Days Before Cancer Surgery, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Was Feeling 'Fine' and Back to Her Full Gym Workout

Photo: WLIW21In the days leading up to surgery toremove two cancerous growthsfrom her left lung on Friday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg kept up a hectic social calendar — and appeared quite healthy.At the French Ambassador’s residence, the 85-year-old Supreme Court Justicesipped champagne, and during an interview Saturday with NPR’s Nina Totenberg, her rosy cheeks radiated good health.Totenberg asked the Justice, “How’s your health?” to which Ginsburg replied: “It’s fine, thank you.”“And those ribs you busted?” Totenberg asked, referring to thethree ribs she fracturedfollowing a fall on Nov. 7.“Almost repaired,” Ginsburg said to thunderous applause at The Museum of the City of New York.Ginsburg revealed that she had returned to her longtime trainer, Bryant Johnson, with whom she’s done twice-weekly workouts for more than 20 years.“We went back immediately after the fall, we could do legs only,” she said. “Yesterday we did the whole routine.”Trainer Johnson tells PEOPLE, “We trained Wednesday also, and one day this week. The justice is strong and blessed.”Nina Totenberg, left, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Ginsburg’s schedule last week — all while “secretly” undergoing tests and seeing doctors — included multiple public appearances and three different interviews before audiences, “at one point reciting from memory the words of several arias from an opera about her famous friendship and legal dueling with the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia,”reported Totenberg on NPR.Ginsburg’s malignant nodules were first identified after she underwent testing for the three broken ribs.And Thursday night, Ginsburg flew on the same plane as NBC’s Katy Tur,who tweeted Friday: “Oh wow. You wouldn’t have known. She was moving well yesterday and she spent the entire ride working.”Ginsburg’s work this week includeda vote before the surgeryto refuse to allow the government to enforce President Donald Trump‘s proposed restriction on asylum-seeking migrants, a 5-4 decision that upheld a lower court ruling.“Justice Ginsburg is one tough cookie,” filmmaker Besty West, director of this year’s highly acclaimed Ginsburg documentaryRBG, tells PEOPLE. (The documentary has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, come January.)“She has overcome challenges that would have felled many lesser people,” adds West.

Photo: WLIW21

In the days leading up to surgery toremove two cancerous growthsfrom her left lung on Friday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg kept up a hectic social calendar — and appeared quite healthy.At the French Ambassador’s residence, the 85-year-old Supreme Court Justicesipped champagne, and during an interview Saturday with NPR’s Nina Totenberg, her rosy cheeks radiated good health.Totenberg asked the Justice, “How’s your health?” to which Ginsburg replied: “It’s fine, thank you.”“And those ribs you busted?” Totenberg asked, referring to thethree ribs she fracturedfollowing a fall on Nov. 7.“Almost repaired,” Ginsburg said to thunderous applause at The Museum of the City of New York.Ginsburg revealed that she had returned to her longtime trainer, Bryant Johnson, with whom she’s done twice-weekly workouts for more than 20 years.“We went back immediately after the fall, we could do legs only,” she said. “Yesterday we did the whole routine.”Trainer Johnson tells PEOPLE, “We trained Wednesday also, and one day this week. The justice is strong and blessed.”Nina Totenberg, left, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Ginsburg’s schedule last week — all while “secretly” undergoing tests and seeing doctors — included multiple public appearances and three different interviews before audiences, “at one point reciting from memory the words of several arias from an opera about her famous friendship and legal dueling with the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia,”reported Totenberg on NPR.Ginsburg’s malignant nodules were first identified after she underwent testing for the three broken ribs.And Thursday night, Ginsburg flew on the same plane as NBC’s Katy Tur,who tweeted Friday: “Oh wow. You wouldn’t have known. She was moving well yesterday and she spent the entire ride working.”Ginsburg’s work this week includeda vote before the surgeryto refuse to allow the government to enforce President Donald Trump‘s proposed restriction on asylum-seeking migrants, a 5-4 decision that upheld a lower court ruling.“Justice Ginsburg is one tough cookie,” filmmaker Besty West, director of this year’s highly acclaimed Ginsburg documentaryRBG, tells PEOPLE. (The documentary has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, come January.)“She has overcome challenges that would have felled many lesser people,” adds West.

In the days leading up to surgery toremove two cancerous growthsfrom her left lung on Friday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg kept up a hectic social calendar — and appeared quite healthy.

At the French Ambassador’s residence, the 85-year-old Supreme Court Justicesipped champagne, and during an interview Saturday with NPR’s Nina Totenberg, her rosy cheeks radiated good health.

Totenberg asked the Justice, “How’s your health?” to which Ginsburg replied: “It’s fine, thank you.”

“And those ribs you busted?” Totenberg asked, referring to thethree ribs she fracturedfollowing a fall on Nov. 7.

“Almost repaired,” Ginsburg said to thunderous applause at The Museum of the City of New York.

Ginsburg revealed that she had returned to her longtime trainer, Bryant Johnson, with whom she’s done twice-weekly workouts for more than 20 years.

“We went back immediately after the fall, we could do legs only,” she said. “Yesterday we did the whole routine.”

Trainer Johnson tells PEOPLE, “We trained Wednesday also, and one day this week. The justice is strong and blessed.”

Nina Totenberg, left, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Ginsburg’s schedule last week — all while “secretly” undergoing tests and seeing doctors — included multiple public appearances and three different interviews before audiences, “at one point reciting from memory the words of several arias from an opera about her famous friendship and legal dueling with the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia,”reported Totenberg on NPR.

Ginsburg’s malignant nodules were first identified after she underwent testing for the three broken ribs.

And Thursday night, Ginsburg flew on the same plane as NBC’s Katy Tur,who tweeted Friday: “Oh wow. You wouldn’t have known. She was moving well yesterday and she spent the entire ride working.”

Ginsburg’s work this week includeda vote before the surgeryto refuse to allow the government to enforce President Donald Trump‘s proposed restriction on asylum-seeking migrants, a 5-4 decision that upheld a lower court ruling.

“Justice Ginsburg is one tough cookie,” filmmaker Besty West, director of this year’s highly acclaimed Ginsburg documentaryRBG, tells PEOPLE. (The documentary has been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, come January.)

“She has overcome challenges that would have felled many lesser people,” adds West.

source: people.com