Knowing vs. not knowing

[Carolyn]

The author says that he was motivated to write this book after a patient asked him, “What is cancer?” Mukherjee could not think of a book that would answer her question. So he wrote it. Does “knowing your enemy”—knowing cancer—bring some kind of comfort?

[Carissa]

In some ways yes and in some ways no. I always want as much information as I can get about a topic that affects me, but I have also found that it can be unnerving to learn about things to which you were previously oblivious. For example, in my work I am constantly hearing about new kinds of cancer I never knew existed, and I always have that moment where I think, "Oh, great, another thing to worry about." It can make you paranoid about every mild physical symptom you have. Of course, I have also learned that there are many things we can do to reduce our cancer risk, including avoiding tobacco, staying physically active, eating healthy foods, and protecting ourselves from the sun. Realizing how much we can do to keep ourselves healthy is a way in which knowledge is power.

[Carissa]

This popped up in my feed today and seemed relevant to this question:

http://khn.org/news/how-long-have-i-g...