At the Harold Leever Regional Cancer Center, we are privileged to provide the best community cancer care available for each patient. Our blog serves as an extension of this care, offering community-based resources on a wide array of cancer-related healthcare topics.
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Cancer of the skin is the most common of all cancers. Approximately 5.4 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancer are diagnosed each year, about 80% of which are basal-cell type. Melanomas account for about 1% of skin cancers, but they are by far the most dangerous, and the rate of melanomas has been rising for the last 30 years.
Drinking eight glasses or two quarts of water a day has become an obsession for many people. Our cars have empty bottles rolling on the floor, and we bring our water with us wherever we go…to meetings, to work, to school or to the gym. In fact, people around the globe spend about $50 billion per year on bottled water. Water is very important for health, but have we gone overboard?
Everyone who has a dog knows how much they can enrich your life. We talk to them, play with them, cuddle with them, and try our best to understand them. But it’s not a one-way street. An avalanche of research confirms what every dog-loving person already knows—dogs do more for us than we do for them.
One in three women will develop cancer in her lifetime.
But there is hope. With many screening tools available to women of all ages and with greater awareness of our own bodies, prevention and early intervention are becoming increasingly possible.
Many people diagnosed with cancer are besieged with “free advice” from wellmeaning friends and family who offer suggestions on foods to eat or avoid that may prevent their cancer from growing or coming back. There are dozens of diets and thousands of supplements being promoted that often lack the clinical evidence to back up their grandiose claims, but with the vast amounts of information on the internet, people are confused and overwhelmed.
Genetic counseling provides valuable insight into family cancer risks. It’s a fact: Ten percent of all cancers are hereditary.
One Woman’s Journey to Determine Hereditary Cancer Risks Reveals Volumes
Our PET/CT program is just one of the many tools Leever uses in our fight against cancer. We talked with HLRCC PET/CT Lead Tech Christina Kidulas for more information on how PET/CT scans work and what patients can expect.
We’ve all seen ads for “miracle” supplements that supposedly prevent or cure cancer or for special foods and/or diets that make tumors “melt away.” Many times, these claims are not based on sound clinical evidence, and people can end up spending a lot of money, with disappointing results. We don’t know why many cancers originate or develop, or why cure rates vary. Does that mean you should throw up your hands and give up, leaving all to chance and fate? Absolutely not! There is so much you can do!
Nutrition makes a difference and we can all make decisions that support us in avoiding health problems as we age.