I have a bucket of drugs in one of my kitchen cabinets, stored way up high and out of the reach of two busy little boys. For a short time during my breast cancer treatment I reached for this container every day. Lately, though, I have little use for this medley of medication. There are some things I use -- like cough medicine made for little people and ibuprofen for the occasional headache -- but mostly, we are a drug-free household. So really, I don't need much of what I'm storing in that cabinet. Much of it is so old, in fact, it has probably expired.

Every once in a while, we should all take a tour through our medicine cabinets and peek at the expiration dates on our prescriptions and over-the-counter bottles. If anything is expired, toss it! Expired medications do not work. In some cases, they can be toxic if consumed after their deadline dates.

To find out more about the shelf life of common medicine cabinet products, click here. To learn more about safely disposing of expired medications, click here.

I take most health-related tidbits I hear with a grain of salt. After all, everything seems to be linked to anything these days, and it's hard to weed through what you should be avoiding. I choose instead to trust that if I live my life as healthfully as I can stand, I'll have done the best I can.

Here's a bit of information that you can either ignore or live by -- Laundry Detergents can be toxic to you and your family. Chemicals in laundry detergent are thought to be toxic to the human, specifically:

• Petroleum Distillates -- which linked to cancer
• Phenols
  
• Artificial fragrances
• Phosphates
• Optical brighteners

I don't know how true this is, but if you're concerned, a switch to a more natural detergent certainly won't harm you. For some suggestions, check out this article from That's Fit.

Here in North America, clean water is something we most certainly take for granted. We flush it down the toilet and the sink, we throw it out if it is not perfectly fresh. We're afraid of out perfectly clean tap water so we invest in expensive filters or buy our water from the store. And yet so many people out there would do anything for that tap water.

Here's a story from Dr. Gupta, CNN's medical correspondent, about a village in China that gets its water supply from the Hengshui River, which happens to be the river that receives heavy metal and mining deposits. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most toxic--too toxic to safely touch, let alone ingest--the Hengshui rates a staggering 5. Full of known carcinogens like arsenic, lead, zinc and cadmium, the water is slowly killing the people who rely on it, and they have no choice but depend on this water source -- there are no others.

I can't imagine living in a world where the price you pay for water is your life, where you can't rely on anyone to step in and make sure you have a clean water supply. It's truly heartbreaking.

Are we living in a toxic environment? The experts at Canyon Ranch ask us to consider these facts:

• The EPA estimates that 4.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released into the environment annually.
• It's likely that 25 percent of the U.S. population suffers from some level of heavy metal poisoning.
• Fourteen pounds of food colorings, additives, preservatives, emulsifiers, and flavorings are consumed per person each year.

Toxic? Maybe. At minimum, though, we are living in a world filled with chemicals, pesticides, additives, preservatives, antibiotic and hormone residues, and heavy metals. Whether consumed, inhaled, or absorbed, our bodies soak this stuff up. In order to reduce the load, and the toll it takes it takes on our health, there's something we can do. We can eat clean. Here's how:

I wrote the title of this post -- Prescription for finesse -- on May 30. Then I saved it, knowing I'd come back and churn out a post on the topic. So here I am, ready to write. But I can't remember for the life of me what I'd intended to write about. I know it wasn't about anything news-related -- I would have saved a link to a news story had this been the case -- so it must have been something personal I'd planned to share with you.

My memory has been failing me lately. Once, I completely forgot my sister's phone number -- I call her every day so to go completely blank on how to reach her is a little odd. Another time, I left my cell phone in a drawer in my bathroom -- a drawer that holds my brush and hair clips and headbands -- and I had to call the phone from another phone to locate its whereabouts. I use the whole chemo excuse every time something like this happens. Chemo brain. A convenient explanation for my flighty tendencies.

My doctor says chemo may not be to blame. Perhaps I would have done these things prior to cancer and now I just interpret all my behavior through the chemo filter. Maybe. But I don't remember being so forgetful before toxic drugs traveled my veins. And I don't remember losing the ability to recall lost information. It's frustrating. I want my mental sharpness back. I want to know what I had in mind for this title.

For now, I must accept that what is gone is gone. For the future, I will put in writing everything I wish to remember. As for that story idea: if it ever surfaces in my brain's lost and found bin, I will happily return to write about it.

What's your body worth? $1 million? $2M? $20M? Philip Johnson settled on $1 million , the amount his former employer, Qantas Airlines, paid him for exposing him to Hexavalent Chromium while at work, which eventually lead to him being diagnosed with lung cancer. Johnson settled on the amount out of court, because in his words, "I can no longer work because of my condition, so I'm just happy to have the money to keep going with...I just feel relieved that it's all over actually."

It's impossible to put yourself in his place unless you've been in a similar situation, but somehow $1M doesn't seem enough, especially considering the emotional trauma he and his family must have endured due to his illness. Good health is priceless.

What do you think? Does $1M cover the cost of a life? Is Qantas to blame or is it just the luck of the draw?

Did you know that at least 200,000 people die every year from cancers related to where they work? The main reasons are from inhaling asbestos fibers and second hand smoke. This was reported today by the World Health Organization (WHO).

About 125 million people are exposed to asbestos at work, leading to at least 90,000 deaths per year. Benzene, an organic compound used in rubbers, dyes and pesticides, causes thousands to die of leukemia each year. Those subjected to second hand smoke have twice the risk of developing lung cancer than those that work in a smoke free environment.

This means that we could be preventing so many cancer deaths if the industries would tighten safety standards for their employees.

A high intake of vitamin C has been shown to reduce the risks for virtually all forms of cancer, including leukemia, lymphoma, and lung, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers as well as sex hormone related cancers like breast, prostate, cervix, and ovarian cancers. Vitamin C is your body's first and most effective line of antioxidant protection. Vitamin C protects cell structures like DNA from damage and it helps the body deal with environmental pollution and toxic chemicals. Vitamin C enhances immune function, and it inhibits the formation of cancer causing compounds in the body (such as the nitrosamines, chemicals produced when the body digests processed meats containing nitrates).

Dr. Douglas Brodie states in the book, Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer, "Each one of us produces several hundred thousand cancer cells every day of our lives. Whether we develop clinical cancer or not depends upon the ability of our immune systems to destroy these cancer cells. That's because cancer thrives in the presence of a deficient immune system."

Here is a list of foods high in vitamin C. Adding these foods to your daily diet will help boost your immune system which will aid you in fighting off many diseases as well as cancer.
Fruits and vegetables are both high in Vitamin C. The highest are papaya, raw red and green peppers, oranges, cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, baked potato, cabbage, green peas, kiwi fruit, and kale.

There are a few good vitamin C supplements on the market but one that I particularly am using at present to super charge my immune system is Emergen-C Super Energy Booster which has 1,000mg of vitamin C along with vitamin B and 32 mineral complexes.

It feels like summer here in Florida. Our temps topped 86 degrees last week and this kind of heat prompts my little boys to request their favorite summertime activity: swimming.

My kids don't quite understand that the temperature outside is not the same as the temperature of unheated water. And so as soon as warm weather arrives, they dash for their suits and insist we make a trip to the neighborhood pool. I oblige, convinced they'll want to head home once they submerge their piggy toes in pure ice.

But somehow, the temperature doesn't register. They plunge right in, dunk their heads and kick and flop and float. They are happy as clams, quivering lips and all. I am happy too as I watch their joyous moments from the privacy of my lounge chair, tucked away in the shade that borders my kids' perfect playland.

Thanks to chemo, I am the mommy who hides in the shadows during any sunny event. It's been two whole years since my last dose of toxic drugs, but something about the sun and the heat and the residual effects of my infused poison causes my skin to produce red, itchy, unsightly bumps. It happened last year and already this year and I'm wondering now if this will be a life-long nuisance, if I will be seeking shade for the rest of my years.

It's all OK really. Secluding myself from the sun's rays is a pretty healthy venture. And I'm not a real pool enthusiast. Any my boys are old enough to swim independently. And it's peaceful in the shade. So I'm not bitter about this unexpected side effect of chemo -- it's called UV recall -- and I'm not complaining. I'm merely marveling at the power of the drugs that hopefully killed all the cancer in my body, the drugs that seem to creep back year after year, perhaps reminding me that in the whole scheme of things, red, itchy, unsightly bumps are not such a bad life condition.

I tend to think of cancer as a gift. I think it helps me prioritize life's details. I believe it has taught me to stress less. I know it's made me more sensitive to others sharing this planet with me. Yes, cancer has made me a better person. And I consider that a gift.

This is not how writer Lauren Terrazzano describes her dance with cancer.

"The truth is, having cancer just pisses me off," says Terrazzano.

"I wish I could be one of those people who has had the epiphany, who believes the disease has given me valuable insight into life. OK, I occasionally feel that way, but it might just be the pain medication."

Neither of us is right. We just have different takes on living with a deadly disease. And our opposite viewpoints make for a rather enlightening study on how cancer affects us all so differently.

I regularly write about the blessings I've found in the midst of cancer. So for today's Thought for the Day, I present to you some thoughts from Terrazzano about how cancer is not always a gift.

Think about this:

On cancer making her a better person

I don't really remember what kind of person I was before cancer. While I may not be better, I am definitely blunter.

I often say whatever I want to whomever I want, whenever the moment strikes me. These flashes can be toxic to those around me. I once yelled at a homeless man who asked me for a dollar. I yell at my husband sometimes, arguing about stupid things like how to shove a brisket into the freezer, above the peas and spinach.

And I sometimes wish bad things on bad people. Mostly the high-octane evil people, like Osama bin Laden (Why can't he have to go through chemotherapy? Why can't he have a good dose of radiation?). Are these really the musings of a better person?

On living each day as if it's your last

Nope. Can't do it.

While sometimes I am the carpe diem sort of girl, I want to live each day like just another day. I want to watch When Harry Met Sally for the 17th time or surf the Internet for new pictures of Britney Spears' bald head. Then I want to cap it off by several hours of reading. Forget Tolstoy, though. I'd rather read People magazine. Why do I have to cram life into 20 seconds, while other people have the luxury of doing it over the span of 20 years?

On why she is not so brave

Firefighters and police officers who plunge head first into dangerous situations are brave. A child protective worker who gets paid next to nothing and tries to be a mother to as many as 50 dysfunctional families is brave. Those people chose their positions in life. Cancer chose me. It's not bravery that gets me up every morning to try to beat back the monster. It's a survival instinct that kicks in, pure Darwinism.

The fact is, most of the time I am scared to death. I wear Band-Aids far too long because I can't take the agony of pulling them off. I hate needles (though I don't know anyone who likes them). Why is it that people who hate getting blood drawn are the ones who usually end up with serious illnesses that require getting stuck often? It's a mystery of the universe, much like why tornadoes seem to seek out trailer parks to do their damage.

A drug commonly used to minimize the toxic effects of chemotherapy has been shown in mice to cause bone loss and promote tumor growth, according to the results of a recent study.

This drug, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) -- also known as Neupogen, Neulasta, and Granocyte -- helps restore white blood cell counts that take a beating during chemotherapy, protecting cancer patients from an increased risk of infection.

According to researchers, G-CSF -- essentially a growth factor -- encourages bone breakdown. And any therapy that decreases bone density can enhance tumor growth in bones. So doctors are urged to closely monitor their patients during chemotherapy with regular bone density scans. They can also prescribe medications to prevent bone loss if necessary. And patients can protect their bones by consuming enough calcium and vitamin D and engaging in regular exercise.

Currently, research on cancer patients treated with G-CSF have not yielded the same strong results researchers found among mice.

The details of this study appear online in the journal Blood, and will be published in an upcoming print issue.

The standard dose of some medications are too high and dangerous for the patients, where some patients respond the exact opposite and show that the standard dose is too low to produce beneficial effects. It would seem to be a simple case of age, gender, or genetic differences to explain the individual variability in response to the drugs.

A study at the University of Kansas is reporting that variations in the body's production of hydrogen peroxide, which is believed to serve as a signaling molecule at low levels, can affect the accumulation of drugs inside our cells.

Oxidative stress, an increase in hydrogen peroxide levels, may have an increased response to a given dosage of a drug. This seems to show that it is in our best interest for physicians to provide more individualized dosing of drugs.

Hydrogen peroxide effects could be especially important in therapeutic drugs such as aminophylline, carbamazepine, lithium, carbonate, phenytoin, theophylline and warfarin. The researchers think that small changes in the doses of these drugs could cause either subtherapeutic or toxic results.

My new breast cancer friend recently sat through her second infusion of Adriamycin and Cytoxan -- the long-time traditional chemotherapy combination for breast cancer -- and all the while, listened to another breast cancer survivor share her thoughts on these two drugs.

This woman told my friend she opted to stray from these chemotherapy agents because of their toxic side effects, because of their combined potential for causing other cancers, like leukemia. She instead took another drug route and was happy for her decision. My friend, however, was scared.

My friend returned home from her treatment and found herself reading a Cancer Blog post reporting that Adriamycin and Cytoxan may no longer be the gold standard treatment for breast cancer, that Taxotere and Cytoxan may become the preferred, safer option.

Fear and panic set in, and my friend e-mailed me, in search of perspective from a recipient of the drugs she was starting to believe are both ineffective and cancer-causing.

I am not a doctor. I am not an expert. I am not qualified in any way to represent the facts about medical research. But I am surviving breast cancer. And I did spend eight difficult weeks under the influence of Adriamycin and Cytoxan, given every two weeks in a dose-dense fashion. So I have an opinion about these drugs -- and about most things breast cancer related.

I shared my opinion with my friend, who has since decided to proceed with her prescribed treatment plan. I told her that in rare cases, chemotherapy can cause a second cancer, like leukemia. But this is not common, and the unlikely risk does not outweigh the benefit of receiving chemotherapy to address the cancer at hand.

I also shared with my friend that we can only benefit from therapies that are available and effective at the time of our treatment. Studies prove that Adriamycin and Cytoxan work -- that's why so many women are treated with this accepted method. Drugs in the research pipeline may one day definitively replace what is available today. But we must be OK with what we receive -- because we have no control over what lies ahead. We must live in the here and now -- with the knowledge that should our cancers return, bigger and better options may await us.

Consider Herceptin. Once not even an option for women with aggressive HER2 positive breast cancer, this targeted drug may be the magic bullet in an attack against this disease. I received Herceptin. My friend will receive Herceptin. Timing was on our side for this medical breakthrough.

Timing may not have been on our side should a new gold-standard drug treatment emerge and replace Adriamycin and Cytoxan. But we can still trust these two drugs will do their jobs, will prevent a recurrence of a disease that is so much more treatable today than it was years ago. Lucky for us.

Sierra Vista located in Arizona has had at least a dozen children that have developed leukemia since 1997 and at least two have died of it. This is nearly triple the childhood leukemia rate expected in a town of 40,000 during that time period. A three year study by federal health officials said that they detected no toxic exposures that could have caused the illnesses.

Beverly Kingsley, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated " We don't know why this cluster occurred. We really wish we had the answer, but we don't"

In 2004, the CDC decided to draw and analyze samples of blood, urine and cheek swabs from the surviving patients and their families. They tested them for 128 different contaminants including toxic chemicals, metals, pesticides and volatile organic compounds. They compared these samples with healthy children from Sierra Vista. The samples also underwent genetic testing.

Environmental toxins have long been suspected as a trigger of leukemia, only one though, benzene has ever been proven to cause it. Some of the town people feel they have attended too many funerals and feel that something has to be going on. The townspeople also said in a meeting that the CDC held that the study did not include enough patients, didn't span a long enough period of time and also didn't include environmental testing for toxins.

Every cancer patient should receive state-of-the-art medical care, says Dr. Jeremy Geffen in his book The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person. This medical care -- the foundation of every cancer treatment program -- should be administered by highly trained and qualified caregivers, under the meticulous supervision of an experienced oncologist.

Some don't believe this is the necessary foundation and consider the triad of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation both poisonous and barbaric. There is no doubt that people encounter pain, frustration, and toxicity with these therapies, according to Dr. Geffen. But he believes it's almost always a serious mistake to forgo these remedies in exchange for unproven alternative therapies.

There are demonstrated benefits of conventional medicine. And it is clear that with each day, treatments become safer, less toxic, and more effective than ever before. Some cancers -- like Hodgkin's disease, testicular cancer, and childhood leukemia -- were once considered deadly. Now, they can be cured. The anatomy and function of the eye, breast, larynx, esophagus, anus, rectum, and prostate can now be preserved, despite surgery and treatment. Advances in pain control have delivered considerable relief to patients experiencing discomfort with treatment. And there is reason to believe future progress against cancer will be even more dramatic -- with the advent of molecular and genetic technology, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, better diagnostic technologies, and more effective control of side effects.

Dr. Geffen stresses this -- conventional medicine is a must in the fight against cancer. But alternative and complementary therapies also have a place. And throughout his book, he details the Seven Levels of Healing that encompass both approaches.

He begins with Level One -- Education and Information. The starting place. The place common to all of us who receive diagnoses that are troubling and confusing and require a little investigation, a little research, a little explanation. The place I will describe in my next Journey Through Cancer post.

To read previous posts on the same topic, visit:
The Journey Through Cancer: Beverly Is Every One of Us
The Journey Through Cancer: What Is The Purpose Of Medicine
The Journey Through Cancer: Introduction
Sunday Seven: Seven Levels of Healing on Cancer Journey

Stay tuned for:
The Journey Through Cancer: Level One -- Education and Information