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 ...
It is shocking that someone trying to run a major operation like Apple could be so out of touch with the most basic aspects of reality. So much so, it may have killed him.
On the other hand, I have yet to hear of anyone surviving pancreatic cancer. Earlier surgery might not have made a difference.
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."
I think this is understandable. People deal with incredible blows differently and I think we all agree Steve Jobs was a mind of a unique mind and way of seeing things. Thus it doesn't surprise me at all that he processed this sort of news differently and even had magical thinking. It shows he lives in a much more creative reality more often than many.
He gave many a great gift. He is allowed to be human. He has given more than most to the earth before passing. I applaud his humanness. We got the best part of the deal.
You might be right. I have not researched the latest treatment for the disease.
Magical thinking - that you can avoid making the decision or put off the decision when you have cancer, is nutz. If you decide the odds of treatment are too low for the amount of pain and suffering treatment will exact, that is rational.
I know someone that had her pancreas removed, oh... Must be over twenty years ago. Sometimes it works.
exactly.
One of his “smart” gifts was supporting socialists and socialism. Socialism is based on magical thinking and a committed denial of human nature, history and reality. Political correctness is magical thinking which adds up to a pack of dangerous lies.
It can be cured if caught very early, which it usually isn’t.
pancreatic cancer is a death sentence
So refusing anything that could prolong life a couple more years is “stupid”. Interesting value judgement -
I agree with you on all those points and am impressed with your point. I’m just willing to give him a pass regarding his reactions to finding out about his cancer. Politics and political philosophy fall into another category however.
That was in July. We buried her before Christmas. She knew she was sick she just hoped that if she ignored it it would go away. It didn't.
What makes people do the things they do? Beats the hell out of me.
Yes and even Steve Jobs could not come up with the ipancreas. Life is also a death sentence and not to many people deal with that straight up and all perfect when they come to realize that means none of us get out of here alive.
Surgery might’ve extended his life another year or two. Most pancreatic cancer isn’t diagnosed until it has already spread to other organs. My dad died 2 months after he was diagnosed.
pancreatic cancer is a death sentence
Not necessarily anymore. They are using new techniques all the time now. There is the cyberknife surgery (laser) that has been very effective on those with certain types of pancreatic cancer, and there is a new type of treatment, similar to the cyberknife laser surgery, only using electrical pulses of some sort (being done at a hospital in Louisville, KY). One of my relatives had this surgery, and has been told that his cancer is totally gone, using this new method).
There are Ads currently running on TV that feature a woman named Peggy speaking about the cyberknife laser surgery and how it cured her type of pancreatic cancer, and it is five years now since she had her surgery (she’s a real person, not a TV model). So, as more attention is being paid to pancreatic cancer and how to cure it, more and more new methods are hitting the market that will provide a much better survival rate for these types of cancers and others.
No doubt, throughout his illness, he was given advice on what or what not to do and what the various consequences of his decision would be.
He chose. With that...it should be left alone ...period.
BUMP what you said. Great post.
If the surgery was a Whipple procedure, look it up....it carries lots of risks and side affects....many people would not opt for it.....pancreatic cancer for the most part is still terminal....very few people survive it for more than a couple of years, although there are people that do....
The article claims his cancer was found early enough to make surgery worthwhile.
Steve supported socialism? When and where? The guy didn’t do non-anonymous charitable donations. You have to prove it to me.
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