Health care is expensive, even for those with insurance. My treatment with the breast cancer drug Herceptin cost $5,000 every three weeks for 52 weeks. Insurance paid 80 percent; I was responsible for 20. That's $1,000 every three weeks. Not exactly affordable.

What many of us don't know is that we can play an active role in cutting our health care bills. We can shop around for everything, for example. Before filling a prescription, consider comparing prices offered at mail-order and online pharmacies with those of larger retailers. You may even find that mom and pop shops offer competitive rates since they can set their own pricing. Don't forget about generic drugs too. Ask your doctor if a generic version of your medication is just as good as a brand name drug. If so, go for the price break.

Did you know that lab work is more expensive if you get it at a hospital? Ask your doctor for other trustworthy locations and save a few bucks.

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!

If you are trying to ward off cancer by making a change in your smoking habits, cutting back isn't enough. Cutting out cigarettes altogether is the only way to really protect your health.

Think about this tidbit I found in the March 2007 issue of Woman's Day Magazine.

A 20-year-study of more than 50,000 people in Norway recently revealed that patients who smoked fewer cigarettes -- even those who cut back by half -- were just as likely as heavy smokers to suffer from early death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other tobacco-related problems.

Lance Armstrong, champion of both cycling and cancer, wrote a commentary recently for CNN. His message was loud and clear -- he is losing patience with Washington politicians set on cutting funds for cancer research -- and while his words have not yet spurred positive change for cancer initiatives, they have inspired cancer survivors from all over the world who are responding with their own commentaries on sickness and survival.

The outpouring of sentiment inspired by Armstrong's commentary is overwhelming. Today, I offer just a glimpse into what survivors -- seven of them -- are expressing in the spirited e-mails they are sending to CNN.

Jerry Kelly of Birmingham, Alabama
My dad died of cancer 10 years ago, almost the same time Lance was diagnosed and subsequently founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation. My wife and I met Lance a few years later after I was diagnosed and we went to Austin for the LAF Ride for the Roses (fundraising bike ride). Lance's story had been very inspirational when I found it just minutes after my diagnosis with testicular cancer. What we didn't realize was how much inspiration we would get from other survivors and caregivers as we shared stories. Lance also spoke of something his doctor told him about, the Obligation of the Cured. The important thing to remember is that we can all make a difference if we are willing to give the effort. You don't have to win the Tour de France to join the LiveStrong Army!

Brian D. of Austin, Texas
The costs of this disease even for folks that have good insurance are well beyond reach. Depending on when you discover the cancer and what type of cancer you have, the out-of-pocket costs are far beyond the average person's ability to pay. This is of course assuming that you want to extend your quality of life and you want access to the latest advancements in cancer treatment. We are called society's "catastrophic cases." I am a 4½-year survivor of primary brain cancer. The technical name for my disease is anaplastic astrocytoma grade III. It is basically a slow-growing glioblastoma multiforme -- a death sentence. But I am young and up to the challenge. I am a card-carrying member of the LAF organization. I think what Lance is doing is great ... I think this article is great and I think our Congress should give more tax credits to those of us trying to live a normal life. Shame on them for not acting!

Anne Hawkins of Douglasville, Georgia
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36. I am now 42½ and I have been diagnosed with breast cancer again -- a different type than the first time. I caught it in time thanks to my diligence in screening. However I am going through chemo for a second time in my life since it was an aggressive cancer and I'm so young. I am appalled that none of our politicians consider this a running topic! And the funding has been cut? That's unbelievable.

Marianna Costa, Melbourne, Australia
While I am writing from Australia, unfortunately the experiences of others sound all too familiar in our world. My wonderful father died in 2005 from cancer. The devastation to lives infested by cancer could never be measured in dollars. My conclusion is that cancer treatment is a global business. While I have faith in people of science to rid us from this world catastrophe, there is a global lack of resolve in governments, the corporate sector and medical institutions.

Casey Cronin of Austin, Texas
I'm 19 years old and I was diagnosed with cancer on December 3. I had my first surgery on December 7 and the second surgery on December 22. The pain I experienced was beyond belief. I had to accept the fact that I had cancer, go through with these surgeries, and sit in a hospital on Christmas. The second surgery was to remove my lymph nodes on my back and the nodes came back negative. Without cancer research I might not have been so lucky. I'm outraged that Congress has cut funding towards cancer research but continue to spend an arm and a leg on defense spending. I have a friend with Hodgkins lymphoma and unfortunately he doesn't have insurance. He's 23 and scraping by trying to make sure he might live past his 30s. Cancer is real threat to our health.

Betty Hoffmeister of Taylorville, Illinois
A year ago, October 2005, my daughter was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of colon and liver. Not given much hope, but she is a fighter and a real sweet person. She takes chemo every other week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then is so sick she has to stay in bed for a day or two. But then she gets up and does what ever her little body will let her do. They just say keep doing what you are doing, but we are really worried. I would like for her to hear some real encouraging news soon before she loses the will to keep fighting. God is very good. But we need help.

Scott Joy of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
I'm a 3½-year testicular cancer survivor, and an administrator for an Internet support forum for other survivors. As the Lance Armstrong Foundation sagely notes, "Cancer may leave your body, but it never leaves your life." Dealing with cancer is life-changing. I was blind to it before it hit me, but now I see cancer -- and its effect on individuals, families, and society -- every day. I am forever grateful for the LIVESTRONG movement, and the passion and power of the community of cancer survivors.

In the not-too-distant future, dermatologists will be able to diagnose skin cancer without ever cutting the skin.

Right now, doctors cut out all suspicious lesions in order to examine them, to determine if they are cancerous or not. But with the development of a new microscope, cells can be examined right on the body -- without cutting.

Moles matter, reported Matt Lauer on Thursday's TODAY show during an interview with a skin cancer expert. Moles are highly associated with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. So it is critical that each mole is investigated. With this new high resolution technology -- essentially a video biopsy -- a camera will allow doctors to view cells, zero in on the area of concern, and pinpoint the exact cells that make up a mole. If the cells are similar in shape and size and have equal distribution, the mole is normal. If the individual cells are irregular and have no uniform pattern, the mole is abnormal and probably cancerous.

While cutting for biopsy purposes will one day be a thing of the past, cutting will still be necessary if a mole is characterized by cancerous cells. If it's cancer, it must come out. But the video biopsy can be used to map the border and boundaries and will allow for precise removal of the mole.

This technology is still developing -- but one day, perhaps eight to 10 years from now -- doctors will be able to more consistently detect cancer without removal of skin. For now, they must take a piece of the mole and put it under a microscope.

There are definite warning signs of skin cancer. Any mole that is asymmetrical with irregular borders and varied, dark colors should be reported to a physician. Also, any mole that changes in color, shape, or size and is bigger than a pencil eraser is cause for concern.

The CyberKnife -- a powerful new weapon in the war on cancer -- involves no cutting, like the name implies. This robotic system instead uses hundreds of focused radiation beams to destroy a tumor. A robotic arm moves around the patient and an image-guided system tracks the targeted tumor. CyberKnife delivers small blasts of radiation from up to 200 angles and keeps the tumor in its sights at all times. CyberKnife treatments are completed in one to five days which is just one of the benefits of this therapy compared to traditional radiation therapy.

With traditional radiation, patients often endure treatment for five to eight weeks. And healthy tissue can be destroyed every time the patient shifts or breathes. The CyberKnife attacks the cancerous tumor only -- even while the patient breathes. CyberKnife therapy, available in only 50 hospitals in the United States, requires no mold to position patients, can treat anywhere in the body, and can help patients who no longer respond to traditional treatments.

CyberKnife is covered by insurance and approved by Medicare.

Herceptin -- a targeted breast cancer drug used to treat women who are Her2 positive -- has received rave reviews and has shown great promise in cutting down on recurrence of this aggressive form of breast cancer. Given over the course of 52 weeks, Herceptin is wondrous for its lack of short-term side effects. There is no hair loss, no compromise of blood counts, no significant sickness. For me, fatigue may have resulted from this treatment -- but it's unclear to me really whether it was the Herceptin or the two small boys I have living in my house that most contributed to my occasional exhaustion. Regardless, I functioned well while receiving Herceptin for the past year -- and I did not suffer anything more than a twinge of pain when my port was accessed for each treatment. In the short term, I have fared well. In the long term, the jury is still out.