POLL: Would you rather KNOW, or would you rather NOT KNOW...?

I’m considering another informative post to add to the tread titled, 'Newly diagnosed with PC? — read this thread first.'     If you would like to participate in this poll, your response may influence the final wording of that post.   Just as a reminder, that 'Newly diagnosed’ thread is intended to be a collection of meaningful and important information that we can offer to newcomers (after diagnosis) which they might not have otherwise been exposed to in the short time since their diagnosis.   The question for this poll first asks you to imagine you were diagnosed with LOW-RISK prostate cancer .   ·          For some of you this should be easy because you were diagnosed with LOW-RISK prostate cancer.   ·          For others of you, this may be a challenge to consider that (in the words of Dr Peter Carroll) PC “ is really a spectrum of disease .”   You might have been diagnosed as INTERMEDIATE- or HIGH-RISK, but this question is not applicable to men in those situations, so please answer the poll question only if you feel you are able to imagine your thoughts if you were diagnosed with a LOW-RISK case.   For reference, the widely-used NCCN definition of LOW-RISK prostate cancer is (copied from the 'Newly diagnosed’ thread, but taken from the NCCN Clinical Guidelines , available free online ) : LOW-RISK o     PSA < 10 ng/mL o     and Gleason < 7 o     and cT1-T2a tumor     So, here’s the poll question:   If you were just diagnosed with LOW-RISK prostate cancer and just starting your “patient education,” would you rather know , or would you rather not know , that there is spirited controversy about the overtreatment of men with LOW-RISK prostate cancer?     Post Edited (Casey59) : 3/13/2013 7:59:45 AM (GMT-6)

As my signature below indicates, I guess I am more-or-less low risk (Gleason 6, T1c), but maybe I get boosted up a little bit into "low intermediate risk" due to my high PSA readings (low teens) prior to treatment.

However, my uro also said my high PSAs were probably as much caused by my large prostate size as by any PCa. So not entirely sure where I classify.

Anyway, I personally would want to know everything about anything that affects me, PCa or otherwise, but that is just the way I am. However, I am personally surprised by reading a post now and then by one of our list sisters who is doing all the informational legwork for her husband "because he just doesn't want to know about any of it."

I respect that. People are different, and some operate better in an atmosphere of not knowing, while others, like me, would rather deal with the devil I know rather than the devil I don't.

You are asking this question to a group of men who are searching the internet for information about their disease. These are men looking to become informed. Why in the world would such men wish NOT to know this information? Some people would accept whatever their doctor tells them; believing in the doctrine of physician infallibility. Those men -- granted with some exceptions -- are not likely to be on a site such as this.

I agree frack....I found out early on in the process not all doctors are experts in their craft or really interested in the well being of the patient...That's why I switched my first 2 Uros until I found one I wanted.

\In this day and age with the internet being such a wealth of info....I myself would want to know every little detail.

                                  I.   WANT.   TO.   KNOW.   EVERYTHING.   I.   CAN. 

How can anyone think of making any level of decision, or non-decision, without  knowing???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

It's hard for me to imagine anyone NOT wanting to know this.

We were just discussng another "would you want to know" question recently. If a meteor of considerable size was found to be taking aim at the earth, would you want to know, or would you prefer that astronomers keep it secret and not tell people in order to avoid panic and mayhem.

As for your question, wouldn't you want to know as much as possible about an enemy if you were going to do battle?

knowledge is the key and some professionals know more than others, no doubt. But be careful what is bandied around as knowledge.

I'd say that innuendo, paranoia, unproven hypothesis and doubt are not ideal things to read about for someone who has made a decision on treatment whatever that will be.

One of the best pieces of advice i often read on this forum form many people is to not look back once a decision has been reached.

Also, I think you have to be careful about the over treatment angle as it's not a black and white issue and far too often gets cloaked in a message that the medical community is exploiting human beings. There is a lot more to potential over treatment including the individual choices, perceptions and psychology of the actual patients.

Yes, I don't think a 70+ year old should seek surgery for PCa in most cases but I bet many 70+ year olds who do could give me plenty of good personal reasons why they thought it was a good idea for themselves.

I would certainly want to know as much as possible.

You are asking this question to a group of men who are searching the internet for information about their disease. These are men looking to become informed. Why in the world would such men wish NOT to know this information? Some people would accept whatever their doctor tells them; believing in the doctrine of physician infallibility. Those men -- granted with some exceptions -- are not likely to be on a site such as this.

Couldn't agree more!! Seems like a 'no brainer'.

except, 142, for the fact that there are few, if any, legitimate sources who are saying that there is NOT PC overtreatment...

The primary controversy is not about the overtreatment itself; rather, it is about the causes of why overtreatment exists, or what might be done to address it.  This poll question carefully avoids these aspects and focuses on the seed of information which may be most important to the newcomers...once they are informed, they can form their own (informed) opinion about what to do about it.

The message from the replies that I'm taking away from the bulk of these replies is that an informed patient is best, and this (knowledge of overtreatment) is one of the important pieces of information to know...

 

Post Edited (Casey59) : 3/14/2013 8:36:09 AM (GMT-6)

Casey, you just said:

"The message from the replies that I'm taking away from the bulk of these replies is that an informed patient is best, and this (knowledge of overtreatment) is one of the important pieces of information to know..."

BTW, thanks for the poll. Came out how I estimated. 90% of those that answered want to know, compared to 10% that didn't. Not surprising. We are all here at HW PC, because we want to know something- whether it be a little or a lot - about all things PC. Or else we wouldn't be here. And for those here that stay long (let's say more than 3 months after joining), obviously are in the "learning" mode kind of mindset.

However, I don't agree with the second half of your closing statement. You feel that way about overtreatment, but those answering yes aren't necessarily agreeing to your conclusion. That part can not fairly be read into these poll numbers. If you want an answer to that, do another poll more specific to your conclusion.

Again, a good poll.

david in sc

Agreed, David. I'm not trying to say that the survey responses tell us that knowledge of PC overtreatment is the most important thing for a newcomer to know, or even the least important thing to know; I'm not going to ask for a rank order of importance. What we learned is just that "we" feel overwhelmingly that it is one of the things that we would have liked to know as a newcomer in the context of it possibly being shared in another thread which was created for the sole purpose of sharing important information with newcomers.  Feels like we are splitting hairs now.