Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has surgery for pancreatic cancer

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg underwent surgery today to remove a 1-centimetre tumor on her pancreas. The 75-year-old Justice had no signs of pancreatic cancer during a physical examination last  month, but the tumor was discovered during a routine CT scan, news reports say.

Justice Ginsburg is no stranger to cancer. Her mother died of cancer just before Ginsburg graduated from high school and her father successfully battled cancer while Ginsberg was studying law. Ginsberg herself had colon cancer in 1999.

Pancreatic cancer is a particularly tough cancer to beat, but since it was discovered early because of the routine scan, rather than symptoms, chances are it could be beaten. Of course, a lot depends on where in the pancreas the tumor is and if it had the chance to spread or not before it was detected.

Symptoms of pancreatic cancer include:

• Upper abdominal pain (sometimes radiating to your back)
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Jaundice ( yellowing of the skin and white of the eyes)

Justice Ginsberg joins Patrick Swayze in the celebrity pancreatic cancer group (Patrick Swayze – hard at work a year after pancreatic cancer diagnosis).

You can read more about pancreatic cancer at the Mayo Clinic.com, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute. 

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Tags: cancer blog, pancreatic cancer, pancreas cancer, justice ruth bader ginsburg pancreatic cancer, justice ruth bader ginsburg, jaundice, patrick swayze