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.
So refusing anything that could prolong life a couple more years is “stupid”. Interesting value judgement -
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.
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.
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.
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....
Seems he wasn’t as smart as people thought.
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.
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....
I don’t think it has to do with accepting reality.
He wouldn’t have survived, anyway. And facing cancer and immortality his way was his right. Ultimately, it was the most private and personal decision he ever made. And even if we don’t agree with it, we must admit that it was his call and no one else’s.
No one has the right to force their medical opinion upon the ultimately life-or -death decisions of a person who has a cancer that is this deadly. It’s impossible to force someone into treatment.
Thank God!
Stoopid hypothetical story and it could have gone either way.
Pancreatic Cancer is a terribly vicious disease and does what it wants even if you attempt to excise it.
Death by Buddhism?
Pancreatic is a killer though, and he did well to survive as long as he did.