Sidney M. Schwab, M.D., the author of Surgeonsblog, is a mostly retired general surgeon. With his blog, his intention is to inform, entertain, and possibly educate the reader about the life and loves of a surgeon.

He also has written a book, Cutting Remarks; Insights and Recollections of a Surgeon. It's about his surgical training in San Francisco in the 1970s, aimed at the lay reader with the goal of entertaining with good stories, informing with understandable details of surgical anatomy, procedures, and diseases.

Here is a little taste of what you can find on the Surgeonsblog --good stuff!

California Democratic Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald has been diagnosed with cancer and will take a four to six-week leave of absence from the House.

Details about the congresswoman's condition have not been revealed but a statement from her office reports, "The congresswoman has been diagnosed with cancer and is recuperating with her family. The congresswoman wishes to thank everyone for their expressions of love, well wishes and prayers. She will maintain a limited schedule in her district and is requesting respect of her privacy at this time."

Millender-McDonald, 68, has been representing for seven terms a Southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach, and parts of Los Angeles. She is also chair of the Committee on House Administration and oversees House operations and federal election procedures.

Radioactive cancer patients attending this weekend's Super Bowl in Miami could be in for an alarming experience when they pass through radiation detectors designed to signal the presence of dirty bombs. Such cancer patients -- who have received treatment using radioisotopes and still may have tiny amounts of radioactive material in their bodies -- may want to come armed with letters from their doctors explaining their precarious set of circumstances.

The use of radioisotopes in medicine is growing -- and so is the use of radiation detectors in our security-conscious nation, which means patients are triggering alarms when they are not even aware they are being scanned, doctors and security officials say.

Nearly 60,000 people a day in the United States undergo treatment or tests that leave traces of radioactive material in their bodies, according to the Society of Nuclear Medicine. These traces are not enough to hurt anyone, but they are enough to trigger radiation alarms for up to three months.

Radioisotopes are commonly used to diagnose and treat certain cancers and thyroid disorders, to analyze heart function, and to scan bones and lungs. And many doctors already know to equip their patients with travel cards because of the problems they can encounter in public places.

Nearly 20 million nuclear medical procedures were performed in the United States in 2005 -- up 15 percent from 2001. Clearly, the number of people who could be mistaken for terrorists is quite large. So if you are one of these people -- with the power to create a buzz in a public setting -- get your papers in order so you can quickly confirm your identity as nothing more than a cancer patient.

Why do we shy away from the colonoscopy? It just seems like such a fun experience! Well, I'm sure it will never be that but music seems to help with anxiety and the need for higher doses of medication before the procedure. There is a 90% cure rate when colon cancer is caught in its earliest stages.

We know that music can soothe us, lift our spirits, make us sad, give us energy and many other emotional responses. Its seems like a given that it would help patients better tolerate scans and procedures. If the tests are more anxiety free then more of us might actually make those appointments we keep putting off.

A study done by the doctors at Temple University in Philadelphia showed that music played during a colonoscopy procedure made some patients able to relax enough to require less sedation, without sacrificing comfort.

According to Benjamin Krevsky, M.D., M.P.H., "Over all, colonoscopies are very, very safe and while the risk of sedatives are relatively small, in general, less medication is always better. Offering music has no down side, it may prove beneficial, and patients appear to be satisfied with the procedure."

I myself am guilty of putting off the colonoscopy. Since I was diagnosed with breast cancer my oncologist has been recommending the procedure. ok, so ..

What kind of music goes with a colonoscopy? hmmmm...

Numbness is wearing off, and I am beginning to feel twinges of pain surrounding the area where my port was once located. I can't see what was done to me today -- because the area is carefully bandaged -- but I know from what I feel that my skin has been cut and sewn back together. I feel the skin tightening, stretching, pulsing and while it's not terribly comfortable, it's pretty minor compared to the pain of so many other cancer procedures -- like my lumpectomy, my chemotherapy, my nausea, my neutropenia, my allergic reactions to various medications.

So I am fine, following my port removal that was predicted to last a few hours but somehow took most of the day. The actual procedure took just one hour, and the twilight drug that kept me in a peaceful funk allowed me to relax while the port that was tunneled into the tissue underneath my skin was precisely taken from my body. It was an uneventful experience -- except for a few tears that dripped from my eyes during the final moments before my surgery. I think it may have been the power of the moment -- the moment signaling the end of my active cancer journey. Or it may have been the power of support offered by my sister and my three-year-old son who accompanied me today. Or it may have been the power of the response I gave a nurse who had just seen my little guy and asked me if I planned to have more children. My response -- probably not, because of cancer -- seemed a little too final, a little too sad.

It may have been the combination of everything, all adding up over the past two years, that brought tears to my eyes today. But for now, the tears are gone. And the port is gone. For now, my cancer is gone.

Some people detail their journeys with cancer through journaling -- like me -- and some use other mediums to express their emotions about this life-threatening disease.

Marilyn Whitney uses watercolors to sum up her experiences. As she underwent all sorts of procedures for breast cancer, two thoughts kept crossing her mind. One thought was the tendency to flee and the other was that there must be some way to help others by describing her procedures.

So after each hospital session, Marilyn would go home and craft a watercolor of what she had just seen and experienced. Then she would add a poem so the viewer would fully understand the message she was trying to convey.

According to a new Institute of Cancer Research study, researchers have determined that men in their late 50's might be undergoing unnecessary prostate cancer surgery and radiotherapy. Based on the research, the surgery and radiation treatment currently advised for men in this age group is not likely to extend survival. The conclusion of the study is that men who are in their late 50's can expect to live 15 or more years without surgical intervention or radiation treatment. Two recent procedures are being used more and more -- implant of radioactive seeds and a process of deep freezing a tumor to destroy it.

This is good news for men with low-grade prostate cancer as both surgery and radiation can have adverse and unwanted side effects that can diminish the quality of life. If you are a man who has been diagnosed with low-grade prostate cancer, and your doctor recommends surgery or the traditional radiation treatment, you might want to seek a second opinion about the other treatment options available before consenting to treatment. At least you will know if less invasive procedures are possible for your specific cancer case.