Ailing Apple CEO Steve Jobs checked into Stanford Hospital over the weekend and was scheduled for surgery this morning, we hear.

At a party in Silicon Valley last night, a Stanford staffer who had just come from the hospital told friends, including our source, about the "extra special care" being afforded their famous patient.

The specific procedure Jobs was checked in for wasn't relayed by the chatty Stanford employee. Bloomberg News, citing experts who had observed Jobs's condition after treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2004, reported that he might have liver cancer.

Jobs is currently on a six-month medical leave from Apple, but he remains the company's CEO. In announcing his leave, the company said Jobs would remain involved in "major strategic decisions." Apple's board of directors has consistently tested disclosure requirements concerning Jobs's health for more than five years. He first learned of his cancer in 2003, but did not disclose it publicly until July 2004, when he announced his decision to undergo surgery. Apple COO Tim Cook is running the company

Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, did not return a phone call for comment. The operator at Stanford Hospital did not have a listing for a patient under Jobs's name, but a spokesman for the hospital said that any patient can request not to be listed under federal privacy laws.

Jobs did not attend Stanford, but he has long had ties to the institution; he gave a commencement address at the university in 2005 where he openly discussed his brush with mortality.

UPDATE: Silicon Alley Insider and TechCrunch are carrying similarly-worded denials of our report sent to them by a Silicon Valley bigwig who claims Jobs was at Apple in meetings today. Gizmodo received a similar denial, apparently from the same source. We don't know who it is or how they know what they say they know but we sure wish he would drop us a line. We know what our source heard at the party and would love to get to the bottom of things.