I just wanted to mention that a certain Mac publication is now exploiting the situation by quoting a physician who claims that the weight loss is evidence that Jobs’ cancer has recurred. That doctor, of course, has no access to any medical records. It’s just talk, and typical of tabloid journalism.

No, I will not provide a link to this travesty.

Peace,
Gene

Maybe its just the reality distortion field, but I am inclined to accept the official explanation. Steve Jobs is a vegetarian of some sort. In any event, he has a relatively restricted diet, and this tends to result in problems as one ages, if one gets ill or there are changes in one’s life. Basically, the body has less slack to work with when something goes awry. I’ve known at least two vegetarians who ran into health problems related to their diet, and one who just started eating meat again in response.

Steve Jobs may simply need to readjust his diet. He can probably remain a vegetarian, but he will have to vary the ratios of his foods to get the nutrients he needs. There are all sorts of nutritional deficiencies, many of them obscure. For example, you can get rabbit fever if you try to live on rabbit and nothing else. Rabbit is extremely lean, so you will not be getting enough fat in your diet. Given our fat saturated society I doubt that your typical physician will pick up on this on your first visit.

@ Richard: With differing diagnoses, maybe we are watching a live-action version of the TV show, “House.”

Peace,
Gene

Several sites have posed the question of whether this is simply a result of the reduced size/capacity of the pancreas as a result of the initial surgery or whether this is a consequence of a recurrence of the disease. Apparently, either is a possible explanation of the symptoms.

It does seem strange that Mr. Jobs’ doctors have only recently come to the diagnosis he relates.

In either event, you correctly conclude that sharing the load or initiating a transition plan is something that was the pink elephant in the room that no one at Apple was prepared to publicly address until just now.

Best wishes to Mr. Jobs.

ppgreat wrote:

This shouldn’t come as any surprise from a guy who wanted to treat his pancreatic cancer originally in a more holistic, vegan fashion. (You just can’t trust a person who won’t wolf down the occasional Big Mac.) Let’s see what he looks like in the coming months.

Well, one hopes it’ll be for the better, and that all this speculation about his health will be history. But, no, I don’t believe he wolfs down Big Macs or chicken nuggets.

Peace,
Gene

This shouldn’t come as any surprise from a guy who wanted to treat his pancreatic cancer originally in a more holistic, vegan fashion. (You just can’t trust a person who won’t wolf down the occasional Big Mac.) Let’s see what he looks like in the coming months.