Quitting smoking is very hard to do. If you succeed the short and long term rewards include improved lung capacity, circulation, greater sense of smell and taste, reduced risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and lung cancer.

BlueCross BlueShield of Central New York and the New York State Smokers Quitline offer seven steps smokers can take in their quest to quit.

Visualize success. Studies of successful quitters show that one of the most important ways to succeed is to believe that they can quit smoking.

Make a plan. Create a daily plan to follow that includes:

• Times when you want to smoke most and things you can do instead of smoking when you have a craving.
• Names of friends and family you can call for support.
• A reward for yourself when you have achieved your goal of being smoke free.

A mother who lost her daughter to cancer had something to say on her blog about the depiction of childhood cancer and other cancers for that matter on television. I wanted to share her words.

Think about this:

I have just finished watching the new episode of "House." It was about a teenager who was facing a bone marrow transplant (his younger brother was to be the donor). So many things were unrealistic -- don't they consult with real doctors to get the facts? I think it was a couple of weeks ago that the episode of "Grey's Anatomy" also dealt with the topic of childhood cancer and a bone marrow transplant. It was even more unrealistic. One of the doctor's, "Izzy", ended up being the little girl's biological mother. The same day that she discovered that she was, they did a quick blood test and then harvested her bone marrow without any anesthesia and moments later they were infusing it into her daughter. Not quite the way it really works! It is quite frustrating to think that people are watching these shows and will get a false sense of reality -- and so many of us a working hard to get the word out about childhood cancer! Oh well, I am going to try to do my part to get the truth out. I am going to start working on a documentary that will share the reality of what so many families are living with.

I'm a bit skeptical just reading the article titled A Laugh a Day Might Keep Death Further Away. In a recent Norwegian study, adults who have a sense of humor showed to outlive those who don't find life funny. I don't know about this -- I can think of a lot of miserable people who lived very long lives!

I love to laugh. Watching comedians is one of my favorite things to do, however I don't think that is going to make me live any longer than other breast cancer survivors.

The study said that the survival edge is particularly large for those with cancer. In this study the researcher claims that a great sense of humor cut someones chances of death by about seventy percent compared with adults with a poor sense of humor.

Sven Svebak, of the medical school at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, says that past studies have shown that humor helps people cope with stress and keep a healthy immune system during stressful times. He believes that could promote survival.

William Breibart, psychiatry chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York city, is skeptical also. Breibart says that in the twenty two years of treating cancer patients he met a lot of funny people who died of cancer pretty quickly. He says that stage of disease and aggressiveness of tumor matter far more than a person's sense of humor.

He did add that someone who can see humor in bad side effects of chemotherapy might stick it out more for treatment and that can be a way humor affects survival.

This sounds too much like -- you need to have a positive attitude -- cancer survivors are not particularly fond of hearing that our cancer came back because we didn't have a positive attitude or we didn't have a great sense of humor -- but laughter does make life more enjoyable!

All cancers are not treated equally. Some attract a frenzy of attention -- breast cancer -- and some receive not much attention at all -- gallbladder cancer. Some are vigorously researched and studied. Others sit by idly, rarely the subject of investigation. Some are feverishly funded. Some never prosper by way of financial support. Yet they all share something very important in common. They are all cancer.

All cancers are marked by an uncontrollable division and spread of abnormal cells. And they are all capable of delivering shock and despair and even death to any one of us. And that makes each one -- brain cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, eye cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, stomach cancer, you name it -- worthy of equal attention.

And so I bring to you Cancer by the Numbers, a series of posts that will feature the basics about all sorts of cancer, beginning with the numbers -- the statistics -- to help define the prevalence of each cancer, followed by important facts about screening, diagnosis, treatment, survival, and more. I will cover the well-known cancers, the sort-of-known cancers, the barely-known cancers. And while I can only offer what I can track down on each form of cancer, I intend to dish out every piece of data I can dig up -- so we all can become a little more informed, a little more prepared should we have to personally do battle with any one of the 100 possible cancers out there.

The American Cancer Society reports that 1,399,790 new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2006. This estimate does not include most carcinoma in situ (noninvasive cancer) cases and also does take into account the estimated one million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancers that will be diagnosed this year. Of these predicted cases, about 564,830 will result in death -- that's more than 1,500 people each day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease, and accounts for one of every four deaths.

These numbers are staggering. But without further explanation, they are broad and all-encompassing and don't say much about how all the individual diseases add up. That's what I plan to do -- break it all down, cancer by cancer, until the numbers make sense. And the cancers do too.

When a question or concern or worry related to breast cancer pops into my head, I typically find myself parked in front of my computer in search of instant answers, instant comfort, instant wisdom. There are several different websites I consult -- each one different from the others, each one complementing the others. They are my reference tools, my handbooks, my encyclopedias. They offer me a clear picture of a confusing, cloudy disease. And here they are -- seven super websites that have been become staples in my life.

When I first looked at my pathology report more than 18 months ago, it made little sense. Terms like Bloom Richardson Score and margins and Her2Neu were as foreign to me as the breast cancer that somehow invaded my body. So I read it over and over again and was eventually able to identify the basic meaning hidden within the four pages that detailed my disease. As it turned out, this report was my map. It led me in various directions for various treatments. It contained some roadblocks. It was sometimes confusing. And sometimes I got lost. There were some good and not-so-good stops along the way. And in the end, I reached my final destination -- in the land survival. And this is where I hope to stay. For a long time.

My map is not necessary anymore -- although I still look back at it. I've found that it makes more sense now that time has passed. I can interpret it more objectively, with more perspective and less emotion and fear. I am still learning about the disease that was removed from my breast. And I am realizing there was a lot I never really knew -- like these seven subjects -- when breast cancer was new and fresh and debilitating.

It seems like common sense to me -- that lifestyle choices can affect a person's risk for contracting cancer -- but apparently, many people are not aware of this. Or they are aware but are not heeding the advice that might just save them from this life-threatening disease. According to Carolyn "Bo" Aldige, president of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, in Alexandria, Va., it's not undiscovered treatments and therapies that are key to fighting off cancer -- it's likely that the toll cancer takes can be reduced by lifestyle changes and routine screenings. Aldige reports that nearly half of all cancer deaths are preventable. And she urges us to consider these facts.

• Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in the United States and causes nearly one in five deaths, killing about 438,000 Americans each year. Yet 45 million adults still smoke -- 23 percent of them men and 19 percent of them women.
• Poor nutrition, inactivity, and obesity account for one in three of the 564,830 deaths from all cancers. Experts say that excess calories cause mutations that start genes traveling down pathways that cause cells to divide out of control -- and that's what cancer is. According to Aldige, if each person could magically acquire the perfect body mass index, there would be a whole lot less colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers.
• It requires little time and not much discomfort for certain screenings that can detect cancer at an early enough stage that it can be successfully treated. There are already screenings for breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, cervical cancer, and skin cancer. And soon, there may be a simple screening for lung cancer too.
• A diet rich in nutrients and vitamin supplements helps maintain health and prevent cancer.

There are some highly effective defenses against cancer -- but they require some attention and effort on the part of each individual. Not everyone will make health-conscious choices -- some for reasons out of their control (lack of access to screenings, for example) and some for reasons I personally do not understand. But maybe that's because I have already had cancer and I know that I don't ever wish for it to return. So for that reason alone, I plan to adhere to the considerations listed above. It seems like common sense to me.

There are all sorts of gifts for dad on Father's Day -- shirts and ties and books and coffee mugs and golf balls -- and many of us have already spent money on the stuff we can wrap up and deliver or mail off to dad on this special day. But some gifts -- the ones we can't wrap up -- have an appeal that is priceless because they focus on the moment, they build relationships, and they promote mental and physical health. And here are just seven simple but everlasting gifts to consider sharing with dad on this Father's Day.