Saturday, April 29, 2006
What does a patient want to know?
We are all different. Some of us want to know the detail, every little bit of it, while others just want to know what the result will be. When it comes to health, my wife Gwen like many women wants to have a proper understanding of everything that is going on. Personally, I just want a general overview. The less I know the better I feel.
At the time of my second biopsy a few years ago, my then specialist made it clear that he felt I needed to know all the ins and outs of things because he felt it was fairly likely that I did have prostate cancer. I went on the internet and downloaded heaps of information; well-meaning friends passed on articles and Gwen looked out and put in front of me the things she thought I should know about. The whole thing frightened the living shit out of me!
It reminds me of buying a car. Some people, particularly blokes, love cars. To me they are a means of comfortable transport from Point A to Point B. All I'm concerned about is that the control panel is not as complicated as the cockpit of a 747 aircraft; there is a suitable side compartment for my street directory and somewhere to store my CDs. Yet the car salespeople insist on showing me under the bonnet. I believe there is an engine under there. That much, I'm willing to trust them on. And if I turn on the motor and do a test drive I can tell if it's working. Why on earth do I need to see under the bonnet? I don't need to know that much!
At the time of my second biopsy a few years ago, my then specialist made it clear that he felt I needed to know all the ins and outs of things because he felt it was fairly likely that I did have prostate cancer. I went on the internet and downloaded heaps of information; well-meaning friends passed on articles and Gwen looked out and put in front of me the things she thought I should know about. The whole thing frightened the living shit out of me!
It reminds me of buying a car. Some people, particularly blokes, love cars. To me they are a means of comfortable transport from Point A to Point B. All I'm concerned about is that the control panel is not as complicated as the cockpit of a 747 aircraft; there is a suitable side compartment for my street directory and somewhere to store my CDs. Yet the car salespeople insist on showing me under the bonnet. I believe there is an engine under there. That much, I'm willing to trust them on. And if I turn on the motor and do a test drive I can tell if it's working. Why on earth do I need to see under the bonnet? I don't need to know that much!
# posted by Jurek Leon @ 11:14 am 
