About 820 cases of testicular cancer are diagnosed annually in Canada and it is the number one killer for men between the ages of 20 and 30. This past weekend a fundraiser was held called Nuts4ribs in Bedford, Nova Scotia.

The fundraiser featured cook offs, music and a nationally acclaimed one-man play by Daniel Schneiderman, titled Left Nut, a humorous look at a man with testicular cancer.

Michael Kydd, diagnosed with testicular cancer three years ago, is the man behind the event. Kydd said "What I'm trying to do is make sure men understand that by ignoring the warning signs, you're not doing yourself any good".

Micheal Kydd also added "Although we're not going to cure the disease, what we are going to do is help men understand the disease and make sure they know and communicate that with their family, and then live happily ever after".

Each year more than 211,000 American women learn they have breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in this country other than skin cancer. But breast cancer is not just a cancer that strikes women. Each year 1,700 men in this country will learn that they have breast cancer. About 500 men will die from the disease. So it is just as important for men to know the signs they might experience if developing breast cancer and act on them immediately with a visit to a doctor. It is important to know your body and to recognize changes that might be taking place.

Signs of Male Breast Cancer

1. Abnormal lumps or swelling in either the breast, nipple, or chest muscle
2. Skin dimpling or puckering
3. Nipple retraction (turning inward)
4. Redness or scaling of the nipple or breast skin
5. Nipple discharge

The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 16,600 new cases of myeloma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Bone pain is the most common early symptom of myeloma. Most patients feel pain in their back or ribs, but it can occur in any bone. The pain is usually made worse by movement.

Patients fatigue more easily and often feel weak. They may also have a pale complexion from anemia which is a common medical problem for patients with myeloma and may contribute to the fatigue. If the disease progresses, the concentration of normal cells in the blood may also decrease. Headaches, bruising, nose bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding, and tingling or numbness in extremities are all symptoms of myeloma.

Patients may have repeated infections because antibodies to invading viruses, bacteria or other disease agents are not made efficiently of in adequate amounts. Urinary tract, bronchial, lung, skin, or other sites of infection may be the first sign of the disease. In addition, recurrent infections may complicate the course of the disease.

Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect. There are no great screening tests to pick up on its presence in the body, and by the time symptoms appear, the disease has often progressed into an advanced stage. But a ray of light has recently emerged in the study of ovarian cancer -- and it could help in the prevention and early detection of this deadly disease.

Think about this, from the April 2007 issue of Woman's Day magazine:

Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine have identified a simple checklist of six symptoms associated with an increased risk of the disease and three of them -- if they occur at least 12 times per month and are present for less than one year -- were present 57 percent of the time in a study of women with early-stage disease.

And the three symptoms are: abdominal and pelvic pain, bloating and difficulty eating, and feeling full quickly.

If you experience these problems, especially if they are frequent or new, contact your doctor because identifying ovarian cancer quickly is key. In its early stages, the cure rate is 90 percent. But for advanced cancer, it's only 20 percent.

Chemo is tough stuff. That's what my oncologist told me the day I tracked her down on the phone and told her how awful I felt. I was weak, dizzy, pale, and as close to incoherent as I'd ever been. I was so out of sorts I was convinced I would jump out of my skin at the very moment this doctor implied all I needed was a firm grip on reality.

"Do you have enough support?" she asked. "Yep," I replied. I told her my mom lives right around the corner, my sister just a few miles away. I told her friends were delivering meals and my husband was coming home from work whenever I called for him. Help was just a phone call away, and I had plenty of it. What I didn't have was medical guidance about how my body was tolerating chemotherapy. That's why I needed her.

I hung up the phone that day having accomplished nothing. And I woke up the next morning barely able to walk. I crawled into my kitchen, grabbed a banana, sprawled out on the floor, inhaled some nutrition, and called my mom. I told her I needed to have my blood examined.

My mom transported me to my oncology clinic -- we had a genetic counseling appointment there anyway so it was convenient timing -- and before long, I was hand-delivered a mask and was swiftly escorted to my very own hospital room where I stayed for five days.

The day I was admitted to the hospital, my white blood counts were 700. My body was not tolerating chemotherapy. And I'll never know why my oncologist didn't know this, didn't call me in for an evaluation when so many signs were presenting themselves, didn't offer me more than her steadfast declaration that "chemo is tough stuff."

Yes, chemo is tough. And there are all sorts of expected side effects of the dreaded treatment that patients must endure. But there are many effects patients should not have to suck up, effects that warrant immediate medical attention and can be alleviated with the right intervention.

It took days of antibiotic treatment and a blood transfusion for my body to recover from its chemotherapy attack. I often wonder what would have happened had I toughed it out at home. I suspect the outcome could have been tragic.

If I ever have the occasion to preach about the dangers of chemotherapy, which is what I am doing here, I offer a firm warning about how difficult the treatments can be, how anyone with any string of worrisome side effects should seek medical help immediately, how any oncologist who doesn't respond to an outright cry for help should be fired.

I learned many lessons from my chemo crusade. I learned how to better help myself, and I learned to report right to the emergency room the second time my blood counts plummeted. I learned to demand the care I deserve, and I found an oncologist who is a warm and caring partner in my pursuit of health. And I learned that chemo is tougher than I ever imagined, too tough for some -- like me -- to go it alone.

Not all melanomas are alike, and the characteristics of a fast-growing melanoma skin cancer begin in skin tumors that are thicker, symmetrical, elevated, have regular borders or have symptoms, according to the conclusions of a survey study completed by Peter MacCallum Cancer Center researchers. They also note that the faster-growing melanoma is more likely to affect men 70 years or older and individuals with fewer moles and freckles.

"In summary, this study provides descriptive data on the spectrum of melanoma rates of growth and insights into subgroups of patients with melanoma that are associated with rapid growth," stated the researchers. "We propose that this information on melanoma rate of growth be incorporated into education programs for patients and health professionals."

The advantage of identifying the more aggressive melanoma will allow for more aggressive treatment. Details of the study will be published in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology. Of the different skin cancers, melanoma is the most serious and most often appears as a change in size, shape, or color of a mole. To learn more about melanoma, visit the National Cancer Institute's melanoma section and The Cancer Blog's melanoma and skin cancer category of posts.

In the not-too-distant future, dermatologists will be able to diagnose skin cancer without ever cutting the skin.

Right now, doctors cut out all suspicious lesions in order to examine them, to determine if they are cancerous or not. But with the development of a new microscope, cells can be examined right on the body -- without cutting.

Moles matter, reported Matt Lauer on Thursday's TODAY show during an interview with a skin cancer expert. Moles are highly associated with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. So it is critical that each mole is investigated. With this new high resolution technology -- essentially a video biopsy -- a camera will allow doctors to view cells, zero in on the area of concern, and pinpoint the exact cells that make up a mole. If the cells are similar in shape and size and have equal distribution, the mole is normal. If the individual cells are irregular and have no uniform pattern, the mole is abnormal and probably cancerous.

While cutting for biopsy purposes will one day be a thing of the past, cutting will still be necessary if a mole is characterized by cancerous cells. If it's cancer, it must come out. But the video biopsy can be used to map the border and boundaries and will allow for precise removal of the mole.

This technology is still developing -- but one day, perhaps eight to 10 years from now -- doctors will be able to more consistently detect cancer without removal of skin. For now, they must take a piece of the mole and put it under a microscope.

There are definite warning signs of skin cancer. Any mole that is asymmetrical with irregular borders and varied, dark colors should be reported to a physician. Also, any mole that changes in color, shape, or size and is bigger than a pencil eraser is cause for concern.

Testicular cancer, cancer in one or both of the testicles, usually occurs in young men and will strike about 8,250 of these men this year. About 370 men will die.

A man's lifetime risk of developing this cancer -- that typically shows up in only one testicle -- is 1 in 300, securing it as one of the less common cancers in the United States. The chances of dying from testicular cancer are 1 in 5,000, making it one of the most curable forms of cancer. Yet it is still the most common form of cancer in men ages 15-34. It is also a cancer commonly characterized by denial and embarrassment. As a result, it is one of the least mentioned cancers.

Usually, when we announce a celebrity is raising awareness for cancer, it is the result of a news release that the celebrity has joined a cancer foundation in an effort to lend a higher visibility to the campaign.

In the case of actress Julia Roberts, it appears simply having your photo taken is enough to raise awareness about cancer. At a Hollywood tribute to George Clooney, photographers noticed a mole on her right breast which led to a cancer expert urging Roberts to get it checked out. A dermatologist is suggesting that it looks like a scar resulting from the removal of a mole, according to the movie and entertainment reporting of the incident.

Do you think celebrities ever get fish-bowl claustrophobia from such intense scrutiny and unsolicited advice into their private life? Roberts strikes me as an intelligent woman, and I would wager she is aware of her mysterious mole and has sought medical attention for it.

However unintended as a service to public health information, this latest celebrity gossip about Roberts' right breast does create conversation into what might qualify as a suspicious-looking mole likely to warrant medical attention.

The warning signs of a mole that can cause cancer concern are:



Asymmetry -- One side of the mole does not match the other side of the mole and appears uneven.

Border -- The edge of the mole has a ragged or irregular border.

Color -- The color of the mole is uneven and varies in shade.

Diameter -- A mole bigger than a pencil eraser.

There are three main types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the most common and malignant melanoma can be the most deadly if not caught in its earliest stage. This year in the US, more than one million people will be diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer, and 62,190 will be diagnosed with melanoma, according to the American Cancer Society. For more information on skin cancer related posts, visit Melanoma and Skin Cancer.

I was in the emergency room the other night with my three-year-old who was experiencing a mysterious leg pain that resulted from a bad case of strep throat. It wasn't serious enough to warrant swift movement from the waiting room to an actual room and we sat in a holding pattern with a crowd of other patients, some of whom were still waiting after Danny had been treated and released. I was told patients are served in the order in which they arrive but also according to the seriousness of their complaints -- which takes me back to the night I was in the ER with a fever, headache, sore throat, and sore gums. The night I was given a mask and was immediately escorted from the waiting room to a private room where doctors and nurses treated me for neutropenia -- a condition caused by chemotherapy and marked by a drop in neutrophil levels, a condition that puts chemotherapy patients at great risk for infection. This was the second time I went to the hospital for neutropenia. Both times I was admitted and treated for five days.

And so sitting in the ER reminded me about how serious chemotherapy side effects can be. And it makes me want to caution all chemotherapy patients to never dismiss the signs that the body is suffering -- to never tough it out with the hope that a good night's sleep or a few days rest will straighten everything out. Because it may not -- and the end result may be tragic.

All chemotherapy patients should be briefed by their medical teams about when to call for medical assistance. For me, a temperature of 100.4 was the magic call-for-help signal. And twice, I called for help -- once in the middle of the night. But any symptoms , and definitely a combination of symptoms, are cause enough for a simple phone call. So don't delay. Don't excuse warning signs that your body is struggling. Don't second-guess your decision to notify a medical professional about your symptoms. Just call. It could save your life.

I recently learned that the CBS website features a whole section of public service announcements about various topics -- such as child abduction, depression, HIV/AIDS, menopause, osteoporosis, and heart disease. But what first caught my eye when I was visiting this site was the topic of breast cancer -- because this is the disease I am fighting. And then I spotted a section about colorectal cancer. I was intrigued about a television network's commitment to public health issues. So I kept reading and learned a thing or two about the CBS Cares initiative -- that is also delivered through television spots.

I learned that hundreds of hours have been spent researching each featured subject. And I learned that experts in each field have been consulted and interviewed for accurate and up-to-date information. I found that the basics of each topic are included on the website as well as detailed information that viewers might not otherwise know. For breast cancer, readers can learn about breast cancer in general, about early detection, and about risk factors. And there are video clips of celebrity spokespeople -- like Marg Helgenberger and Melina Kanakaredes -- who share their voices on the topic. For colorectal cancer, readers can gain insight into the prevalence of the disease by region. They can learn about polyps, about warning signs, about treatment options, and about survival rates. And celebrities Stockard Channing and Charles S. Dutton voice their messages about this disease. Doctor interviews and information from the American Cancer Society are sprinkled into the content of these very thorough, informative, and enlightening pages.

Dr. Jay Winsten, Associate Dean and Director of the Frank Stanton Center at the Harvard School of Public Health says, "It is truly unprecedented for a television network to create a website that draws so extensively and effectively on the expertise of numerous world-leaders in pubic health research." And now, CBS has set the precedent.

Scientists have determined that mouth cancer develops in two different ways which dictates the seriousness of the disease. This finding, revealed on Tuesday, could lead to better prevention and treatment. In laboratory experiments with healthy, early, and advanced cancer cells, researchers were able to pinpoint differences in the cells that determined the aggressiveness of the cancer. They found faults in the p53 gene, which stops damaged cells from dividing, and in the p16 gene, which helps regulate and prevent cancer from developing. Both changes are linked to more aggressive tumors. This is first-time evidence that some mouth cancer tumors are more aggressive than others and are unfortunately linked to poor patient survival.

Oral cancer typically stems from pre-cancerous lesions, changes, or patches in the mouth -- all of which are early signs of cancer. Recognizing which pre-cancerous changes are more likely to develop into aggressive tumors would allow doctors an insight that could help them prescribe the best treatment.

Smoking, use of chewing tobacco, and heavy alcohol consumption are the leading causes of mouth cancer. And smoking and drinking are a very dangerous combination. Like lung cancer, mouth cancer usually develops in people age 50 or older.

The Family Caregiver Alliance has written an excellent article in acknowledging that becoming stressed, irritated and frustrated are normal valid emotional responses that occasionally occur when being a caregiver. While the article speaks to a caregiver of someone suffering from Alzheimer's disease, I feel the information they offer applies to all caregivers.

All caregivers are going to feel irritation and frustration at some point -- perhaps not towards the person they are caring for so much as the circumstances and the cancer that led to the need for caregiving. Controlling Frustration is packed with great information, advice and tips.

In combating frustration, the Family Caregiver Alliance offers the following suggestions: learn to recognize the warnings signs of frustration; intervene to calm yourself down physically; modify your thoughts in a way that minimizes stress and learn to ask for help.

The warning signs of frustration might be: shortness of breath; knot in the throat; stomach cramps; chest pains; headache; compulsive eating; excessive alcohol consumption; increased smoking and suddenly feeling a lack of patience.

For ways to prevent frustration from building, they recommend caregivers do three things: make time for yourself; take care of yourself and seek outside support -- because not doing these three things puts the caregiver at greater risk for anxiety, depression, frustration and physical distress that may eventually keep a caregiver from being the caregiver they want to be for their loved one battling cancer.

The article Controlling Frustration is published online in the Strength for Caring Caregiver's Manual.

Receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer is devastating enough, then to find out you have one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer is even more frightening.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I had never heard of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). What is shocking to me now is the fact that I have come in contact with many breast cancer survivors who are not aware of inflammatory breast cancer. This leads me to believe that if some breast cancer survivors don't know about IBC then the general public probably doesn't know much about it either.

IBC is a rare form of breast cancer. Breast cancer is not just one disease, there are many different types. I was diagnosed with one of the more common types called invasive ductal carcinoma. It wasn't so common however that I was diagnosed at the age of 31.

Only about one percent to four percent of newly diagnosed breast cancers will be inflammatory breast cancer. The scariest thing is the fact that IBC is often mistaken for a breast infection which can delay diagnosis of the disease.