Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says 'I'm on My Way to Being Very Well' After Surprise Cancer Treatment
Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave an update on her health, just over a week after the Supreme Court announced that she had been treated for pancreatic cancer.
On Saturday, Ginsburg, 86, spoke at the 2019 Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. where she addressed the crowd. “As this audience can see I am alive. And I’m on my way to being very well,” she said, according to CNN.
Ginsburg also said that she’d be “prepared” for the start of the next Supreme Court session. “We have more than a month yet to go. I will be prepared when the time comes,” she said.
“I love my job. It’s the best and the hardest job that I have ever had. It’s kept me going through four cancer battles,” Ginsburg continued. “Instead of concentrating on my aches and pains, I just know that I have to read this set of briefs, go over the draft opinion.”
The Supreme Court Justice added, “I have to somehow surmount whatever is going on in my body and concentrate on the court’s work.”
On Aug. 23, it was announced that Ginsburg had finished a three-week course of radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center in New York City for a localized malignant tumor on her pancreas.
The treatment marked the second time in a year Ginsburg has had cancer — and the second time she has had pancreatic cancer. She underwent surgery to have two malignant modules removed from her left lung in December.
Ginsburg’s treatment for the tumor on her pancreas began on Aug. 5, days after it was discovered, according to the court’s announcement. The treatment, done as an outpatient, included the placement of a bile duct stent.
RELATED: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes First Public Appearance Since Announcing Surprise Cancer Treatment
In their statement, the court said Ginsburg had “tolerated treatment well.”
“She cancelled her annual summer visit to Santa Fe, but has otherwise maintained an active schedule. The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Justice Ginsburg will continue to have periodic blood tests and scans. No further treatment is needed at this time,” the court’s statement read.
She made her first public appearance since announcing the treatment when she accepted an honorary degree at the University at Buffalo School of Law on Monday.
RELATED VIDEO: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized After Fracturing Ribs in Fall
During her appearance on Saturday, Ginsburg also shared a sweet story about meeting Jennifer Lopez and her fiancé Alex Rodriguez.
According to a clip from The Hill, Ginsburg said “they came to chambers and we had a very nice visit. She mostly wanted to ask if I had any secret about a happy marriage.”
When asked what marriage advice she shared, Ginsburg cheekily recounted the advice her mother-in-law gave her on her wedding day: “‘It helps sometimes to be a little deaf.'”
