One of my valued friends, a physician just turning fifty, recently took her own advice and had some baseline medical tests including an a complete blood workup, electrocardiogram, DEXA scan for osteoporosis, mammogram and a colonoscopy. Sadly, the colonoscopy revealed colo-rectal cancer and tomorrow she will have extensive surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation. We won't know until after surgery what her prognosis is, but she has many friends and supporters who will test the research of Dr. Larry Dossey (Harvard Med School) and others that prayer for others can be effective in supporting the healing process.

The lesson to pass on is that many of the diseases that so startle us when they raise their ugly head have been progressing, silently, inside us for some time. It is a myth to believe that without symptoms we are well. My mother, for example, says she got osteoporosis when she was 80. That's when a bad coughing spell resulted in five spontaneous spinal fractures. But, osteoporosis, like cancer and heart disease is a silent progressive disease and mother started getting hers in her 30's when her bone mass began to decline because she didn't adapt lifestyle habits that can prevent the disease.

My friend reports that, with the exception of an occasional bout of what she believed to be gastritis (irritable bowel), she had no symptoms. Now she is faced with a serious course of action that we hope will assure she lives a long life.

If you haven't had a checkup and you are approaching mid-life, I assure you it is as important for you to schedule this important review while you are symptom-free as it is for you to go to the dentist every six months to get a checkup and teeth cleaning even if you have no pain.

Meantime, continue to exercise, eat a lower in fat and sugar, higher in fiber longevity diet, manage the stress in your life by adopting a humorous perspective and remember, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it."

Ronda will be making presentations in the next month at PBS Speaking of Women's Health Foundation events in San Jose, New York City, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Ohio, and Toledo, Ohio. Visit: http://www.speakingofwomenshealth.com for more information.