole trip to and from the cancer center takes longer than the procedure itself. Clearly, this may be a waste of time for a port I don't even need right now. But at the moment, this visit is just what I need while I sort out the details of my post-treatment world. I need to go back to the infusion center. I need the comfort of the drive. I need to feel part of the chemo community. I need medical people swirling around me. I need a bit of hand holding. For now anyway.

Drugs appear to be quite a slippery slope for bodybuilders, taking a second drug to offset the unwanted side effects of the first drug. According to University of Glamorgan researchers, 22 percent of bodybuilders use Tamoxifen because steroid use causes breast growth.

Tamoxifen has a few potentially serious life-threatening side-effects such as deep vein blood clotting and the increased risk for the development of new tumors.

Women breast cancer survivors often struggle over whether the benefit of taking Tamoxifen overweigh the risks. In the case of breast cancer prevention, most women go ahead and take the drug, but not without hesitation. That anyone would chose to take such a powerful drug without an absolute need is beyond logic and reason. My suggestion? Stop using steroids. Don't take the first drug -- won't need the second one.

For over twenty years, the gold standard in long-term chemoprevention for women with estrogen-positive breast cancer was Tamoxifen. It seemed to work well in preventing recurrence of breast cancer for a certain percentage of women taking it for five years. Tamoxifen had its drawbacks though, as it was known to increase the risk for uterine cancer, blood clots and strokes. But there was nothing else that worked as well at preventing breast cancer from coming back, so women took it and hoped for the best.

A few months ago, researchers found that raloxifene, known by most as Evista, worked just as well as Tamoxifen with fewer of the potentially life-threatening side-effects of Tamoxifen. Seemed like good news at the time. But as I like to point out on a semi-regular basis, I feel there is a rush to swallow the latest newest pill before taking a long look at the potential dangers. Every pill comes with dangers. It is a matter of calculated risks when deciding to take a drug that might save your life only to cause a whole new set of medical problems.

And now Eli Lilly, Evista's drug maker, has come out with a new warning that its drug, previously thought to be safer than Tamoxifen, increases the risk for stroke. According to Eli Lilly, the finding was made during a study designed to see if raloxifene reduced the risk of heart disease and breast cancer in postmenopausal women who had heart disease or were considered at high risk.

In one of the largest breast cancer prevention studies conducted, STAR, the study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene, researchers have found Raloxifene as effective as Tamoxifen in reducing the risk of developing invasive breast cancer. The upside for postmenopausal women at increased risk for breast cancer is that Raloxifene has less severe side effects. Tamoxifen works, but the known risks of taking it can be blood clots and uterine cancer. Blood clot and uterine cancer risk are also a possibility when taking Raloxifene, but less so. Raloxifene is currently prescribed to treat and prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Taking either drug is a difficult decision to make, and the risks need to be weighed against the risk of breast cancer -- but at least there is an additional option for treatment that appears to be a safer choice.