Is it better to speak or keep mouth shut?

Yesterday I was in my usual barber shop waiting my turn for a haircut. This is a one barber operation with 4 chairs for waiting customers. Being the end of the day, one customer was in the chair getting cut, I was next up and a young guy in his 20's was the last one for the day. The only conversation was between the barber and the guy in the chair. The shop is so small you can't help but hear everything said. The barber works at a fast pace of about 10 minutes per head.In the short time he was in the chair, I had learned he was a customer for at least 7 years and come down every January 1. He and his wife came down from up north about a 30 hour drive and his apartment rent went up from $300 per month when he started to now over $2,000 per month.
All the conversation was fairly normal until the barber asked him how his summer went. He said all good except his PSA s was found to be really high and going higher with each test and now it was thru the roof. He said in mid December he had a scan (I'm assuming a MRI for a guided biopsy) . His doc had called him and said the scan showed a 5 on a scale of 1-5 and that he wanted him to come in for the biopsy before the end of December. The scheduler had called him and had it set for December 28 which he canceled because he had to get to Florida and he didn't want a sore butt on a 3 day dive to get there by January 1. He rescheduled for sometime in late April.
I wanted to shake him and tell him what an idiot he was but I was next in the chair and he was walking out the door, so I kept my mouth shut.
I wonder if his doctor will follow up and try to get him in sooner but I doubt it because it has been over a month since the MRI.
How do others handle these situations? I would have loved to direct him to our little forum on HW.

I agree that you choose the best 'solution' by keeping your mouth shut.

If he was talking loud enough to hear in a public place…..thats a tough one.

It would depend on whether or not you felt comfortable sharing your story publicly.

This seems like it is bothering you. Maybe ask the barber for the guys name?

Personally, I would have told him about my prostate cancer and given him my phone number to call if he wanted to talk.

TJ, good quote. I'm stealing it.

Noggin, TJ's quote aside, I think I would've probably tried to grab the guy and take him aside, and talk to him. But thats me, I just feel he sounded like he needed an education. PCa is not "the good cancer" maybe thats what he thinks. But thats just me, everyone handles these things differently, and what's right for you might be different.

*** The scheduler had called him and had it set for December 28 which he canceled because he had to get to Florida and he didn't want a sore butt on a 3 day dive to get there by January 1. He rescheduled for sometime in late April. ***

This guy either doesn't care or is in major denial. No amount of "intervention" would likely help him, and might have made matters worse.

Im not normally one to publicly interject my feelings in conversations that don’t involve me. Having said that, when I do, I try to “go with the flow” as much as possible. This normally means a “one liner”.

It’s always difficult to say what one would do in the abstract. In the moment is when we know for certain.

Had I said anything at all, it would have been a one liner that most people accept as true.

“It’s always good to catch anything early” if I was to say anything at all. Non-threatening. Not coming across as “the expert.” Just a simple one liner that’s universally accepted as true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452xjnahr1a