I joined MDList a couple of years ago on behalf of my mother, who's now 83 and has had dry AMD for years. I tend to be a "lurker" on the list, scanning the daily digest of messages, occasionally writing back to someone on a one-on-one basis if there's a question with which I can help.

      Something just caught my eye in a message yesterday from Maxine, in her welcoming advice to Trudi, that I thought was worthy of big time reiteration. She said, "Ask us questions. The more you know, the more the doctor is likely to talk."

      That is so absolutely true, and such a powerful concept. Thomas Hobbes told us 300 years ago that "knowledge is power." Back when he wrote that, an individual's knowledge of politics or medicine was based largely upon personal experience, whom he knew, and what he read. Even just 20 years ago, having a medical condition largely meant relying 100% on what the doctor told you.

      Well, today, it may still be true that a person's knowledge is based largely upon personal experience, whom you know, and what you read. But the big difference -- and a wonderful difference it is! -- is that today we have the Internet. Whom you know, whose experience can help you, what information you have easy access to -- all of that is now multiplied, to directly benefit you.

      And, in particular, we all have the MD Support group there for us. The MD Support group is truly an amazing collection of people. Think about it. When one of us has a medical condition and tells the group about it, there are almost always people on hand who know something about it and are willing to share their knowledge and experience within just a few hours of the query going out to the group. And if the regular members don't know it, our fearless and incredibly knowledgeable leader, Dan Roberts, will probably be able to point you in the right direction for more information.

      Guys, this is a very powerful thing. The collective wisdom of this group is far, far more than the individual knowledge or wisdom of any one of us. It means you need no longer go into your doctor's office flying blind (OK, pun intended)! And this, in turn, helps ensure (doesn't guarantee, but helps ensure) a better level of treatment from your doctor. We all know that some doctors are more proactive than others; some doctors are better diagnosticians than others; and some doctors are better communicators than others. When you go in armed with more information, having already questioned your own condition, having already thought about it, and maybe even having speculated about the reasons for it and possibly even the right treatment for it...if you do that, you will be more engaged, you will be able to listen more intelligently to what your doctor says, you will be able to question your doctor more intently. You may even be able to catch a mis-diagnosis before your doctor takes it too far.

      Most of us are not doctors, but it's also important to remember that doctors are not gods -- none of them. They have more medical information, training, knowledge, and experience than most of the rest of us, but they are not gods. They can, therefore, use our help when they're trying to help us. This MD Support group enables us, among other things, to gain a lot of knowledge about our own particular problems or conditions in a short amount of time. And that enables us to be better patients, and to have a more real dialogue with our respective doctors.

      Let me again quote Maxine's two simple sentences, and this time include three other sentences that she wrote: "Ask us questions. The more you know the more the doctor is likely to talk. Ask us any questions. We are here. There is always someone on duty!!"