....but first, another of my 'sunsets over Vancouver Island in the distance' shots from yesterday just because it's a nice picture and I like the variations and contrasts in it. (click to enlarge)Now, for the inconclusive research: I was looking up various references on prostate cancer and especially the variations of PSA levels related thereto - and not even the experts seem able to agree on some of the results of trials and tests done with or for evaluation of PSA. It's difficult for an average confused schmuck like me to make sense of that whole picture when it's clouded with so many variations on a theme and so many contradictory or simply inconclusive results of various kinds of tests done by several different groups of experts. They babble on and on about causes and treatments, all the while not seemingly knowing for sure what actually starts the process in the first place. They go to some pains to point out that the PSA level tests are not exactly reliable, but yet they use those to decide whether or not to punch holes in your prostate to collect tissue samples for examination. It all seems like a bit of a 'by guess and by God' approach to the problem. I think I now have a better understanding of something I once was told by one of those 'experts' - 'medicine is not like mechanics; it's an inexact science.' (You can say that again, Doc!)
Here's a relevant quote from the famous Voltaire (1694-1778):- "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
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