I wrote on May 29 about my worry regarding a dry, flaky patch of skin on my nose. Unsure of the status of this unusual spot, I immediately called my dermatologist and made an appointment -- which did not end up being all that immediate. The earliest slot available for addressing my personal crisis was June 12 at 11 AM. I took it. And then the stars aligned and I got a call on this very same day.

"We have a cancellation tomorrow. Do you want to come in then?" said the voice on the other end of the phone. Yes, yes, yes, I wanted it. And so I took this slot instead.

Yesterday I met with my dermatologist. The good news is: what I found on the bridge of my nose is not cancer. The bad news is: it was trying really hard to become cancer.

Almost 19,000 cases of primary liver cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year according to The American Cancer Society. This type of cancer is twice as common in men as in women. Over 16,000 patients will die of their liver cancer by the end of 2006.

The liver is responsible for many vital roles in our body. It plays an important role in removing toxic waste, stores many nutrients absorbed from the intestines and can also make some of the clotting factors needed to stop bleeding from an injury. The liver is made up of several different types of cells. The tumors that develop in the liver can either be benign or cancerous. Benign tumors of the liver include hemangioma, hepatic adenomas and focal nodular hyperplasia.

The most common form of liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma. It begins in the main type of liver cell and three out of four patients diagnosed with primary liver cancer are of this type. A type of liver cancer that is rare but has a better prognosis than other forms of liver cancer is called fibrolamellar liver cancer. Cholangiocarcinomas, another form of liver cancer is usually treated the same as hepatocellular carcinoma.

Many times when the cancer is found in the liver it did not begin there but is metastasis from another primary tumor in the body. These tumors are not considered primary liver cancer and are not treated as such, they will be treated based on where the primary tumor began. If you have metastasis to the liver from lung cancer you will still be treated with drugs that kill lung cancer tumors.

Sheila Kaye had been smoking for years when they found the tumor in her lung. As a long-time smoker, her lungs were in such bad shape that the diagnosis became inoperable lung cancer. The only remedy the doctor could try was cryosurgery, a procedure that freezes a tumor. With a special probe, the tumor is brought down to -190°C, and within three to six months it disintegrates. BBC News has the feature on Kaye's lung cancer recovery here.

In other lung cancer news, Vanderbilt University in Nashville researchers have discovered a protein that might be a significant key to the development of almost 75 percent of non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer. In studying the lung cancer tissue of 46 lung cancer patients, they found the protein barely present or missing altogether in 77 percent of the samples. Using mice, they found when they restored the protein, tumor growth slowed. The key proteins are called type 2 receptors for Transforming Growth Factor-b, or TGF-b.