Health Patio

The Last Lecture

Sure, we make decisions large and small day by day, even moment by moment. A coin toss? If it is, the best advice is to remember to call heads, according to Dr. Randy Pausch. For Dr. Pausch of The Alice Project/Carnegie Mellon fame, the decision was made for him when he was diagnosed more than a year ago with pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma).

Summary: Late in the summer of 2006, I started having some unusual symptoms, culminating with jaudice. Scans revealed it was pancreatic cancer. At this time, my wife Jai and I had a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a three month old baby.

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the team there, together with Dr. Pausch himself, has put this devastating diagnosis on notice: the news according to the blog is that for now, palliative chemo is WORKING!!!! [Emphasis Dr. Pausch’s] Obviously, guarded optimism is what the Pausch family is facing during the next weeks and months as he battles this terminal medical condition.

If you wish to learn more about the value of time — and the point is that we may be good at valuing money, but not as skilled at valuing our time — from a person who has something to say about the topic, please consider viewing Dr. Pausch’s Time Management lecture at Google video.

Be well.

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