Posted on 10/20/2011 8:45:49 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
(CBS News) Apple CEO Steve Jobs refused to allow surgeons to perform what could have been life-saving surgery on his pancreatic cancer, says his biographer Walter Isaacson...
"I've asked [Jobs why he didn't get an operation then] and he said, 'I didn't want my body to be opened...I didn't want to be violated in that way,'" Isaacson recalls. So he waited nine months, while his wife and others urged him to do it, before getting the operation, reveals Isaacson. Asked by Kroft how such an intelligent man could make such a seemingly stupid decision, Isaacson replies, "I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking...we talked about this a lot," he tells Kroft. "He wanted to talk about it, how he regretted it....I think he felt he should have been operated on sooner."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The fact that she knew she would be leaving a child behind so early may have been too much to bear. So she acted like it wasn't happening. Very sad. I am so sorry for your lost. Truly.
I have a MIL going through the same. Each time it returns it is that much harder on all of us. Each time it returns it is that much widespread and she has more and more physical repercussions from the chemo.
Life is such a fragile gift. My heart goes out to you. How hard that must have been to have someone you care for ignore it all and then pass so quickly.
Seems he wasn’t as smart as people thought.
sometimes, when your time is up, its up, and no medical intervention is going to really change the outcome....having said that, I wish my own mother had agreed or been encouraged to fight her diagnosis...I would have wanted her around another year or two if posssible...
P.S., the cyberknife surgeries are non-invasive, they do not cut you open. However, on certain types of pancreatic cancer, they may do a combo of both cyberknife techniques along with what is called a “Whipple” or partial “Whipple” surgery, where they go in and remove and/or bypass certain organs in the area of the pancreas to increase the ability to remove all possible satellites for the cancer. Usually, it is part of the pancreas, the gall bladder, part of the duodenum (sp?), and whatever else will help to make sure the cure is a complete one.
In my relative’s case, luckily none of the cancer had travelled to other organs in the area, and it was caught early in the game, although it was more problematic because of the location in the pancreas of the cancer growth. But all’s well that ended well, thank goodness.
So, if any of your relatives or friends end up with pancreatic cancer, make sure that they do a lot of research into the new methods of treating it, as it has moved into the category of curable cancers if caught soon enough.
I give him a pass, too. Everyone has the right to make their own decisions about cancer treatment.
It is the magical thinking of his thought process described in the article that struck me as it relates to his political philosphy. Socialism and political correctness is an ideology of magical thinking.
Magical thinking is fine until you are facing real life and death danger...like turning the country over to a racist Marxist with no experience during an economic crisis or sticking your head in the sand when faced with cancer treatment decisions.
He regreted putting his decision about treatment for nine months after they discovered his condition and they found the cancer early. For a “smart” and successful guy, this just struck me as odd. It may explains the CEO socialist disease.
You are the idiot who used the word “stupid”, not me.
So is Communism: and Socialism is just Communism which hasn't metastasized yet.
Cheers!
Waiting 9 months to do the surgery wasn't wise but, in his case, probably had little or no determining effect on his longevity. He was closely monitored that whole time.
His doctors thought he was "cured" in 2004 when they removed the tumor. Clearly his cancer returned.
Why ‘analyze’ motive or reason? It was his decision; period.
I have a friend who died very quickly from that cancer, too.
If you read the article you will see he regreted waiting 9 months to decide on surgery when they had caught the cancer early and he lied about being cured in 2004. He was saying he was cured while he was undergoing treatment. He did not want anyone to know.
Amen,
The man lived his life as he chose. Screw all this hindsight talk about what he should or should not have done with his life. After all, the man accomplished mountains more than most of us reading this `shoulda-coulda` stuff. Let the man rest.
Amen,
The man lived his life as he chose. Screw all this hindsight talk about what he should or should not have done with his life. After all, the man accomplished mountains more than most of us reading this `shoulda-coulda` stuff. Let the man rest.
Are you kidding? The culture and personna of Apple is as socialist and politically correct as it gets in the corporate world.
Are you kidding? The culture and personna of Apple is as socialist and politically correct as it gets in the corporate world. It would not be a big deal for you to do your own research, but I did it for you.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/01/bill_gates_tops_steve_jobs_in.php
Most of Gates’ contributions—$192,000—went to Republicans. All of Jobs’ donations went to Democrats.
Seems he wasn’t as smart as people thought.”
I don’t think people’s decisions about how to handle an issue always has anything to do with smart versus not smart. Seems to me that if the person with the decision to make is someone we love very much, admire or need in some way we want them to make the decision that best fulfills our needs. The sentence that comes to mind is “If I were you, this is what I would decide to do”. But we are not them and it really is their choice. Hopefully it will always be an informed one.
It all boils down to that it's none of your business...period.
Steve Jobs made his decision. He no doubt had the best medical advice that money could buy. But wait...there is a FReeper named SaraJohnson that could have shed new light on everything that was told to Steve Jobs and could have saved him.
do I need the tag? ... really?
My mom had whipple surgery. She lived 15 years after it. Not fun, but she got to be with meet all her grand children before the cancer came back and she died. She had a great attitude and love for life and family.
With that type of cancer, there is no cure surgery or no surgery....When I worked at the hospital I asked one of our surgeon’s that went through the chemo for pancreatic cancer, he was sorry he did, but went back to work until it killed him....
Exactly
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