We know Jobs has dodged the cancer bullet once, and was darned foolish about how he handled it as well. I'm a believer in natural medicines, too. I see a naturopathic doctor every few months, when he's in town (he's a Buddhist lama and has a regular habit of disappearing into southeast Asia). But if my doctor ever said "cancer," it's off to the Cancer Treatment Center of America first and my naturopath afterwards to clean up the mess from chemo.

Apple was asked about his condition, naturally, and said no, he doesn't have cancer, he just had a "common bug" that caused him to drop some weight.



While Jobs did have a treatable form of cancer, it wasn't a case of cutting out the tumor and that's that. We all know about the Fortune article that revealed that he tried various alternative therapies for nine months before the tumor was taken out surgically. The fact he hid the illness for nine months got all the attention.

Overlooked in it all was the claim Jobs had a procedure called a pancreatoduodenectomy, the most common operation for pancreatic cancer and a variation on the Whipple procedure. Apple never refuted the claim, so the assumption is the story was accurate.

A Whipple procedure is a major rearrangement of one's digestive system, and you're never the same after it is done. In the case of pancreatoduodenectomy, a portion of the pancreas, bile duct, small intestine and stomach are removed, as well as the entire gallbladder. The severed surfaces of the stomach, bile duct, and remaining pancreas are stitched to the small intestine so that what's left of the pancreas can continue to supply insulin and digestive enzymes.

As Fortune noted, people tend to lose about five to 10 percent of their body weight and some never fully recover. But he didn't look this gaunt at the January Mac Air launch, or last year when I saw him at the iPod refresh/iPod Touch launch. The publication has taken some flack over these stories because they are speculation. Well, we don't know Jobs' condition because he won't speak on the matter.

It's time Apple ended its Politburo press office-like behavior. Keeping the iPhone a secret is one thing, but now we are talking a serious shareholder concern. If they are lying about their CEO's condition, a CEO widely viewed as the sole power behind the company, with no heir apparent, this company is opening itself to massive shareholder lawsuits if everyone's worst fear is recognized. A few months of secrecy is not worth the long-term damage to the company.

The thing is, Steve used to deal with the press. Many years ago, when he was still with Next, he called me directly when he got wind I was poking around on some rumors surrounding the company (selling out to Oracle, as I recall. It's been a while). He called to refute the claims personally. After my shock at hearing who was on the other end of the phone wore off (and you know how direct he can be), I told him I had poked around but found the rumors groundless and had abandoned the story. Our conversation ended on a friendlier note and I did several more stories on Next, even visiting their offices, the previous issue forgotten.

The company is on record as saying he had a "bug." OK. But if you watched or heard the iPhone 2.0 launch, then you may remember a convenient detail omitted from the announcement of the $199 price tag. Jobs never once mentioned AT&T, nor did he mention that the $199 price is tied to a two-year service contract with AT&T. There will be no more buying the phone and activating it at home. The phone will be activated in the store before you leave. That's a rather important detail, don't you think?

It makes you wonder what other details Apple is omitting.

(The headline of this blog is taken from a cynical old Russian saying about their two state-run newspapers, Pravda (the truth) and Izvestia (the news). The full quote is "In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth.")