Join Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) for their next national teleconference, Follow-up Testing: What You Need to Know, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Thursday, August 16. Virginia F. Borges, MD, of the University of Colorado Health Science Center, will answer your questions about follow-up testing after initial treatment, including:

• An overview of follow-up testing guidelines and insights into future tests
• Uses or limitations of screening tests
• Emotional impact of follow-up testing
• Routine follow-up tests for other health matters affected by treatment
• Creating a plan to monitor your overall health
• The role of follow-up tests for women with advanced (metastatic) breast cancer

Dr. Borges is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. She specializes in the treatment of breast cancer, and her research interests include the study of new biologic therapies for breast cancer, development of cancer vaccines and improving the quality of life for people affected by breast cancer. In addition to her clinical practice and research efforts, Dr. Borges volunteers as a medical facilitator for Casting for Recovery.

After the presentation, Dr. Borges will answer questions

Living Beyond Breast Cancer will hold a free teleconference, Follow-up Testing: What You Need to Know, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Thursday, August 16.

Speaker Virginia F. Borges, MD, will discuss follow-up testing after initial treatment, including follow-up testing guidelines, insights into future tests, the uses or limitations of screening tests and the emotional impact of follow-up testing. She also will explain the need for routine follow-up for other treatment-related health matters, creating a plan to monitor overall health and the role of follow-up tests for women with advanced (metastatic) breast cancer.

Dr. Borges is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. Dr. Borges specializes in the treatment of breast cancer and her research interests include the study of new biologic therapies for breast cancer, development of cancer vaccines and improving the quality of life of people affected by breast cancer. In addition to her clinical practice and research efforts, Dr. Borges volunteers as a medical facilitator for Casting for Recovery.

This free program will feature a presentation by the speaker and a 45-minute question-and-answer session with participants. Participants can listen over the phone or use their computer.

To register, visit Living Beyond Breast Cancer's website at www.lbbc.org or call (610) 645-4567

A half a million volunteers are being sought out by the American Cancer Society (ACS) that are willing to let researchers watch them for twenty years to see if they develop cancer.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. The idea behind this large study is to compare it to other big studies in Europe and Asia, who are searching for environmental and lifestyle factors that cause cancer.

The group will recruit men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 who have never been diagnosed with cancer. The volunteers will give blood to be tested and answer questionnaires at various times over the next twenty years.

Eugenia Calle, managing director of analytic epidemiology at the American Cancer Society, said in a statement "This type of study involves hundreds of thousands of people, with diverse backgrounds, followed for many years, with collection of biological specimens and assessments of dietary, lifestyle and environmental exposures".

Democratic presidential candidate and former North Carolina senator John Edwards missed an Iowa campaign event on Tuesday so he could be with his wife as she prepared for a medical appointment the following morning.

Elizabeth Edwards, diagnosed with breast cancer just before the 2004 election, when her husband ran for vice president, has survived chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation and has written a book -- Saving Graces -- about her entire journey.

Edwards' campaign crew has insisted Wednesday's appointment was a routine follow-up to a medical visit his wife had the day before and that Elizabeth Edwards, 57, has been living cancer-free.

Today at noon, Edwards will hold a press conference about his wife's health and how it may -- or may not -- affect his candidacy.

The 1998 guidelines on breast cancer follow-up has been updated by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. They state the most reliable way for detecting a recurrence is to receive physical exams and educating patients on the symptoms of recurrence.

All women should perform monthly breast exams. Genetic counseling is recommended for high risk women, including those with Askhenazi Jewish heritage, family history of breast or ovarian cancer, or diagnosis of bilateral breast cancer in the patient or relative.

Study results show no survival advantage for intensive verses conservative surveillance. Complete blood counts (CBCs), liver function tests, imaging studies, and assessment of tumor markers are not recommended for routine surveillance.

Breast cancer can recur within 15 years of the initial diagnoses and beyond, surveillance is a lifelong process for breast cancer survivors.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered a commencement speech at Stanford University on June 12, 2005. It was about following curiosity and intuition, about looking back and connecting the dots in life, about beginnings and endings, about death. Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, knows a thing or two about facing death. And the words he chose to relate his life-threatening experience to a crowd full of hopeful graduates are powerful and inspiring. I could paraphrase his message -- but surely something would be lost in my translation. So here is a bit of what he said -- word for word.

I will share anything and everything about my own experience with breast cancer -- how I found it, how it was removed, how it was treated, how I fared through the whole ordeal, how I'm surviving now. I figure that if I spread the word about what happened to me, that others will become more aware and some -- especially those with a new diagnosis -- will benefit from whatever wisdom I have to impart. So I am an open book. I talk about breast cancer, answer questions about breast cancer, and probably insert my opinion about the topic to some who don't really care. But I will continue talking and sharing -- and writing -- because the alternative would be a disservice to the few I may be able to help.

So a card stuck in the middle of a magazine caught my eye the other day. The slogan on it reads, Tell Someone and the illustrations on this card -- that functions as a postcard -- show women reaching out to other women. There are women talking on the phone and a woman tapping another on the shoulder. The message they appear to be spreading is highlighted in the text below the graphic representation of this campaign to raise awareness of cervical cancer. The message is about HPV -- human papillomavirus -- and about how millions of women already have it and how some don't even know they have it. I learned from reading this card that for some, HPV will clear on its own. But for some, cervical cancer may develop. This is why Pap tests are critical. And so what all women should be telling other women is this -- ask your doctor about the importance of Pap tests. And be active in your own health. And follow all recommendations for detecting health concerns early. I learned from reading this card that I should tell someone about this. And so now I have.