2026年5月31日 / 美国东部时间上午9:30 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
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在《来自东翼的视角》（将于本周二由盖勒瑞图书公司出版）一书中，前第一夫人吉尔·拜登回顾了她在白宫的四年时光、丈夫的辩论表现、她的倡导工作，以及拜登政府面临的各项挑战——从新冠疫情、1月6日国会山骚乱，到总统的健康状况。
请阅读下文节选，不要错过5月31日丽塔·布拉弗在《哥伦比亚广播公司周日早间新闻》中对吉尔·拜登的专访！
《来自东翼的视角》 吉尔·拜登 著
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在我们离开白宫的前一年，乔开始频繁在夜间醒来。我清楚，这个症状在他这个年纪的男性中很常见，且几乎总是由良性原因引起。乔从未错过年度体检——在2024年2月28日沃尔特里德医疗中心的检查中，他的医生宣布他是“一名健康、活跃、精力充沛的81岁男性，完全有能力成功履行总统职务”，而且他能获得最优质的医疗服务。就在官邸里，就有配备齐全的24小时医务室。你会因为头痛、喉咙痛去看医生，或是接种流感疫苗或新冠加强针。
我知道乔更愿意和男医生讨论泌尿方面的问题，而不是和妻子说，于是我提醒了其中一位医生，让他们留意这个情况。“他昨晚醒了七次，”我说，“我很担心他。”
医生们得知这个问题后，我相信他们会为乔做检查并提供治疗。但据我所知，这个症状一直没有缓解。即便如此，我从未想过，这个极为常见的老年症状，最终会被查出是癌症。
诚然，我选择直接和医生沟通而非告知乔本人，这听起来有些守旧，但我们的关系一直以来都对个人健康问题保持着谨慎的分寸。当年我经历更年期时，从未和他提起过这件事——尽管我遭受了两年严重的失眠，就算好不容易睡着，也会被盗汗惊醒。
回到威尔明顿后，我发现乔的症状加重了，便鼓励他预约泌尿科医生。
乔前往费城的托马斯·杰斐逊大学医院就诊。第一次检查时，医生就说：“这里有问题，我们需要查明原因。”他让乔在5月15日做活检。
当天晚些时候，我们接到了电话。泌尿科医生告知乔患上了癌症，并安排了其他多项检查，以确定癌症是否已经扩散。
我们被问到的一个问题是，为什么乔最近没有做前列腺检查。这也是我心中的疑问。后来我了解到，美国泌尿学会并不建议70岁以上的男性进行常规前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）筛查。他们的思路是，前列腺癌在老年男性中通常扩散得更慢。这个年纪患上癌症一般不会影响预期寿命——美国男性的预期寿命约为76岁。有时，为老年男性做活检的风险可能超过收益。
由于PSA指数偏高，乔的癌症看起来已经处于晚期。不过我们仍抱有希望，认为癌症可能仅局限于前列腺。5月16日，乔再次前往杰斐逊医院做PET扫描。我们在一个小得像壁橱的检查室里等待结果。房间里只有一道帘子，没有门。乔坐在检查椅上，我坐在他们为我准备的椅子上。
结果没等多久，大约半小时就出来了。医生拉开帘子。我一看到她的表情，就明白了一切。
“我很抱歉，”她说，“哦，我真的很抱歉。”她不停地说着“对不起”。
已经是第四期了。癌症已经扩散到了他的骨骼。
前列腺癌非常常见——八分之一的男性在一生中会被诊断出患有这种疾病，且早期发现时治愈率极高。很多知名人士都曾患过此病并成功治愈，比如约翰·克里、罗伯特·德尼罗、本·斯蒂勒、科林·鲍威尔、沃伦·巴菲特……然而，据我所知，这些病例都是早期发现的，癌症并未扩散到骨骼。
我走出那个壁橱般的房间，走过特勤局人员身边。
“深呼吸，”我走向女洗手间整理情绪、好面对其他人时，不停地对自己说。
紧接着，问题接踵而至——首先就是选择哪种治疗方案最佳。我们必须迅速行动，拿出方案。乔可以接受放疗和激素治疗。通过这种治疗方案，他完全有希望再活很多年。他的医生说，癌症不太可能夺走他的生命；他很可能会活到自然寿命。
“深呼吸。”
5月18日，新闻稿发布了。乔的团队，尤其是年轻的工作人员，都悲痛不已。但我们根本没时间沉浸在悲伤中，立刻就遭到了指责，说我们隐瞒了他的病情。问题变成了：作为美国总统、世界上最有权势的人，身边全天24小时都有医疗团队——不只是一名医生，而是一整个医疗团队——围绕着他，怎么会发展到前列腺癌晚期的地步？乔哪怕只是蹭破点皮，都会有十个人涌上来递上纱布。我们把总统保护得密不透风，结果他却患上了第四期前列腺癌？这说不通。
说实话，我不知道该如何回应那些和海滩上那位医生一样困惑的人。我自己也同样震惊。但我不想浪费太多精力回头追问这一切是怎么发生的。我们没有时间可以浪费了。他必须立刻开始治疗。5月21日，乔去做了骨密度测试，第二天就开始了激素治疗。激素药丸会引发严重的副作用，尤其是疲劳和情绪波动。乔确实出现了这些情况。
任何曾陪伴爱人经历重大疾病的人都明白——我曾陪伴父母、乔的父母经历过，最痛苦的是陪伴博——你会生活在无尽的疑问中：物理治疗师什么时候到？他吃药了吗？他早餐吃了什么？他喝了多少水？他昨晚没睡好——我需要打电话给医生吗？
焦虑会成为你形影不离的伙伴。
节选自吉尔·拜登《来自东翼的视角》。版权© 吉尔·拜登。经西蒙与舒斯特有限责任公司旗下盖勒瑞图书公司许可重印。
Book excerpt: “View From the East Wing” by Jill Biden
May 31, 2026 / 9:30 AM EDT / CBS News
Gallery Books
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In “View From the East Wing” (to be published Tuesday by Gallery Books), former first lady Jill Biden writes of her four years in the White House, her husband’s debate performance, her advocacy, and the challenges facing the Biden presidency, from the COVID pandemic and the January 6 insurrection to the president’s health.
Read an excerpt below, and don’t miss Rita Braver’s interview with Jill Biden on “CBS Sunday Morning” May 31!
“View From the East Wing” by Jill Biden
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In the year before we left the White House, Joe began waking up repeatedly at night. This symptom, I knew, was common in men his age, and almost always caused by something benign. Joe never missed his annual physical—at his February 28, 2024, exam at Walter Reed Medical Center, his doctor proclaimed him “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency”—and he had access to the best medical care available. Right there in the residence, there’s a fully staffed twenty-four-hour doctor’s office. You stop in because you have a headache, because your throat is sore, because you need your flu shot or COVID booster.
Knowing that Joe would prefer to speak about any urological issues with his male doctors rather than with his wife, I alerted one of them to make sure they knew. “He was up seven times last night,” I said. “I’m worried about him.”
Now that the doctors had been made aware of the issue, I trusted that Joe would be examined and treated. But as far as I could tell, the issue persisted. Even knowing this, I never imagined that the cause of this very common symptom of age would turn out to be cancer.
While it surely sounds old-fashioned that I spoke about the issue to the doctors rather than to Joe directly, it’s always been the nature of our relationship that we’ve maintained a veil of discretion around personal health. When I went through menopause, I never spoke about it with him, even though I experienced two years of horrible insomnia, and when I did manage to fall asleep I was jolted awake by night sweats.
Back in Wilmington, I realized that Joe’s symptoms had gotten worse, and I encouraged him to make an appointment with a urologist.
Joe went up to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia for the appointment. At the very first examination, the doctor said, “There’s something here. We need to find out what it is.” He sent Joe for a biopsy May 15.
We got a call later that same day. The urologist told us that Joe had cancer, and he ordered various other tests to find out if the cancer had spread.
One of the questions we’ve been asked is why Joe hadn’t had a recent prostate exam. That was a question I had, too. I’ve since learned that the American Urological Association doesn’t recommend routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for men older than seventy. The thinking is that prostate cancer usually spreads more slowly in older men. Cancer at that age doesn’t tend to affect life expectancy, which for men in the US is about seventy-six. Sometimes the risk of performing a biopsy in an older man can outweigh the benefits.
Due to a high PSA, Joe’s cancer appeared to be advanced. We still had hope, though, that the cancer was localized to his prostate. Joe went for a PET scan, also at Jefferson Hospital, on May 16. We waited for the scan results in an exam room that was the size of a closet. It had a curtain, not a door. Joe was in the exam chair, and I was sitting on a chair they’d brought in for me.
The results didn’t take long, about half an hour. The doctor opened the curtain. As soon as I saw her face, I knew.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She wouldn’t stop saying “I’m sorry.”
Stage IV. It had spread to his bones.
Prostate cancer is very common—one in eight men receive the diagnosis in their lifetime, and it is highly treatable when found early. So many men have notably had it and treated it successfully—John Kerry, Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Colin Powell, Warren Buffett … Yet, in all the cases I knew about, they’d caught it earlier; it hadn’t spread to their bones.
I walked out of that closet of a room, past the Secret Service.
Breathe, I kept repeating to myself as I headed to the ladies’ room to compose myself before I faced anyone.
Then the questions began—starting with what course of treatment would be best. We had to act fast. We needed a plan. Joe could do radiation and hormone therapy. Thanks to that regimen, he would have every hope of many more years left. His doctors said that it was unlikely the cancer would kill him; he would likely live out his natural life.
Breathe.
The press statement went out May 18. Joe’s staff, the younger staffers in particular, were devastated. But we couldn’t dwell in the grief because we were put immediately on the defensive, accused of having hidden his illness. The question became: How was it possible that the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, a man who has a medical team—not just a doctor, a medical team—around him twenty-four hours a day could wind up with cancer so advanced? Joe couldn’t stub his toe without ten people wanting to run at him waving bales of gauze. You put the president in bubble wrap, and he ends up with stage IV prostate cancer? It made no sense.
Truly, I did not know what to say to people who were baffled like that doctor on the beach. I felt the same way. I was stunned. And yet, I didn’t want to waste too much energy looking back and asking how this could have happened. We had no time to lose. He had to get started on treatment. Joe went in for a bone density test on May 21, and the next day he began hormone therapy. The hormone pills can cause serious side effects, particularly fatigue and moodiness. That has been true for Joe.
As anyone who’s ever loved someone through a major illness knows—and I went through it with both my parents, and both Joe’s parents, and, most excruciatingly, with Beau—you live in a world of questions: What time is the physical therapist coming? Did he take his medicine? What did he have for breakfast? How much water is he drinking? He didn’t sleep well last night—do I need to call the doctor?
Worry becomes your constant companion
Excerpted from “View From the East Wing” by Jill Biden. Copyright © by Jill Biden. Reprinted by permission of Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, LLC.
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