It's not yet clear if the drug Gardasil, the vaccine intended to prevent the human papillomavirus (HPV) in females, is effective for men. But some men are signing up for the chance to take the drug.

Gay and bisexual men in San Francisco are asking their doctors for the vaccine with hopes it will prevent anal and penile cancer, also caused by HPV.

"The prevalence of anal cancer among gay and bisexual men is very high," says Jason Riggs, spokesman for the STOP AIDS Project. "So that's why some people are looking at this as a possible preventive cure for anal cancer and HPV that causes anal cancer."

Anal cancer occurs among gay and bisexual men at a rate 35 times higher than that of the general population. And it occurs more in those infected with HIV.

I'm in another hospital lobby -- this time waiting while my three-year-old son has surgery to repair a hernia.

So I'm back to reading a magazine. This time I brought my own not-so-outdated publication -- The Oprah Magazine, April 2007. And as I sit here flipping and turning the pages, there is so much I want to tell you.

I'll be back with more. But for now, think about this:

"...see how the flesh grows back
across a wound, with a great vehemence,
more strong
than the simple, untested surface before.
There's a name for it on horses,
when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh.
as all flesh
is proud of its wounds, wears them
as honors given out after battle,
small triumphs pinned to the chest."

Jane Hirshfield, From What Binds Us

I have a few small triumphs pinned to my chest -- they show in the form of surgery scars and radiation tattoos and puckered skin where a port once lived. Proud flesh. Stronger than the once untested surface. My honors for having survived a battle.

While sitting in the lobby of my hospital's MRI center on Friday -- time for the annual breast MRI -- I found myself a bit irritated by an appointment mix-up that kept me waiting much too long for a procedure that in and of itself is no real treat.

As I waited to bare my breasts and dangle them through square cut-outs on an MRI table, I flipped through a few ancient magazines -- why are lobby offerings so old? -- and as is usually the case when I read just about any publication, out jumped some cancer news.

So maybe the wait was worth it. Without it, I wouldn't have found this enlightening bit of information, this thought for today.

Now I warn you -- this item I am about to share comes from an October 2005 issue of Parenting magazine, so it's a bit outdated. But it still holds some truth. And if you remember nothing else from this message, I hope you'll take to heart this one lesson -- women tend to overestimate their chances of developing breast cancer.

Think about this:

• 46%: What women estimate is their lifetime risk of getting breast cancer
• 13%: Their actual risk

Over three thousand cancer patients, survivors, friends and relatives went to Capital Hill to lobby Congress. The group want lawmakers to reauthorize a program that provides breast and cervical cancer screening for the uninsured. They lobbied for more money for cancer research and detection methods.

The National Cancer Institute's budget will be cut by forty million dollars by President Bush's proposed budget for 2007. This can really hurt research programs and early detection methods to help the uninsured. Treatment programs now only reach one in every five women that are eligible for it.

The two day event was sponsored by the American Cancer Society and its sister advocacy group, the Cancer Action Network. The event attracted over ten thousand people. They also had large exhibits available to visit that showed the work of state and local cancer activists.

Singer and songwriter Jewel sat down with ABC News This Week's George Stephanopoulos to discuss her support of a bill that will allow women to stay in the hospital at least 48 hours after a mastectomy. Called drive-thru mastectomies, the current practice of discharging women hours after surgery does not allow women sufficient time to heal before being released from the hospital.

During the interview Jewel placed the blame on insurance companies and HMOs who have decided that a mastectomy is not major surgery but an outpatient procedure. You have got to be kidding me, what an absurdity.

As Jewel stated, "This certainly isn't a merely feminist issue. This is about the care of our loved ones."

I don't see it as much a feminist issue as simply a matter of compassionate, and in this case, safe health care of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters. The obnoxious practice of bean counters to decide that any major surgery is an outpatient procedure to save on health care expenses has been going on far too long.

Jewel will travel to Washington to help deliver 12 million signatures to Congress to support a health care bill that requires insurance companies and HMOs to cover the cost of proper care for women undergoing mastectomy. The VOICES: Jewel Lobbies for Breast Cancer Bill interview is available as video for viewing online.

Close to 6,000 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists were contacted by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and asked to answer a 38-question survey in an effort to determine the scientific integrity of the agency. Of the scientists contacted, 997 participated in the survey. Following are some key findings of the survey released by UCS: