<story><title>Steve Jobs Succumbs to Alternative Medicine</title><url>http://www.skepticblog.org/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-succumbs-to-alternative-medicine/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kstenerud</author><text>So how exactly does this article square up with Steve&apos;s 2005 Stanford Commencement address?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roj.com.np/life-inspiration/steve-jobs-how-to-live-before-you-die/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.roj.com.np/life-inspiration/steve-jobs-how-to-liv...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.&quot;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.&quot;&lt;p&gt;He had the surgery. Successfully, as far as the doctors were concerned. And he lived the median number of years for those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This information was not hard to dig up.&lt;p&gt;Stay classy, exit.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zeteo</author><text>Yes, he ended up having the surgery, but he wasted a crucial nine months on alternative medicine first. Here&apos;s a CNN article from 2008:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.fortune/index.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.f...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;to the horror of the tiny circle of intimates in whom he&apos;d confided [...] Jobs decided to employ alternative methods to treat his pancreatic cancer, hoping to avoid the operation through a special diet. [...] For nine months Jobs pursued this approach [...] In the end, Jobs had the surgery, on Saturday, July 31, 2004&quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Steve Jobs Succumbs to Alternative Medicine</title><url>http://www.skepticblog.org/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-succumbs-to-alternative-medicine/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kstenerud</author><text>So how exactly does this article square up with Steve&apos;s 2005 Stanford Commencement address?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.roj.com.np/life-inspiration/steve-jobs-how-to-live-before-you-die/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.roj.com.np/life-inspiration/steve-jobs-how-to-liv...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.&quot;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.&quot;&lt;p&gt;He had the surgery. Successfully, as far as the doctors were concerned. And he lived the median number of years for those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This information was not hard to dig up.&lt;p&gt;Stay classy, exit.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bryanlarsen</author><text>As discussed in the comments, he lived a little bit less than the median number of years, but he was expected to live for much longer than the median because he was diagnosed so early.</text></comment>