Many patients either want to know everything that is going on with their diagnoses and treatment or they don't want to know any details and just will go along with what their trusted physician tells them.

I found myself as being the former patient mentioned and an extreme one at that. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I researched as much as anyone possibly could. I wanted to know all the treatment options, prognosis, side effects and I wanted to know what chemotherapy drugs were available for my cancer and everything about them.

Robert Hudick is a patient that wants to know everything about his diagnosis of prostate cancer. He, like me, did all the research about his many options for treatment. Not everyone is lucky enough to have options but when you are faced with making your own treatment decisions it can be very difficult.

These days patients are becoming much more involved in the decisions that make up their treatment plan. Mr. Hudick decided to go even further with the way he took part in his own treatment. Robert not only researched but he changed his life completely. After an estimated 1000 hours of research, he decided he wanted a radical retopublic prostatecomy. Robert also lost 47 pounds to lessen the risk of his upcoming surgery, took yoga and imagery classes and tried Chinese medicine massage techniques.

These things are not for everyone, I myself did not go the alternative route to compliment conventional therapy, but being proactive in our own care is the message.

Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died Monday in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 52. Hunt Lieberson battled breast cancer in the recent past and had canceled performances in 2005 and 2006 due to back problems -- yet no one was prepared for her death, which occured at her home with her husband by her side. The music world is shocked by her passing. There were no obvious warning signs because Hunt Lieberson often kept her health matters private. No public announcement regarding cause of death has been released.

Known for her beautiful voice -- and a repertoire that ranged from Baroque to contemporary -- the singer, a native of the San Francisco Bay area, began her career as a violist and later became a recitalist, a concert singer, and an operatic performer. She was powerful and polished in her unconventional opera delivery, says Richard Gaddes, director of the Santa Fe opera. She could take her audiences to depths so intense and so true, and her level of commitment will be very difficult to match. She was in a class of her own.

Cigarettes remain the only legal product that kills half of its regular users when consumed as intended by the manufacturer. -- World Health Organization

Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise is the theme of the World Health Organization, WHO, World No Tobacco Day. According to WHO, the variety of tobacco products manufactured and marketed worldwide continues to expand. For example, new types of flavored, natural or organic and roll-your-own cigarettes are often advertised and marketed with names and packaging that might mislead consumers into believing that they are less dangerous than conventional cigarettes.

The youth continue to be targeted by advertising and products that are deceptive and meant to conceal the fact that tobacco is being used. Some tobacco products are being made to look like candy. One of the products contains compressed tobacco powder along with sweeteners, mint and other flavorings, and resembles a brand of popular breath mints. While the tobacco industry continues to deny their intent is to target the young, anti-tobacco activists point to tobacco products that are flavored with sweeteners to taste like candy and come in chewing gum-style packaging. You know, it is a common tactic of the guilty to proclaim innocence. But just saying it isn't so doesn't work because the eyes don't lie. If it looks like a duck -- and walks like a duck -- it's a duck. Deception is the tobacco industry's duck. For more information, visit WHO's World No Tobacco Day.