Re: Steve Jobs Regretted Delaying Cancer Surgery 9 Months, Biographer Says

I wonder just how much good the surgery would have done. I recently read the book THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch who died with pancreatic cancer at age 47. He had a surgical procedure called "Whipple Operation."
On page 58 he says:
As part of the surgery, Dr. Zeh removed not only the tumor, but my gallbladder, a third of my pancreas, a third of my stomach, and several feet of my small intestine. Once I recovered from that, I spent two months at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, receiving those powerful dosages of chemo, plus daily high-dose radiation of my abdomen. I went from 182 to 138 pounds and, by the end, could hardly walk. In January, I went home to Pittsburgh and my CT scans showed no cancer. I slowly regained my strength.
A little farther along on pages 59-60 he went back in August for a quarterly checkup. The nurse had left the computer with his results showing still on when she left the room. He said:
The examining room had a computer in it, and I noticed that the nurse hadn't logged out; my medical records were still up on the screen. I know my way around computers, of course, but this
required no hacking at all. My whole chart was right there.
I clicked around and found my blood-work report. There were 30 obscure blood values, but I knew the one I was looking for: CA 19-9---the tumor marker. When I found it, the number was a horrifying 208. A normal value is under 37. I studied it for a second.
He had found 10 tumors on his liver. Wasn't long until he passed on.
Can you imagine the pain and suffering he endured from the treatments? Maybe if Steve Jobs knew all this he would have no regrets.

By the way, the book is well worth anyone's time to read. Not very big and a true inspiration.

Corey Tweet