The following post is one of a series of posts appearing Monday through Friday on The Cancer Blog. This feature -- Today, I am grateful -- allows me to share with readers my appreciation for all the treasures in my life, both big and small. It's healing for the soul to be mindful of the good in our lives. It is my pleasure to share my gratitude with you.

Both of my little boys are in school now. Joey is in first grade. Danny is in Pre-K. And I am at home -- all alone, for four and a half hours, five days per week, in total and complete silence. I get to exercise, read, write, fold my laundry, wash my dishes, run errands, whatever my little heart desires.

It's been six whole years since I've been able to go to the bathroom by myself, take a shower without the distant sounds of fighting and tormenting in the background, and eat lunch with slow, purposeful bites. After all these years as a full-time mom, my new-found free time is glorious.

Today, I am grateful for the stillness and silence that fills my house when my little wonders are at school.

If you're in the mood for upping your antioxidant levels -- antioxidants can cancel out the cell-damaging effects of free radicals, thus lowering the risk of cancer -- here's one quick and easy tip for you: keep your watermelons warm.

Research shows that watermelons stored at room temperatures have much higher levels of antioxidants (beta-carotene and lycopene) than those kept chilled in the fridge. Warm watermelons are even better than fresh-picked melons.

One caution: once cut, watermelons must refrigerated. So try to enjoy your watermelons as soon as you slice and dice them. Then keep your leftovers cool.

Source: Good Housekeeping, July 2007

Marcia, the creator of MyLifeLine, has a dream: To make a difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families. A cancer survivor herself, she understands what it means to be diagnosed, undergo treatments -- and still be present and available to the questions of concerned family members and friends.

At age 27, Marcia was diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer. To say it was unexpected is an understatement of vast proportions! At the time of the diagnosis, she was living in Chicago and working as a flight attendant for American Airlines. She went from flying the friendly skies to a complete hysterectomy, followed by 6 months of chemotherapy. One clear memory is the spiritual support she received from family and friends. "For that I am eternally grateful," she says.

MyLifeLine.org is a nonprofit organization that encourages cancer patients and survivors to create free, customized websites. Their mission is to empower patients to build an online support community of family and friends to foster connection, inspiration, and healing.

Have you been thinking about lung cancer and longing for the most reliable facts and figures on this number one cancer killer? If so, you're in luck because the National Lung Cancer Partnership has just released a new and free resource called Living With a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer. The booklet features basic questions about what a lung cancer diagnosis means.

"When people hear the words, 'You have lung cancer,' their mind starts racing, and they hear or remember very little of what comes next," said Dr. Joan Schiller, M.D., president of the National Lung Cancer Partnership. "Even in this age of the Internet with information at your fingertips, patients and their families often don't know what to ask or are intimidated about doing so. This booklet was designed to be an easy-to-read resource for many of the initial questions people might have, from what kinds of doctors will be treating you to whether or not a clinical trial is right for you."

Patients can access this resource online, where other links to additional resources are available.

Living Beyond Breast Cancer will hold a free teleconference, Follow-up Testing: What You Need to Know, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Thursday, August 16.

Speaker Virginia F. Borges, MD, will discuss follow-up testing after initial treatment, including follow-up testing guidelines, insights into future tests, the uses or limitations of screening tests and the emotional impact of follow-up testing. She also will explain the need for routine follow-up for other treatment-related health matters, creating a plan to monitor overall health and the role of follow-up tests for women with advanced (metastatic) breast cancer.

Dr. Borges is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. Dr. Borges specializes in the treatment of breast cancer and her research interests include the study of new biologic therapies for breast cancer, development of cancer vaccines and improving the quality of life of people affected by breast cancer. In addition to her clinical practice and research efforts, Dr. Borges volunteers as a medical facilitator for Casting for Recovery.

This free program will feature a presentation by the speaker and a 45-minute question-and-answer session with participants. Participants can listen over the phone or use their computer.

To register, visit Living Beyond Breast Cancer's website at www.lbbc.org or call (610) 645-4567

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.

It's May. Summer is upon us. So is the hot sun. What a perfect time for an awareness month.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. So now is the time to learn a thing or two about a disease that is largely preventable, extremely deadly, and almost 100 percent curable when caught early.

Think about this:

Someone dies of melanoma -- the deadliest form of skin cancer -- every 65 minutes. Women ages 20-29 are most at risk, with melanoma ranking as the second most common cancer in this age group. But anyone, regardless of skin color or age, can develop skin cancer.

More than one million Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year -- shocking considering the cause of the disease is no secret: skin cancer is caused mostly by too much sun exposure.

OK, how about some good news?

If a desire for healthy eating is anywhere present in your mind, I have a suggestion for you. Next time you head into your local grocery store in search of goods to fill your cupboards, your shelves, your refrigerator, I want you to try this: steer clear of the inside aisles of the store.

Think about this:

The healthiest foods, the freshest foods, the whole foods are housed on the outside walls of grocery stores. Fruits, vegetables, breads, meats, dairy, and often times the organic department border the aisles filled with cookies, candies, colas, crackers, cereals, dressings, and a whole host of other preserved items. So see if you can shop without entering the less-healthy regions of your store. And if you must make a detour, shoot for the most natural foods you can find. If your search is for cooking oil, opt for canola oil instead of vegetable oil. If peanut butter is your thing, pick up natural nut butters. If you must have mayonnaise, reach for reduced fat or soy versions.

Staying on the perimeter of your store still requires some thinking -- meats should be lean, breads should start with the word whole, cheeses and dairy should be low in fat, and juices should be free of sugar. But still, this is the healthiest place for your next grocery store stroll.

Cancer Lifeline believes cancer survivors - from diagnoses - their families, friends and coworkers, and caregivers are all people living with cancer. They believe that emotional, spiritual, and mental components of health are as important as the physical. Cancer Lifeline values listening to the needs of their clients and creating excellent services to meet those needs.

One of the things I loved about reading and seeing on their website is the beautiful healing gardens. If you live in the Seattle area this is a beautiful place to visit.

• The Earth/Sky Garden - is partly open to the sky and lovely views, and partly sheltered by an arbor.
• The Celebration Garden - is completely open to the sun and sky and populated with a wide variety of colorful plants.
• The Reflection Garden - is a place for contemplation and meditation. Quiet shadows mix with rich greens of shade-loving plants, while a small fountain bubbles across rocks and moss.

These gardens are just a small taste of what you can experience at Cancer Lifeline. Click here to find out all of what Cancer Lifeline has to offer.

All Cancer Lifeline services are free of charge.

Breast cancer drug Herceptin has been approved in Europe for use with hormonal therapy for postmenopausal patients with HER2 and hormone receptor positive metastatic disease.

Herceptin, made by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, is already approved in Europe for early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer.

This new approval is based on data from an international late stage clinical trial showing the combination of Herceptin with hormonal therapy doubled the median progression-free survival time.

The skin cancer we so desperately try to avoid may be caused, in part, by the very thing we use to prevent the disease -- sunscreen.

Scientists at the University of California report in the journal Free Radical Biology & Medicine that some of the chemicals found in sunscreen products can become cancer-causing agents once they are absorbed into the skin.
And perhaps this is why more and more people are developing skin cancer, despite the increasing use of sun lotions.

"Sunscreens may be doing more harm than good," says lead researcher Dr. Kerry Hanson.

May is the important word here. Sunscreens may contribute in some way to the incidence of skin cancer. But the jury is still out. And experts are not sure right now how significant this research will be in the long run.

In April, I'm headed to Canyon Ranch, the world's most renowned health and wellness destination. In addition to day spas and residential communities in various U.S. cities, there are two resort locations -- one in Tucson, Arizona and one in Lenox, Massachusetts. This is the one I will visit.

My several-day stay at Canyon Ranch comes with a bit of a breast cancer twist, and I'll tell you all about it in a future post.

But right now, I want to offer up a few healthy living tips offered by the professionals at these luxurious getaways. Featured on the company's website, these tips might just get you motivated in a healthful direction.

Breathe

Proper, natural breathing can improve relaxation. When breathing deeply, imagine the new supply of oxygen flowing through your body. Remember to exhale slowly. This can help relax your body further. Breathing should never feel forced or unnatural.

Just Ducky

If you're looking for a quick lunchtime workout that leaves you office-ready or a convenient exercise routine that allows you to be good to go at a moment's notice, jump into the nearest swimming pool. Carolyn Collman, M.S., exercise physiologist and aquatic therapist at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, says you can get in the swim without getting soaked. "Water exercises are the perfect solution for a high-efficiency, no-hassle workout for almost everyone. An older adult new to exercise or a sedentary person can benefit from it as much as an Olympic athlete and everyone in between," she says.

Fat-Free Isn't Sugar-Free

Many foods marketed as fat-free and low-fat are loaded with sugar. Learn to read food labels to determine whether the fat-free choice is really a healthy choice. Many products are replacing partially hydrogenated oils with sugar to compensate for lost flavor. The average person consumes twenty teaspoons of added sugar a day – that's 156 pounds a year!

You Are How Much You Eat

A recent study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has confirmed what Canyon Ranch has espoused for years: portion size directly impacts your weight. Using scales, measuring cups and spoons is a useful way of learning what a proper portion looks like. You can also use these common objects to help you visualize healthy portion sizes:

• Palm of your hand or deck of cards for a portion of lean meat, chicken, or fish
• One-inch cube (dice) for the portion of cheese
• D-cell battery for a portion of dried fruit or salad dressing
• Tennis ball for rice or potatoes
• Large marshmallow for salad dressing
• Ping-pong ball for the serving of nuts or nut butter

There's more where these came from. Go see for yourself. Or stop back here -- I promise to share more.

Skin cancer awareness month doesn't arrive until May, but Olay and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery have already chosen their spokesperson for the 2007 Skin Cancer Takes Friends campaign.

Emmy-nominated Desperate Housewives actress Marcia Cross will kick off a nationwide free skin cancer screening and education initiative to alert Americans about the importance of early detection and prevention in the fight against a disease that has affected her personally.

"I'm proud to be part of a cause that is near and dear to my heart," says Cross. "Having had two family members suffer from melanoma, I've come to understand the importance of skin cancer detection and prevention. Knowing what I know about the dangers of sun exposure, I take extra care to protect myself with a large hat, sunglasses, daily UV protection, and of course, an annual screening."

Cross has become an partner in the crusade against skin cancer so she can encourage people to protect not only themselves but their family members and friends too.

Beginning on April 1, log onto skincancertakesfriends.org to find a dermatologist offering free screenings in your area. Take a friend with you to your screening during the months of May, June, and July and each of you will pay not a penny.

Many people don't know just how dangerous skin cancer can be. Yet it's the most common form of cancer in the United States and the incidence of melanoma -- the deadliest form of the disease -- is rising faster than any other cancer. Right now, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer during their lifetimes. And every 67 minutes, someone dies of melanoma.

Screening is a must for everyone -- regardless of skin color, ethnicity, age, or geography. So mark your calendar for April 1 if you'd like a free screening. If money is not an issue, make an appointment today.

Researchers in Spain conducted a Phase III clinical trial called GEICAM. They wanted to compare different chemotherapy regimes in women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. The trial included 252 women who had already been treated with anthracyclines and taxanes and experienced a recurrence.

One group of women was treated with Gemzar (gemcitabine) and Navelbine (vinorelbine), the other group was treated with Navelbine alone. The results were published in Lancet Oncology that states the combination of the two drugs improves progression free survival. It was also mentioned that this combination however did not improve overall survival.

When cancer recurs following treatment with anthracyclines and taxanes, some of the strongest chemotherapies for breast cancer, patients have limited treatment options. Researchers continue to search for different chemotherapy combinations that are effective against recurrent breast cancer.

The researchers concluded that anticancer responses were 36 percent for patients treated with Gemzar/Navelbine and 26 percent for patients treated with Navelbine alone.

Farrah Fawcett turned 60 on Friday. And she's been celebrating this milestone along with a very important message she just received -- she is cancer-free.

Fawcett, former star of the hit 1970s TV drama Charlie's Angels, was diagnosed with anal cancer four months ago and has been enduring an aggressive treatment protocol to treat the disease -- a treatment that appears to have worked.

Her physician, Dr. Gary Gitnick at the University of California, Los Angeles, medical school reports Fawcett "has had a full and complete response to treatment." Recent tests show her cancer is gone -- and Gitnick calls her prognosis excellent.

Fawcett calls the whole experience a hopeful one.

"In the face of excruciating pain and uncertainty, I never lost hope," she said. "I hope that my news might offer some level of inspiration to others who unfortunately must continue to fight the disease."