Cancer cases are expected to more than double between the years 2000 and 2030, says the director of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

This upward climb will occur primarily in poor countries due to an increase in population growth, longer life expectancy, more smoking, and a lack of health care in low and medium-resource countries.

"What's going to happen between now and 2030 is that the population is going to increase from about 6.5 billion to 8 billion in 2030," Dr. Peter Boyle reports. "So even if the risks remain constant at each five-year age group, because we've got more people around, we're going to have more cases of cancer.

It's the unfortunate successes for developed countries over the past 40 years, such as the export of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, that have doomed poorer countries, says Boyle.

Consider this definition of doom: By the year 2030, there will be 27 million cases of cancer, 17 million deaths caused by the disease, and 75 million people living with cancer.

Nearly half of all cancer patients and others in their households have trouble coordinating cancer care, according to a recent public health poll.

Many who participated in a recent telephone poll revealed they were confused about prescriptions, were sent for duplicate tests, and received conflicting information about their treatment plans.

Experts say choreographing care is one of the most important challenges in the world of cancer. Navigating the maze of medical madness can be emotionally draining and can even hurt a patient's chance of recovery.

Now is the time to become advocates for our own health -- before we are left behind. So get ready to take charge -- and consider these seven thoughts on actively coordinating your own cancer care.

• Today, cancer patients spend more time at home and not in hospitals like they did generations ago. This leaves them to manage much of their care on their own -- often a monumental and overwhelming task. Patients, or a designated friend of family member, should document every tidbit of medical information, including names, phone numbers, medical records, instructions, medications, dosages, appointments, questions, responses, and more. Jot down symptoms and worries and concerns. File away pamphlets and handouts and bills and receipts. Don't count on memory alone to provide all the details. Allow for back-ups. They will serve you well.
  

• Most cancer patients need a whole team of doctors -- radiologists, pathologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons -- but each doctor may handle only one aspect of care while no one runs the show. It's the perfect scenario for disrupted and piecemeal care, says one doctor. Consider searching for comprehensive cancer centers where a variety of professionals are housed under one roof and patients can often meet with all their doctors at one time. Currently, only about 10 percent of cancer patients are seen at this type of large center.

• Many doctors are stuck in electronic gridlock because doctors in one building may be unable to access the records of doctors in other locations due to incompatible computer systems or paper charts. Patient advocates say all patients should have easily accessible electronic medical records. One cancer center hopes to start a program that would allow for storage of patient records on small, portable USB flash drives. Patients would keep the drives and could plug them in at home or at their doctor's office.

• Cancer patients often suffer from lack of information. Long-term survivors, for example, often have trouble recalling exactly what was done to them. And over time, doctors may relocate or pass away, leaving survivors with little to reconstruct their journeys.
  

• Shortly after diagnosis, patients should request from their doctors a care plan -- an outline of how doctors plan to treat their cancers.

• Patients should also receive a treatment summary at the end of therapy. This should outline all surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, medications, and dosages.

• A plan for ongoing care should be offered to all cancer patients so they know how to monitor their health. This plan should include guidance on screening tests, follow-up visits, and potential long-term side effects.

"A lot of anxiety results from not knowing what comes next", says one patient advocate. "People armed with good information tend to make better decisions."

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.

I think it's safe to say that a large amount of women in this world lack self confidence. Tack on a few incisions and scars, some lop-sided or altogether missing breasts, a handful of scattered blue tattoos, a head full of newly sprouting hair, swelling arms, drug-damaged fingernails and toenails, damaged veins, alien-like ports protruding from underneath skin, unpredictable hot flashes, and a foggy brain and it's clear that women surviving breast cancer may have a few of their own issues concerning self confidence. It doesn't take science to prove this reality -- although there are studies out there that do confirm and validate that breast cancer survivors struggle with positive self images.

Results of a study released Wednesday reveal that the vast majority of breast cancer patients in Taiwan lose self confidence after having their breasts removed. The study shows that 90 percent of participants feel they have lost their beauty and femininity following a mastectomy. Women worry about their partner's perception of them after such radical appearance changes. They doubt their roles in their workplace and families. They are even afraid of having sex with their partners. And if the patients' relationship with their spouses are not good in the first place, breast removal surgery will lead to divorce about 10 percent of the time.

There is no doubt that female roles vary from country to country -- and what studies show in Taiwan may not be completely applicable to women in the United States. But there is one universal truth that knows no boundaries -- all women recovering from the ravages of breast cancer will encounter struggles. Because breast cancer does not discriminate when it comes to compromising the self esteem of its targets.

10.18.2006: We are deeply saddened that Miriam Engelberg has lost her battle with breast cancer.

Our favorite cartoonist, Miriam Engelberg, who blogs Cancer Made Me A Shallower Person, and publishes the weekly Cartoon of the Week, titles her latest post Bad News. The lack of balance she has been experiencing has been confirmed to be due to a brain tumor, and she will be entering hospice home care.

Miriam Engelberg was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 43 and decided to chronicle her breast cancer journey in a series of comic strips that have now been collected in the book, Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics. Engelberg, mother of a then four-year-old, used cartooning as a way to cope with the shock of diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, support groups, and a second cancer diagnosis.

She has made arrangements with her web designer to see that her cartoons still appear each week. Engelberg warns they might be in black and white. Normally she colors them in on her computer. Here is her latest cartoon.

Cancer just sucks.

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.

When considering treatments for cancer, you want to hit it hard and wipe it out. Sometimes, if you don't get it right the first time, the second try at treatment finds you battling a cancer that has spread. ABC News John McKenzie ran a story Doctors Grapple with Lack of Volunteers that featured lung cancer patient John Ray facing a choice of a standard treatment or enrolling in a clinical trial to test two drugs that researchers believe might be successful for lung cancer treatment.

As Ray explained his choice by saying, "The standard treatment has had good success, and I just didn't want to risk not being able to have that."

According to researchers, for the more than 400 cancer drugs now in clinical trials, only three percent of cancer patients participate in cancer clinical trials. They state that the reason there are not higher numbers of cancer patient participants enrolled in clinical trials is because patients are simply not aware there is a clinical trial they could be enrolled in. Other reasons include risk and convenience.

I would have speculated that the number one reason more cancer patients are not enrolled in clinical trials, is that they make the same decision that Ray made, choosing a known treatment. Taking a chance on an unknown, at a moment when timing might mean everything, is life-threatening risky business. We all want better drugs and better treatments, but in the same spot, would you choose an experimental drug or a standard treatment to fight your cancer? It's a difficult choice.

Researchers are beginning to tell us that being overweight increases cancer risks for a number of cancers. But then being overweight increases our chances of developing a number of diseases. While there are all kinds of diets, and gurus who claim they know the way, the remedy for long-term weight loss isn't going to change -- it's all about moving more, and eating less.

But what if you are moving more and eating less and the pounds stubbornly refuse to fall away? Amy Paturel, an expert in nutrition and public health, recently reviewed the top ten reasons why when you do all the right things, you aren't getting the expected results. The ten reasons Paturel discusses that can prevent weight loss are lack of sleep, synthetic chemicals in the environment, weather effects in temperatures being too hot or too cold, not smoking, prescription medications, giving birth at an older age, natural selection and overweight parents having overweight children.

Of course, this doesn't mean you are doomed to weight gain or being overweight but it might mean that you will need to take a look at some of the possible causes of why you are experiencing weight gain and not experiencing weight loss.

Paturel goes into an explanation of each of these causes in Ten More Fat Factors: It's Not Just the Cupcakes.

Lung cancer affects more than 80,000 American women annually. More than 70,000 of these cases are fatal. Thirty thousand more women die from lung cancer than from breast cancer. And lung cancer claims more lives of more women than breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers combined. Yet a new study reveals that American women are uninformed about statistics like these -- and about the threats posed by lung cancer.

A 2006 survey of 500 women provides a snapshot of women's attitudes and beliefs about lung cancer -- and the overwhelming conclusion is that there is a widespread lack of awareness about the nation's top cancer killer. And here's the lowdown:

• Only 41 percent of women know that lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in the United States.
• Only 8 percent of women know that exposure to radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer -- 60 percent instead believe that second-hand smoke is the culprit.
• Only 36 percent of women know lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer.
• Only 41 percent of women know that one in 17 women will develop lung cancer sometime in her life.
• Only 4 percent of women know that women typically fare better than men following lung cancer treatment.
• And 25 percent of women mistakingly believe that there is a standard screening test to detect lung cancer in its early stages. Currently, there is not one.

Lung cancer is often believed to be a man's disease. But it is not. It affects tens of thousands of women too. And now I -- as one of the previously uninformed women -- know better.

I sometimes complain about the lack of warmth I've encountered from medical professionals throughout my journey with breast cancer. There have been glimpses of compassion. And there are a few who stand out as truly caring and concerned. But there seems to be a general lack of sensitivity. Maybe it's a side effect of the job -- distance -- that I should have been prepared for. But instead I was shocked by how I often felt forgotten, like a number, just one of many in my same boat. And this makes me sad -- for me and for all the others who sail rough waters in search of health. I have waited in lobbies for hours -- four hours one time -- and I've been encouraged to toughen up. I've rarely felt comforted -- except by a few who have hugged me or placed a hand on my shoulder. That's all it takes. A simple gesture or kind word.

There has been a great increase during the past 10 years in the number of women receiving mammograms in Florida. But shockingly, almost one million Florida women over the age of 40 have still not ever received mammograms. So the American Cancer Society has teamed with the Medical Quality Assurance Inc. -- and they have co-published a guide to help these women locate a mammography center that meets their needs. This guide is sorted by city and is available on the American Cancer Society website for quick and easy access.

I can only imagine how the numbers stack up in consideration of all states -- and not just Florida. I can only imagine why these one million women in my state alone have not reported for this critical test --perhaps reasons stem from lack of awareness, lack of access, lack of financial resources, lack of concern. I can only imagine that not everyone -- due to life circumstances -- can be a recipient of this potentially life-saving test. Like I was -- at the age of 34 with a small but aggressive cancerous tumor living in my left breast. My referral for a mammogram saved my life. And I can only imagine how many more women might be saved from the horror of breast cancer because a mammogram assisted in early detection. I can only imagine that the day will somehow arrive when all women -- of all ages -- are afforded the opportunity for this test. And that those who have the opportunity -- and the means -- decide to delay no further.

New Zealand health authorities are investigating what they feel to be extravagant health claims by companies trying to sell goji juice as a cure for cancer. In New Zealand, that kind of health claim is illegal. That kind of health claim is illegal in the United States as well.

There might be a single magical berry that can cure cancer, but without rigorous scientific study, who can say for sure? Certainly not the manufacturers of goji juice, or those who seek to profit from the sale of goji juice. Not without scientific proof.

I am inclined to believe it is healthy for you, and does provide antioxidants that do have cancer prevention value, because it is a berry. Most berries have been shown to offer cancer prevention in supplying the body with vital nutrients essential to good health. But that is far cry from believing goji juice is a cure for cancer.

Common sense would keep us from buying into flamboyant claims that can give someone diagnosed with cancer false hope. A cancer diagnosis can create intense levels of fear and sometimes, a willingness to set aside normal and sensible judgment. Most of the nutritional experts are suggesting that given the current price of a goji juice drink, similar berries, fruits and vegetables might be more cost effective in getting the same antioxidant and nutrition value.

"On the night of my first round of chemotherapy, exactly six hours after I left the oncologist's office wondering what all the fuss was about, my stomach tumbled into my knees, my knees refused to work altogether, and I crumpled to the floor in a clammy, shivering heap.
   
I lay there until dawn, at one point vomiting on myself, at another crying that I'd rather die of cancer than undergo chemo again."

Breast cancer made me a criminal is a Boston Globe opinion piece written by Lynda Gorov -- a breast cancer patient who shares a personal account of the misery she suffered from the side effects of chemotherapy treatment and her choice to turn to the possible use of marijuana for relief. She pulls no punches and makes a good point, by way of using herself as an example, for the benefits of medical marijuana use and the ludicrous stand the government has taken to the legalities of marijuana for medical purposes. If you are sitting on the fence on this issue, or have never gone through chemotherapy and might not appreciate the grueling life-debilitating experience, her editorial is a fair one to read.