Improving Access to Clinical Trials Act

David Traver · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 01:45 pm Post subject: Remembering Farrah

What is the best way to honor the life of that lovely actress?

Don't get cancer. Here's how.

Stop smoking, right now! If you allow smoking in your home or work, ban it. Avoid second-hand smoke like it were a deadly poison. It is. Obviously, don't substitute other ways of using tobacco. Don't chew it, snort it, or put it under your lips.

Use sun screen every day. Make it an after-shower ritual on your whole body. Do this every day, rain or shine, in or outside, winter or summer. When you reach a nice old age you will be happy you did. Not only have you avoided melanoma, you have also given yourself a nice smooth wrinkle free face. (There are some nice body and face lotions that you can use that have sun screen built in.)

Get regular medical checkups. Women, pay special attention to routine breast exams and visits to the GYN. My sister in law died of cervical cancer a couple of years ago. If they had found it two weeks earlier she would be alive today. Make sure the doctor checks your whole body for skin cancer, every time you see the doctor for an exam.

Men, know your PSA. Get regular medical exams, including the prostate exam.

Self exam. Men and women, learn how to self exam for cancer, including testicular and breast exams.

Get a colonoscopy. If you have not had one (even if you are a younger individual), call and make an appointment today. Then, follow up on the recommended schedule for future exams given to you by your doctor.

Investigate body changes. Do you notice a strange lump? Is a sore not healing? Get it checked by a doctor. Don't wait.

As you do these things and as you clear each hurdle, remember Farrah. If you take these simple steps, God willing you will remember her for a long, long, time.

Learn more: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp (check out the menu in the lower right corner.)

Guest · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 02:11 am Post subject:

And eat your veggies!

Insider (Ret) · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:07 pm Post subject:

I need to thank you, David, for this most excellent advice. I had never thought of having sun screen (itself, or as part of moisturizer) in the medicine cabinet to apply every morning. I do remember to apply sun screen when I play golf, but there are so many other days that I don't do it--and should. My usual 4 mile walk in the a.m., for example, can include quite a bit of sun. And then there are the days when I whack balls at the range and work on my putting...out in the sun, but often without remembering to apply sun screen. So today, I bought a whopping bunch of 45 SPF sun screen and it's now prominently located in my medicine cabinet beside the shaving cream. Maybe I'll now get into the habit of "screening up" every a.m. I also have an appointment with a dermatologist in 2.5 weeks....this may make him happy. Or it may be a tad too late. We shall see.

David Traver · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:15 am Post subject:

You are welcome. To avoid looking like a great big beached white whale, I use a sunless tanning lotion with an SPF.

Google this: spf sunless tanning

In the winter, I get some vitamin D pills to make up for the loss of home-grown vitamin D.

Cheers.

Insider (Ret) · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 01:13 pm Post subject:

I am outdoors enough, playing or practicing golf, taking daily 4 mile walks, etc., that I don't have to worry about the beached white whale look. I just need more protection, and during yesterday's walk, we stopped in at CVS and I got a nice big bottle of SPF 45 lotion, which now resides beside the shaving cream. Duly applied this a.m.--and another coat will go on once I get to the course later today.

I probably don't need vitamin D in the summer, but I still take it every day year-round. I don't put great stock in the vitamin research reports that one reads about; the medical community has not been very interested in nutrition and such things as vitamin supplementation until very recently and the research is only now becoming more rigorous. But vitamin D has gotten some good reviews of late. Since it's not expensive, not harmful and possibly even helpful, down the hatch it goes every a.m.