As I worked my way to the check-out cubicle at my oncology office yesterday, I carried with me the small stack of paperwork my doctor had handed me. There was a sheet denoting all my charges -- of course. There were orders for a mammogram and MRI. There was a summary of sorts about my visit. I handed each of these papers to the woman eagerly awaiting receipt of my money -- but before I let them leave my hands, I noticed a check mark on one of the papers. It was located right next to words: No cancer present, in remission. There were other words -- like cancer recurrence -- where my check mark could have landed. But it didn't. I ended up just where I want it be, just where I want it to stay.

A simple check mark brightened my day. It's not that I thought my cancer had returned. It's just that my every-three-month check-ups open the door for this possibility. I go to these appointments for a reason -- to identify cancer's current role in my life -- and so there's always a chance something will be discovered. But not today.

No cancer present, in remission. These are five of the most beautiful words ever written about me.

You've surely known kids whose parents smoke declare their repulsion for the habit. The health risk, the expense, the filth of smoking seem to deter many youngsters from following in the footsteps of mom and dad. Theoretically, anyway. In practice, these same kids may fall prey to the very act they vowed to reject.

How about kids raised in households filled with sugary snacks and drinks, foods packed with fat, salt, and calories, and parents with expanding waistlines? Seems only natural these children, despite good intentions, end up struggling with healthful eating and weight management.

We are what our parents teach us. It's all we know for a good many years. And by the time we are able to make our own independent decisions, it's often too late. Our parents' actions and values are already programmed within us -- and it takes hard work to switch things up.

So here's my plea for this Sunday morning: do your kids a favor and become a positive role model. Don 't just tell your little ones what is right and healthy and virtuous -- show them. Let your behavior be the gold standard now, so that later, it's likely to be what your sweet babies will fall back on.

Here are seven ways to get started:

Feed 'em well
If kids learn healthy eating habits early, they're likely to stick with them. Offer whole grains options (rice, bread, pasta) and snacks that are not in the junk food group. Don't even buy the stuff you may later wish to clear out of your cupboard. Guests at our house are offered two drink options -- water or milk. Why? Because if we have juice (it's loaded with sugar) or soda (also sugary and calorie-laden), our kids just can't hold back. But if we don't have these beverages, they are never an option. Out of sight, out of mind.

Keep 'em moving
Take your kids to the park, get them running around your backyard, take them swimming, organize a kid-friendly football game, invest in a kite. Quiet activities are also good -- and necessary -- but when in doubt about how to entertain your busy little bees, make them move!

Let 'em see you sweat
You need to keep moving too. Not only for your own well-being -- that's obvious -- but so your kids see your physical activity as a staple of healthy living. Teach your kids to do push-ups and sit-ups and do them together. Jump rope, run laps at a local track, ride bikes, or dance. Just don't expect your kids to stay active if your idea of exercise is flipping through TV channels.

No TV
Turn off that TV. Rid your household of junk-food commercials, mind-numbing content, and addictive inactivity. Let TV be a treat -- a small one -- and not an expectation.

No smoking
Need I explain? It's unhealthy, costly, dirty, and a sure contributor to cancer. Try with every ounce of your being to keep this habit away from your impressionable children.

No stress
Some stress is unavoidable. Some is even healthy. But the kind of stress that hurts our tummies, gives us headaches, and threatens our health should be minimized. We must do our best to control our own stress so its effects don't spill over. And we must teach our kids how to cope too. Fortunately, some of the techniques listed above also work for this category -- physical activity, for example, does wonders for lowering stress. We can become experts at deep breathing -- have your kids practice with you. And we can teach a bit of distraction. If homework is making kids crazy, go with them on a short walk where they can regroup and return to the task with a clear head.

No double standards
We simply cannot say one thing and do another. Smoking while preaching the dangers of the habit just doesn't make sense. Saying "no" to sweets with your hand in the cookie jar is downright unfair. Carrying around extra weight and demanding physical fitness is simply ineffective. So make a commitment to yourself and your kids that you will do as you say. It's the only way.

University of North Carolina football coach Butch Davis recently received a shocking cancer diagnosis after a routine dental visit turned up a suspicious growth in his mouth. Pathology reports identify the cancer as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Davis, 55, has had the growth removed from his gum and while he received his first chemotherapy treatment last week, he's been told there is no indication the cancer has spread to other parts of his body.

Chemotherapy for Davis began at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio -- Davis coached the National Football League's Cleveland Browns from 2001-2004 -- but will continue at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill.

Davis says he is doing well, that his general health has never been better. And while fighting off cancer, he will work hard at preparing for the 2007 season.

"My family, my health and coaching this football team are my top priorities,'' Davis said. "I would appreciate and expect the focus to remain on the North Carolina football team."

The team opens the season on September 1 against James Madison University.

A new report published in the International Journal of Cancer refutes the long-standing argument from anti-choice advocates that abortion contributes to -- or even causes -- breast cancer. According to the study findings, neither induced nor spontaneous abortions (also known as miscarriages) contribute to the risk of developing breast cancer.

While researchers assert that full-term pregnancies resulting in birth do in fact contribute an element of protection against breast cancer -- no evidence of connection between breast cancer and induced abortion was found in the six-and-a-half year study of 267,361 European women. "Overall, the findings provide further unbiased evidence of the lack of an adverse effect of induced abortion on breast cancer risk," state researchers.

We are all adults here. I am assuming we are all adults here. If not, before you follow the link to this video, you might want to do it when the kids are not in the room. Not because there is anything they should not see, but because knowing kids the way I do, they might ask what the lady in the video is doing with the plum.

There are times when you just don't feel like being creative enough to explain innuendo in a way that prevents the school calling the next day to discuss what your child is discussing in class about daddy watching the lady with the plum video. The translation of double entendre can take interesting detours when repeated during graham crackers and milk time.

After all, as a parent, you are already explaining away the sexual innuendo of children's shows like Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Fairly OddParents, Johnny Bravo, The Ren and Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Back to the lady with the plum. It's a bit of genius if you ask me. Rachel Gets Fruity! is part of the Everyman campaign to raise awareness on the ease and simplicity of a testicular self exam. It's short, sweet and to the point. Starring pop star Rachel Stevens, the video is sexual suggestive in a soft porn kind of way. There is no nudity. It's likely to grab attention of the audience it is aimed at and effectively raise awareness. Because awareness needs to be raised.

According to a survey, only 28 percent of men check their testicles regularly for signs of testicular cancer. The Everyman campaign is attempting to change that in innovative and creative ways. Here's the Rachel Gets Fruity! video. To find out more information on the Everyman campaign and other efforts Everyman is involved in to raise awareness, go here.

Women with large breast cancer tumors (5cm or larger) with negative lymph nodes do not seem likely to benefit from post mastectomy radiation. In the Journal of Clinical Oncology a study was conducted that concluded that the rate of local and regional recurrence is low in this group of cancer patients.

Physicians want to be aggressive but not give unwarranted radiation to patients. I had a lumpectomy for my breast cancer so that meant radiation was a definite for me. I also had a positive lymph node. Only one so there was a question whether my node area should be radiated due to the fact that it was usually done on lymph nodes that had three or more positive for cancer. I elected to go with the radiation to the axillary area. I guess I'm more afraid of cancer recurrence than radiation.

Diane Lane, award-winning actress, appeared on NBC's Today Show this morning and had her hair cut off on live television in the official launch of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign. At the same time, 50 women volunteers across the country are having eight inches of their hair cut in a hair donation that will go to making no-cost wigs for women who have lost their hair during chemotherapy cancer treatment.

The campaign is hoping to inspire women and men to make a gift of their healthy hair, cutting it to create wigs for women in need. In addition, Pantene will launch the program with a $1 million donation to the Women's Cancer Research Fund for cancer research.

"This simple act of cutting my hair is going to make a profound difference to a woman who is fighting to regain both her health and sense of self," Lane said. "My dream is that every woman who hears about Pantene Beautiful Lengths will become inspired to grow her hair and donate a natural resource that only she can give." You can watch pre-show outtakes of the broadcast, as well as the Hope Pass it On video at Pantene Beautiful Lengths website. For those that missed the early morning show, NBC has not posted any video coverage of Lane's appearance. Not yet anyway, I checked.

Dori died this past November after a long battle with breast cancer that recurred and spread and ultimately took her from her husband and two young children. I never knew Dori -- she was one of my blog acquaintances -- but I gather from her words and the hundreds of comments that were left on her site that she was full of spirit and courage and grace.

Dori died gracefully at her home, with the assistance of hospice and a loving network of family and friends. She is no longer able to write in her blog -- No Bra Required -- and I miss her abundant strength and humor in the midst of a exhausting journey. But something happened that I think has eased the transition for those who are struggling with the death of a woman much too young to have left this world -- Dori's husband continued to write. He continued Dori's blog for a bit and then started his own personal blog where he shares the peaks and valleys of a life without Dori and with two kids he is raising on his own. Winter to Spring is insightful and touching and sad and happy. It chronicles birthday parties and school plays and Mother's Day too. It reveals feelings and hopes and wishes and sorrows. The tragedy of it all -- the death of Dori -- is devastating. The upside of the tragedy -- the resilience of a family, the lessons learned, the hope for a brighter tomorrow -- keeps me coming back for more. For more of a story that can break my heart and warm my heart all at the same time.

The more I read the feature story, The plight of the Russian cancer children, the more my heart broke. The more heavy my spirit became for the children and families around the globe who are facing what three-year-old Nastya Kuzmina and her parents have been facing in trying to figure out how to come up with the financial means to get Nastya the cancer treatments she needs in order to survive the leukemia she has been diagnosed with earlier this year.

Nastya came down with a cold that didn't go away and soon she was too weak to get out of bed. When the local doctor suspected cancer, he told the parents they would need to take little Nastya to Moscow to confirm the cancer diagnosis. While at Moscow's Russian Children's Clinical Hospital, Nastya's leukemia diagnosis was confirmed and the parents were told she would need treatment if she had any hopes of fighting the cancer and living. Cancer treatment is expensive. The parents are humble farmers of simple means. They sold all their furniture and livestock just to get to Moscow and -- with enough money left over to cover the cost of Nastya's first radiation treatment. They don't have money now to cover the expenses of living in Moscow and the special diet, medications and treatments that Nastya needs.

This is one ongoing story and struggle of the heartbreaking medical plight for the children and families in Russia. According to the newspaper reporter's account of the situation, ten years ago, 70 percent of children in Europe who had been diagnosed with leukemia were still alive five years later. In Russia, the figure was 10 percent. In Russia, a cancer diagnosis is often a death sentence. As the world remains in the dark, children are lost, and parents weep.

Photo credit: Will Stewart

In a follow-up post: The beginning of light and hope to dry the tears might be on the way with the Russian Midsummer Fantasy.

Paul McCartney lost both his mother Mary and his first wife Linda to breast cancer. Heather Mills McCartney, his current wife, is an outspoken advocate for cancer prevention, campaigning for the reduction of dairy products that can lead to greater risk for some cancers -- like ovarian cancer.

I have admired the efforts both have made for cancer prevention. Today, it was announced that the two have separated and will be getting a divorce. Of course speculation immediately turned to financial matters, with tongues wagging about how much Paul is worth and how much Heather stands to receive, considering there is no prenuptial agreement.

The couple issued a joint statement insisting their split was friendly -- but said that intrusions by the media made it difficult to sustain their relationship. Well! This turn of event isn't going to dim the lights on the media extravaganza that has surrounded them. The end of a marriage is difficult, and I am just sad to see that two people who have spent time and money working to improve the lives and health of others will be suffering personal pain on a world stage. You can read personal messages directly from Paul here.

According to a new research report, women can walk around with lung cancer for a longer time than men before diagnosis because women do not develop the obvious signs and symptoms of the disease. Women with lung cancer can pass normal lung function tests where men with lung cancer will show diminished lung function normally associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD. Traditionally, COPD is a first alert to physicians to run lung cancer tests. Researchers are suggesting that a different set of criteria needs to be considered for women, and that women should not be considered at less risk of having lung cancer simply because they do not present with the classic symptoms for the disease. The longer lung cancer has a chance to develop -- the later the diagnosis of lung cancer -- the less potential there is in surviving lung cancer. One of the reasons lung cancer is such a deadly disease is because few cases of lung cancer are diagnosed at an early stage.

Researchers report that the treatment success rate for younger men who undergo external beam radiation for prostate cancer is the same as it is for older men. This contradicts the traditional belief that radiation therapy is not considered a good choice for treating younger men because younger men are considered to suffer from more aggressive prostate cancer. But, according to the results of the study conducted by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center, the five-year-survival was 94 percent for men 55 or younger, 95 percent for those 60 to 69, and 87 percent for men 70 or older when men of all age groups received the same external beam radiation treatment.

The researchers of this study added, "that the results of this study cannot be used to prove that radiation is as a good or better than radical prostatectomy because the study didn't include a prostatectomy arm. However, other studies have shown that external beam radiation is equivalent to permanent prostate seed implantation and radical prostatectomy in patients with T1-2 prostate cancer."

After reviewing mammography use in women over the age of 55 who have been treated for breast cancer, University of Massachusetts Medical School researchers report that only one in three breast cancer survivors have annual mammography screenings. In the first year after treatment, 80 percent of women went in for a mammogram. At the fifth year of follow-up, only 63 percent had received an annual mammogram, and after the fifth year, only one in three had an annual mammogram. An interesting fact from the report was that older women, with other medical conditions, and those who had been diagnosed with late-stage tumors, were significantly less likely to have a mammogram.

One of my good friends uses artificial sweeteners as a substitute for sugar, and she has been doing so for years. I wrinkle my nose mostly because I do not care for the metallic taste, and I am one of those people who believes if there is smoke there might be fire. The aspartame controversy has raged on for years, each side steadfast in their flame-fanning research-supported stated opinions.

Putting my personal preference and belief aside, I am sharing with you that The Calorie Control Council, established in 1966, as an international non-profit association representing the low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage industry, has released the results of a National Cancer Institute five-year epidemiology study indicating there is no risk between aspartame and cancer. For those who believe in the safety of aspartame, this conclusion will come as a welcome relief from worry. For those who strongly believe aspartame is a dangerous chemical, all I can say is -- do not shoot the messenger. I realize in an attempt to fairly report all things cancer-related and give both sides a voice, someone is not going to be happy about it. And if the past is any indicator of the future, I am sure this will not be the last word on the aspartame subject.