Justice Ginsburg Gets Encouraging Prognosis
Justice Ginsburg is home after her surgery for pancreatic cancer. She received a positive report and her prognosis sounds as good as it could possibly be.
Dr. Joseph Kim, a liver, pancreas and stomach surgeon at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, said Ginsburg’s prognosis appeared positive.
The reports are “outstanding,” he said. “It’s very good for her.”
The finding that Ginsburg’s pancreatic cancer is stage 1 means that the tumor was small and showed no sign of spreading to other organs. She will probably begin a six-month course of chemotherapy and may receive radiation treatment before or after, Kim said.
With a stage 1 tumor, “the chances of survival are far better than the bleak survival figures we commonly talk about,” Kim said. Instead of a 5% chance of survival after five years, Ginsburg’s odds could be better than 50%, he said.
Good news.
I am glad to hear that.
Joe (17aeff) — 2/14/2009 @ 2:07 pmGood for her. I hope she recovers and gets well.
steve miller (6cc348) — 2/14/2009 @ 2:08 pmMay she stay on the Court until replaced by a Conservative President (the devil you know, etc.) in 2013.
AD - RtR/OS (b72c61) — 2/14/2009 @ 2:36 pmUnder Hussein Obama’s plan Ms. Ginsburg would be too old to qualify for this kind of surgery.
rab (7a9e13) — 2/14/2009 @ 3:19 pmThe lady will be 76 in a month. If she left could Obamafuehrer find anyone more leftist? The thing is he’d swap her for someone who would push socialist policies for another 30 or so years.
Funny how GOP gave her such an easy confirmation ride while the libtards on the Judicial committee and dem caucus blocked so many of Dubya’s appointee prospects or did the usual BS borking. Biden, Kennedy, Specter et al are pricks. Yes, Arlene we should consider Scottish law too jajaja. Moron. Enjoy that pork.
Would be loverly to see a little intellectual honesty on the left. BJ Clinton thinks Fairness doctrine is right idea. Camille Paglia, at least, deems it censorship. Maybe one of the moonbat twerps on this blog can defend that, union card check, billions for ACORN, adulation for Obambi, etc. The King has no clothes- Barry Hussein is a hopeless assclown that the media will continue to cover for indeed.
aoibhneas (0c6cfc) — 2/14/2009 @ 3:28 pmWow, that’s great news. And unusual. How do you discover pancreatic cancer early enough to beat it?
Patricia (89cb84) — 2/14/2009 @ 3:38 pmThat report doesn’t match the other one I saw. It said that while they were in there, a visual/manual inspection of her pancreas revealed a second tumor which they hadn’t previously detected with X-ray or ultrasound.
They removed that one, too. The first was benign, but the second was malignant.
And that’s sad. I strongly disagree with Justice Ginsburg on a wide variety of issues, but she was and is a good choice for that position. It’ll be sad if this kills her.
Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 2/14/2009 @ 4:17 pmLook, I wish no one, even Justice Ginsburg with whom I strongly disagree, any ill will. But the fact remains that for the time being, everyone dies of something.
So would it still be sad or even sadder if she died in an auto accident? Or choking at a restaurant?
The problem with life is that by its very nature, it’s a terminal disease.
Dr. K (24b8da) — 2/14/2009 @ 5:38 pmComment by Dr. K — 2/14/2009 @ 5:38 pm
Justice Ginsburg is a person of importance. She is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her life and death make a difference in the World. Unlike yours.
nk (a12124) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:29 pmI think in this case, her presence on the Court is an overall negative for the integrity of the Republic.
She is probably the most Radical Leftist ever confirmed for a position on the Court. Almost any alternative had to have been better.
And, nk, her difference is not one that a great many people appreciate. There have been a lot of people throughout history that have made a bigger difference to the World than J.Ginsberg, most of them of the negative persuasion. She will just be a foot-note.
AD - RtR/OS (fd60fc) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:48 pmstrike “most” and replace with “many”, in my penultimate sentance.
AD - RtR/OS (fd60fc) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:50 pmAnd who will either gloat over or mourn your death?
nk (a12124) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:52 pmI, like countless millions who have preceded me, and the uncounted who will follow, will die alone and unremarked, without any monuments of glory, or (hopefully) infamy.
AD - RtR/OS (fd60fc) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:56 pmnk, let me ask you: which is sadder:
1) A person of national importance (unlike me) who dies in an auto accident,
2) A person of national importance (unlike me) who dies of cancer, or
3) A person of national importance (unlike me) who dies from choking at a restaurant?
I submit they are all sad. What I was referring to is that to say that one form of demise is sadder than another is pure stupidity.
Everyone dies far too young. Even us peons who do not make a difference in the world.
And for your information, I (probably much like yourself) am important to some people in the world, and to them I do make a difference. I may not be newsworthy, but it is a fact.
So, why not get over the ad hominem?
Dr. K (24b8da) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:56 pmClass, class is important, class is what I thought defines us from others, class is what you show as an example of civil discourse
Class is wishing someone well regardless of ideological differences – they have family, children, brothers, mothers, sisters, class is realizing that as well
EricPWJohnson (dbf1f3) — 2/14/2009 @ 6:57 pmAnd, EPWJ, if you are referring to me, when did I not show any class on this issue.
Enquiring minds want to know.
Dr. K (24b8da) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:01 pm“Golden lads and girls all must like chimney-sweepers come to dust” is beautiful in the abstract but ugly in the personal.
nk (a12124) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:07 pmEarly diagnosis is promising, but I saw something earlier saying she probably couldn’t have radiation treatment as she’d (ostensibly) already had her lifetime max.
Cancer sucks. I hope she beats it. As for the Court, this probably doesn’t matter much as she’ll be replaced with more of the same, if need be.
Pablo (99243e) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:19 pm“…The first was benign, but the second was malignant…”
If this is accurate, BHO will be naming her replacement.
AD - RtR/OS (fd60fc) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:20 pmUnfortunate.
Death always wins. Maybe sooner, maybe later, but always. Every time. Death has a perfect track record. We humans invest too much in trying to avoid that inevitability.
Pablo (99243e) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:23 pm“…she probably couldn’t have radiation treatment as she’d (ostensibly) already had her lifetime max…”
Not a good choice, to die of the disease or to die of the cure.
AD - RtR/OS (fd60fc) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:23 pmThat doesn’t quite make sense. A malignant tumor is one that metastasizes. The second may have been a malignancy, but the first would still have been malignant by virtue of having spread to create the second. Unless the two are completely unrelated, which is very unlikely.
Pablo (99243e) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:29 pmYeah, most chemo is no picnic either. Cancer sucks.
Pablo (99243e) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:31 pmWe humans invest too much in trying to avoid that inevitability.
I like Mikhail Bulgakov’s “Yes, man is mortal, but that would be only half the trouble. The worst
nk (a12124) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:37 pmof it is that he’s sometimes unexpectedly mortal – there’s the trick!” (empahsis mine)
Early diagnosis is promising, but I saw something earlier saying she probably couldn’t have radiation treatment as she’d (ostensibly) already had her lifetime max.
I wonder if that’s no more than a rule of thumb that should be adjusted to circumstances, such as her age. Perhaps Mike K. can enlighten us?
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R., who wants DRJ back! (0ea407) — 2/14/2009 @ 7:39 pmShe is probably the most Radical Leftist ever confirmed for a position on the Court
More radical a leftist than, say, Justice Douglas? Or Justice Fortas?
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 2/15/2009 @ 12:08 amYeah, most chemo is no picnic either. Cancer sucks.
Take it from personal experience – you have no idea how bad it can get.
Dmac (49b16c) — 2/15/2009 @ 9:03 amLike Patricia, #6, I am concerned about how the diagnosis was made. I once found a pancreatic cancer as an incidental finding in a patient I was operating on for a colon stricture from diverticulitis. The reason I even looked and felt his pancreas was because I didn’t like his description of his pain. It sounded like pancreas to me. I biopsied the tiny tumor (about 1 cm diameter) and it came back malignant. The following Monday, we went back, did a Whipple procedure, placed catheters for postop local radiation, and did everything one could do for an early pancreatic cancer. He had a miserable year and died miserably. His last words were “Can you believe this shit ?” He was a great guy and deserved better. I hope she does better but would like to know how it was diagnosed.
Mike K (2cf494) — 2/15/2009 @ 10:04 amYes, aphrael. She is more radical because the times have changed. It’s close with Douglas, I agree.
Mike K (2cf494) — 2/15/2009 @ 10:05 amComment by aphrael — 2/15/2009 @ 12:08 am
Douglas was a law-prof and considered to be somewhat of an intellectual in his early years, and ended up very Libertarian in his interpretation of individual-rights towards the end of his career on the bench (IMO). I, as a “Goldwater Conservative”, actually found areas that I agreed with him, though I did not agree with his overall view of the need for a large, expansive government, and the re-writing of the Constitution from the bench that he and his fellows advocated.
He did bring some color to the bench, it could be said.
Fortas, was a crook!
AD - RtR/OS (a4db8f) — 2/15/2009 @ 10:09 amOh, the poor guy, Mike!
Patricia (89cb84) — 2/16/2009 @ 9:16 amWhile it is good news for the Justice that her cancer was caught in stage 1, how many of us have a CT scan as part of our “routine exam”? I will venture to say not many. Certainly this was the reason her tumor was detected at such an early stage. One of the Senators of my state also had a spot on his lung identified during a “routine exam” with a CT scan. Through surgical biopsy the spot was deemed to be benign, but as a precaution that lobe of the lung was removed anyway. I am curious to know if these very thorough exams are done at additional cost to our elected and appointed leaders, or if this is something that we are all paying for? If the latter is the case, then the system is certainly not broken it would seem for the people who are in a position to change it.
Paul (4e728f) — 3/14/2009 @ 1:50 pm