The other day, I was outside chatting with my neighbor. She pulled up the cuff of her pants to show me a bandage where she had just had a squamous cell carcinoma removed. That's right ... cancer. Even though it was caught very early and the doctor was able to remove all traces of it, it's still shocking to hear that someone you care about had any form of cancer.

My neighbor went on to tell me that she thought it was a spider bite that just wasn't healing. She was self-treating it and didn't think much of it. Her adult daughter expressed concern and brought her mom to the doctor. Thank goodness she did.

It's important for all of us to recognize the signs of skin cancer. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month -- a good time to learn about the different types of skin cancer. The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma. If you have moles, check the shape and size of them regularly.

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May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Are you aware? I am, as I look at my husband's left hand, fresh out of surgery to remove a squamous cell cancer, in all of its stitched and bandaged glory. I am aware when I look at my pale, pale skin and attempt to cover up as much as possible before heading out into the blazing Florida sun. I am aware when I lather my blond-headed little boys with sunscreen, hide in the shade at my neighborhood pool, and think back to all the skin cancer-y spots my grandma was forever having frozen off her her aging body. I've had a few frozen myself. And my sister just last year had two basal cell cancers carved right out of her chest. Her scars are constant reminders of summers spent basking on the beach.

Skin cancer should not be taken lightly, no matter how strongly you believe the disease won't happen to you. Of all the cancers out there, you might think this one is no big deal. You'd be wrong. Just ask Miss Melanoma who lost a toe because a mole on her foot turned up as melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Ask anyone battling the disease and fighting off death. There were an estimated 59,940 new melanoma cases in the U.S. in 2007 and 250,000 cases of squamous cells carcinomas, the second most common type of skin cancer. Basal cell cancer, the most common form, strikes one million people each year.

Skin cancer should alarm you. Because if left undetected, it can kill you. Awareness is key. So do you part this month. And every month. Inform yourself. Your family. Your friends. All the information you need -- how to prevent it, how to detect it, how to treat it -- can be found right here at The Skin Cancer Foundation.

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Cancer of unknown primary origin is so rare that unless you know someone who has been affected by it, you've probably never even heard of it. Also known as carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP), the disease is so named because doctors are unable to determine the cancer's site of origin, making it much more difficult to treat. I think it is one of the scariest forms of the disease because, if you can't figure out where it began, how can you ever really eradicate it?

CUP accounts for a mere 2 to 4 percent of all cancer cases, making it very uncommon. The only reason I've heard of it is because a friend of my mother's was diagnosed with the disease over 5 years ago. Sadly, she passed away last week after a long and courageous battle. While five years sounds like a drop in the bucket, it's important for anyone who has recently been diagnosed to know that, according to the information provided here, diagnostic tests for the disease continue to improve and now four out of five of those diagnosed with CUP will eventually find out the actual origin of their cancer.

It is also good to remember that it is up to you to take charge of your care if you don't feel that everything possible is being done. My mother's friend was told by her first doctor that she had a mere 6 months to live. She refused to believe this and demanded to see another doctor. This physician laughed at her original diagnosis and told her that there were loads of treatments and that while she may have some tough times ahead, she also had a lot more than 6 months left. While she did have some bad days, she spent the next five years traveling, enjoying the company of friends and living life to the fullest.

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I'm like anybody else -- I think tan just looks better. But I also believe the health risks associated with sun (or even worse: tanning bed) exposure is very real. I don't want to look wrinkled before my time, or get an easily avoided and potentially deadly disease like skin cancer, so I'm always looking for the latest and greatest in self-tanning products.

So naturally when I saw this article I had to take a look, and thankfully it doesn't sound like there's anything to worry about. Now if I can just find a tanner that never EVER streaks...

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It's old news that tanning beds increase the risk for (and in many cases even cause) skin cancer, but the latest tidbit is that the age at which you start tanning can also have a significant impact on your risk -- and not just because starting younger means tanning longer.

In an article published in the March edition of the International Journal of Cancer, experts are recommending that policy makers restrict the access of minors to tanning beds and other tanning equipment. With cancer risks for people under age 35 jumping by as much as 75% when tanning beds are involved, as beautiful as tans are maybe we should look at different regulations across the board, for everybody.

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Just a few weeks ago, first lady Laura Bush had a cancerous lesion removed from her right shin. It was found to be the second most common form of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma. When asked why she didn't say anything about it sooner, she answered simply "It's no big deal and we knew it was no big deal at the time." The lesion was about the size of a nickel, and the whole subject came up finally when somebody asked why she was wearing a bandage on her leg at a Hanukah ceremony recently.

As for her "no big deal" comment: squamous cell carcinomas are responsible for less than 0.1 percent of cancer deaths, but they are also more likely to spread to other areas of the body than basal cell (the most common form of skin cancer) and do require more follow-up monitoring.

There also seems to be some debate on whether or not she should have made the issue public sooner, and I have to side with her on this one. Getting a diagnosis of cancer is scary (whether she admits it or not), and since she's not personally an elected official (and so isn't required to disclose the same way the President is) I can't blame her for wanting to keep this to herself and close family -- at least until she knew what she was dealing with.

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