Here I go, jumping in the deep end again, but I had some strong reactions to your post, Brian, and I guess I am going to voice them. There have been 3 different kinds of gratification for me since becoming a member of OCF. 1st, I found one place that offered me more than I could absorb about what was happening to John. 2nd,On this site, John and I gathered real information from real people on how to deal with what was happening in our lives, and 3rd, I have been fortunate to connect personally to some incrediblely strong individuals.
As to searching for answers and getting the clinical and "hard information", I believe that people are in a panic to find immediate support after being diagnosed with SCC. Usually, they are not given much time to deal with the overload of "stuff" being thrown at them. The natural impulse when someone finds a place like OCF is to immediately try to connect with others who might offer some help or solace- not start a long term research project before deciding on which Doc's recommendation to accept or how to deal with radiation or chemo side effects. I know I am not expressing this well because I am in awe of the knowlede you, Gary, Mark, Gail and others have to share- but quite honestly, much of it is over my head and beyond what I can absorb. To be honest, I am interested in what might keep my husband alive and what might alleviate his pain and how I can be a better caregiver. When those questions are handled, I hope to be able to help others, as you do, but my help can only be from my experience as a caregiver. I am confused as to the meaning of your post. Since there are choices of topics to post to - which seem to encourage people to express what is happening in their "here and now", are you suggesting that these topics are too loose in nature because the answers could have been researched with the search engine, thus bypassing the Patient Forum? Are you suggesting that we should just post to "Friends" instead of addressing an issue to "Currently in Tx" or "After Tx.Issues" ? My final thought [probably not, but for tonite] is that most of us DON'T KNOW what we need to search for until the minute it is upon us with this damned disease. That is the most valuable part of OCF to me- SOMEONE is always here to help me. I promise I will try to use the search engines more, but the immediate contact-cyber or not- has been a way for me to stay connected with a world that can speak the same language I have been learning the past 2 years and OCF has saved my sanity. Amy