Cancer

When Patti Waggoner saw a baby-size tuxedo displayed in a department store, she didn't think "wedding" or "baptism" or any sort of celebration. "My first thought was, 'Oh, a little casket suit,' " she says. There's a bleak side to this 36-year-old survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma from Valley Village. Her skin is pale, her nails painted black. Tattoos circle her ankles and run down her back and upper arms: of pirates, bats and the seven deadly sins.

In an effort to crack down on fraudulent remedies being sold over the Internet, the government has warned 25 companies to stop selling purported cancer cures that federal health officials say could disrupt legitimate treatment and even harm unsuspecting patients.

Gastric bypass surgery -- a treatment for obesity that is already known to reduce heart disease and diabetes -- decreases the incidence of cancer by 80% over the five years following the procedure, Canadian researchers reported Wednesday. The incidence of two of the most common tumors, breast and colon, was reduced by 85% and 70%, respectively, Dr. Nicolas Christou of McGill University in Montreal said.

CALIFORNIANS who use hands-free cellular devices while driving may be doing themselves a favor in the long run. That's because scientists still can't say with certainty that placing a cellphone against the head is completely safe, especially for heavy users and people who began using the devices as children. They point to lingering questions over the potential health effects from the energy emitted by the phones, specifically the long-debated risk of developing brain cancer.

Conservative columnist Robert Novak, a fixture on the Washington scene since the administration of John F. Kennedy, announced Monday that he has a brain tumor and will begin treatment soon. In the meantime, he said, "I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period." Novak, 77, became ill Sunday while he and his wife were visiting their daughter on Cape Cod.

He fooled me. Or maybe I fooled myself because I did not want fate to unfold as it did. I had thought that somehow, despite the disease that first appeared as two small dots on his scalp, the sheer force of his lively spirit would see Craig Chambers through.

It's hard to think of anything more heinous than bogus cancer cures. Yet there is no lack of Internet sites that promise to cure, for a price, any cancer with an elixir, concoction of herbs or systematized program of thinking good thoughts. Last week the Federal Trade Commission disclosed actions it had taken against several companies that promoted online cancer cures. The actions were the result of a project started last year to identify websites making unsubstantiated cure claims.

The strength-training class doesn't look that different from any other -- men and women are lying on mats, stretching hamstrings before beginning work with elastic bands, stability balls and dumbbells. Then you notice a few uncommon things. One woman has doffed her long, blond wig to reveal a low pile of fuzz on her head. The instructor mentions that a particular upper body exercise is especially good for people with brain tumors. And some participants are out of breath after a few ab crunches.

The one thing Kevin Carlberg refused to face after his diagnosis with brain cancer in 2002 was anyone's estimate for how long he might live. His doctors and his family all knew the number: six to 18 months. "I understand the averages," says Carlberg, a rock musician who had just released a CD and was two months from his wedding date when he was told he had the worst stage of the worst kind of brain cancer, glioblastoma. "But every person is different."

The news for red meat seems to be getting worse and worse. In December, a survey of more than 494,000 people by the National Institutes of Health found that men who ate more than 5 ounces of red meat each day and women who ate more than 3 ounces had a 51% greater risk of esophageal cancer, 61% of liver cancer and 24% of colorectal cancer than those who ate less than an ounce of red meat daily.