This Week's Picture: Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Detail from artwork on construction hoarding - Gerrard Street just west of Sherbourne

Recently I purged my iPad of any games that asked me to do one or more of:

watch an advertisement
pay money for gaming pieces
pay money to reach the "three star" score in a level
pay money for any reason at all

All I have left on my iPad now is Bejewelled, Scrabble and a couple of shareware games.

I find I now have more time to do other things.

The evidence that led me to this decision arose from the simple act of keeping track of expenses. A couple of years ago, because retirement was looming faster than our mortgage was shrinking, I bought an accounting app called Homebudget. The app lets you quickly create a set of books and, so long as you're diligent in both entering your data and being honest about what you're spending your money on, shows you your spending habits clearly -- habits such as pissing away money on stupid games.

The evidence was overwhelming; the course of action clear.

The whole work, of which this is just one side, is called "All My Relations"

I went to the Holland Clinic at Sunnybrook hospital for my arthritis assessment this past Wednesday. The assessor, a charming woman named Veronica, put me through my paces, asked me lots of personal questions and, after hearing the response "no" to her enquiry of whether I'd brought my x-rays, sent me off to get some more x-rays.

The radiology department is conveniently located on the second floor of the premises, so less than twenty minutes later I was looking, with Veronica, at a picture of something I'd never seen before: my pelvis.

I think, because of how I'd managed up to that point, Veronica'd had her doubts about whether or not I truly had arthritis. My leg moved too well. I had too much flexibility and too much strength.

She said, "There's no question you do have arthritis," as if she'd needed some convincing, and she pointed to the out-most edge of my right hip ball and socket joint, where the cartilage was all gone.

Seeing that really brought everything into focus. No kidding: I've got bone rubbing bone every time I take a step.

Then Veronica shared the decision that she believed the evidence supported.

"There isn't a surgeon in Toronto who would replace your hip. Anything they can give you will not be as good as what you have now."

"But I'm also in a lot of pain right now," I whined, "And I can't walk and do yoga like I used to."

Veronica thought that physiotherapy might help. She also said that she believed at least some of the pain - the pain that shoots below my knee - may be from a pinched nerve in my back.

She said, "Go to your GP and get referred for some physio to help with the arthritis pain; tell them what you've told me and see if they can't do something about your back, too."

"And," she said, "You can always come back here."