As someone who has posted pretty openly about that, I'm a little curious about why you feel the way you do.
There are very few words in the English languge scarier than Cancer, Biopsy, Radiation and Chemo. A few, I know, but they're certainly on the top 10 of most people I know.
When I had my biopsy/ mastectomy/ radiation/ reconstruction, I didn't know anyone in real life who had already been through that particular experience. Sure, my doctors were wonderful, and gave me all the medical advice I could want.
But it was a completely different experience to be able to come on to the DIS at 2 am when the nightmares wouldn't go away... the "I have 3 kids, how are they going to grow up without a mom?" kind of nightmares... and get reassurance from others who had been in my shoes. Because no matter how knowledgeable, how caring, how professional and compassionate my doctors were, everything they told me about how it would feel was hearsay. My doctors are all male; none of them had actually known exactly what it was going to feel like or how I would feel about the experience. But the people on the Breast Cancer thread here were a very different story. They're the ones who told me where to find the type of bra I would need, and how to dress for work every day (I teach in a co-ed high school) during the week that radiation burns meant I couldn't wear a bra. They're the ones who gave the advice on how to keep my household running during that month when I needed to take a nap almost every day after work and radiation, even though dinner still had to get onto the table and homework still had to be checked and I didn't want my husband to feel like a single parent... or during the week after my mastectomy when I wasn't allowed to pick up anything "heavier than a tea cup" and my father in law was dying an hour away and all 3 of my kids were starting a new school year. And about my husband's fears too; something that my doctors simply didn't think of since it wasn't medical. They're the ones who were able to joke with me about the little things, since they had been through the experience and come out on the other side; their nightmares were for the most part over and they were able to give me the confidence that mine would end as well.
My medical experiences are not something I'm ashamed of.Cancer isn't a punishment for something you've done wrong. I've shared some of the details with some of the kids of both genders at school when the subject has come up-- primarily when one shares that homework didn't get done because the house was in an uproar over mom's recent diagnosis. The people on that thread were kind enough to give me the help I needed, and I'm more than happy to pay it forward and help anyone I can get through the nightmare.
I agree that I shake my head at some of the things I read here, but it's seldom the medical ones. (Though I have, once or twice, been one of those who post in capital letter: "GET TO THE ER!!!")
But I tend to be more amazed at the threads that tell us all about a friend/neighbor/coworker, and reveal all the personal details the poster assumes he/she knows of someone else's life, and ask us to sit in judgement of some third party.