Reporting Some More

Saturday reporting on Ms. Lucas' from Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC. This is her Mom once again. Ms. Lucas walked the distance of walking around the edge of the classroom three times. She continues to work very hard to make the ball climb in the breathing machine. It hurts to do that because of the repairs that were made, but it is very important work to do to get well.

I have gotten to go to the park across the street from the hospital and these are some of the flowers that are blooming today.

Thank you for your care and good wishes.  It makes getting better easier.  Jo Ann Lucas  (Ms. Lucas' mom)

Reporting Some More

Tulips in Central Park

Saturday reporting on Ms. Lucas' recovery from heart surgery in New York City.  This is her mom again and I want you to see the flowers that are blooming right across the street from the hospital. We get to walk in the park sometime each day

Reporting

Good Morning.
It is a rainy morning in New York City.
Yesterday Ms. Lucas got started on physical therapy. She had to touch her thumb to each of her fingers. While in a sitting position, she had to straighten each of her legs and bend her foot up and down. She had to move herself from side to side in the bed, without using her arms. She realized that takes some thinking about and she was able to do that.
She also started working to be sure she is breathing deeply. What she uses looks like a clear measuring cup, with numbers on the side. A ball rests on the bottom of the cup and there is a bendable, great big straw that she puts in her mouth. Then she must breathe in, and that makes that ball go up in the cup. They cheer when she gets it up to a certain number.  She does this five times every half hour, and they hope she will get the ball to go higher today.
The nurses, therapists and doctors are taking good care of her. She will have stories to tell you soon.
Greetings from all of us and thank you for your continued care.
Jo Ann Lucas  (Ms. Lucas' Mom)

Surgery report

Sandy's Mom, Jo Ann

Greetings.
This is Ms.Lucas' Mom.
The surgery was yesterday and the doctor was able to repair the part of the heart that needed fixed.
 This morning she is eating ice chips.

Thank you for your comments and greetings to all of us here. We are grateful to you and will continue to keep you posted.

Jo Ann Lucas

Surgery Tuesday

Mom

Hi All,

O.K... I'm checking in at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. New York time, which is 5:30 a.m. St. Paul time. Most of you will be sound asleep! My mom, Jo Ann, will get on the blog and post an update when she has one (I'm teaching her how to do this tonight - it will be her first blogging experience!).

Guggenheim Pavilion,
Mt. Sinai Hospital

Here is a picture of the Guggenheim Pavilion at the Mt. Sinai Hospital where I will be. It's beautiful and airy and full of light - and it was designed by an architect (that's a person who designs buildings) named I.M. Pei. Mr. Pei is originally from the country of China, but he has lived in the U.S. for most of his life. I interviewed him after he designed a building at Indiana University where I went to college about 30 years ago. I was working for the school newspaper. Isn't that cool!!

Not exactly sure when the surgery will start, but the whole thing will take about 6 hours. Thank you for all your comments on the blog, thoughtful notes, little bracelets, and mostly your good thoughts!

All the best - talk to you soon!

Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Easter Sunday in New York City

Hi All,

Well, I am not a big celebratant of Easter, but I must say, it was fun to be here in New York on that day.

Started with breakfast at Bagel Bob's - "Everything baked on the premises" - and there is nothing better (well, almost) than a bagel with lox and cream cheese in New York City. My mouth is watering as I write this, so I may have to go back for another one today.

Then we hopped a city bus and headed down to Greenwich (pronounced gren'-itch) Village, which is farther south on "the island." Yes, that's right, I'm actually staying on an island! It's much bigger than Harriet Island there in St. Paul, but Manhattan is one of the 5 burroughs (or parts) of New York City - kind of like East St. Paul, West St. Paul, etc. are separate areas of St. Paul, but everything is still really "St. Paul" - except each of the different parts of New York City is HUGE, and the part I am staying on, Manhattan, is an island. Cool, huh?! No, I am not sitting by the ocean on my towel watching the waves roll in over my toes. You will just have to go to Manhatten sometime to see what it's like!

Man with potted
plant bonnet

Ms. Lucas and 2 girls
with Easter bonnets

Anyway, on our way to Greenwich Village, we noticed a bunch of people gathering, so we hopped off the bus to investigate. It turned out to be the Easter Day Parade! The city closes 5th Avenue, one of the busiest streets in the city, for a few hours, and people walk up and down the street in their Easter finery, including Easter bonnets (which is a fancy word for hat). Here are a couple of pictures of some of the more unusual bonnets I saw. I jumped in to the picture with the girls on the right, and it turned out that the shorter girl is a 4th grader here in New York City on the island of Manhattan!

Jim and Jo Ann Lucas,
my mom and dad

Oh, and here is the picture I promised of my mom and dad. Next time you walk past my room there at Frost Lake, take a look at the black and white picture of the two adults with a baby. Well, that is the very same mom and dad that you are looking at right here in this picture. And the baby? Well, you must know who that is! :-)

Take good care everyone. More soon -

Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Grand Central Station,
New York

P.S. Remember that story we read about Herbert Fieldmouse, Secret Agent, and how he went to a train station? Well, does this picture look familiar? It reminded me of that.

Flying to New York

Hello, hello from the Big Apple (New York City's nickname)!

We left Minneapolis at 10:00 this morning - my friend Tari graciously chauffeured us to the airport. Good things happened right away, including someone walking up and handing me a voucher for free food at the airport for no apparent reason. He said, "Do you want this voucher? I've got to get on the plane right now." That was super nice as I had not had any breakfast before leaving home!

Then, I actually DID get a window seat, as you can see. I was one row ahead of the exit row, which is a good thing, also. When you sit in the exit row you have to promise to take care of opening the emergency door in case of an emergency, and I just wanted to read my book and not really worry about one more thing.

There was NOT any sort of emergency - in fact, ANOTHER good thing that happened on the way here was that there was an empty seat in my row on the airplane, so I didn't have to squeeze into my seat and excuse myself over TWO people when I needed to get up and take a quick walk down the aisle. Very lucky!

My mom and dad were already here when I arrived. They flew in from Indiana earlier in the day. I haven't taken a good picture of them yet, but I will put it up when I do. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we saw an interesting exhibit called - I'm not kidding - "Guitar Heroes." It was all about the history of the guitar, some of the famous people who have made them, and how they do that. The Met is a HUGE art museum, and we got there about an hour and half before it closed, so we only got to see a fraction of what they offer. I've been there before, but I love it!

Prior to that, I wandered through Central Park, another amazing place in New York. The people in charge of the city back in the 1860s were smart enough to save 843 acres, or 6% of New York City's total acreage, to use as a park for the people to enjoy, instead of building gigantic buildings all over the place. Central Park includes:

Central Park, New York City

• 7 different bodies of water (ponds, a reservoir, lake, etc.)
• 250 acres of lawns
• 136 acres of woodlands

And it's all right in the middle of one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world! Very smart!! (Actually, the people who designed St. Paul and Minneapolis did something like that when they built our lovely cities, too. They set aside lots of woodlands and lakes for people to enjoy FIRST, then decided where to put the buildings. Very smart!!).

Well, that's all for now. Hope you all are well.

More soon - Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Last Day of School

Washington Middle School Concert

Well, like a slow train moving along the track, the last day of my year finally arrived today! It was lots of fun! We had a concert by the Washington Middle School Concert Band and Girls' Choir in the morning ...

4th Grade Math Bee

... then enjoyed the 4th grade "Math Bee" in the afternoon (Congratulations to the victors, Demetrius and Kashie. Well done!!)

Work hard for the rest of the year, kids, and be nice to each other and to yourselves!!

I fly to New York on Saturday - hope to get a window seat. I'll wave as I fly over the school!

Check back here for more exciting and up-to-the-minute coverage of the trek to heart surgery! Pictures of family and New York soon.

Take good care - 

Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Why New York City??!

Statue of Liberty, New York

Yes, I'm going to New York City to have this surgery. A little extreme, you might think? Well, I thought so, too. I mean, we have the Mayo Clinic right here in our own backyard! Why get on an airplane and fly all the way to New York City? 

We've been working on asking questions in reading this week, and that is a VERY good question!

Well, after I found out I had to have this surgery, I started doing some research (yes, kids, research will be a useful tool your whole life long!). I discovered that most surgeons in the United States repair about 50% of the mitral valves they work on, and they replace about 50% of the valves they work on - even at the Mayo Clinic! And there is a big difference between repairing and replacing! If they replace my valve, I have one of two options:

Replacement Option #1: I would have a pig's valve (yes, that's right, a pig's valve) replace my own valve. I am very glad that this technology exists, and that there are pigs willing (well, sort of) to donate their own valves for this purpose, but the downside is HUGE. Because the pig's valve will eventually get dry and brittle, I would DEFINITELY have to have surgery again in 10-15 years! So, you do the math:

Ms. Lucas is 50 years old now. How old will she be in 10 to 15 years? 

Yes, that's right, she (I) will be 60 to 65 years old! And she doesn't want to have major surgery again when she is 60 or 65 years old!!

Replacement Option # 2: A mechanical mitral valve like the one in the picture to the left would replace my own valve. Again, I am very glad this technology is available to those who need it. However, besides the fact that it looks like a toy I used to play with called a gyroscope (picture on right - click here to watch an interesting video on the gyroscope), I would also have to take a medicine called warfarin (aka Coumadin) for the rest of my life. This is not an attractive option to me for several reasons, which I will not bore you with here.

REPAIR is the BEST option!!! No operation when I'm 60 or 65, no medicine (at least not for this) for the rest of my life. If they repair my valve, it will kind of be like having my very own heart back to normal.

And the team I found at the Mitral Valve Repair Center at the Mount Sinai Hospital (notice the word "Repair" in the name of the clinic?), has a GREAT track record. The doctors there do about 400 mitral valve operations every year, and they have about a 98% success rate repairing them. That's pretty much all they do.

It must get boring, you might think, the same old thing every day? (another good wondering!)

But think about it: There are 365 days in one year, so they do more than one of these every single day!! They must be REALLY good at it. If you practiced writing in cursive every day for a year, well, after a whole year, you could practically do it with your eyes closed!! And it would probably even look great!!

But the folks who will be working on me will have their eyes WIDE OPEN. And for that, I am very grateful.

So, I hope that answers your question about why I am going to New York City for this surgery.

Talk to you later!

Ms. Lucas (Sandy:-)

Lots of Comments Already!

Wow, I've already gotten lots of nice comments on my little blog and several cards! I feel so loved and encouraged!

The kids are doing GREAT on their MCAs. They just finished the first day of reading. They were really concentrating, taking their time, using the strategies we worked on. Very impressive.

Surgery is two weeks from today. You know, I've known about this surgery since last September or October. Not all the details, but that I would have to have it this spring sometime. Now I'm just kind of ready to be done with it. It's a mix of things, actually - a little nervous and trying to enjoy each day, and kind of ready to 'just do it,' as the ad says.

Thanks for all the nice messages!

More soon -

Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Getting Started!

Hi All,

Well, it's 2 short weeks before we leave for New York. Surgery is on Tuesday, April 26, at the Mitral Valve Repair Center at the Mt. Sinai Hospital. My doctors there, Dr. David Adams, who is originally from North Carolina, and Dr. Anelechi Anyanwu (they call him Ani), originally from Nigeria, are both very nice guys, and more importantly, surgeons with EXCELLENT track records in mitral valve repair! 

I shared the news with my 4th grade classes this week. The kids were amazing and wonderful - they asked the best questions, including:

• What kind of heart surgery will you have? (Mitral valve prolapse repair)
• How long will it take to get better? (About 3 to 4 months)
• Are you nervous? (Yes! But it helps to talk about it!)
• Will you be back at Frost Lake next year? (Yes, I'm planning on it!)

Yesterday, Friday, April 8, I had to go in for a heart catheterization. It's a procedure where they shoot dye into your blood stream, which lights up your veins and arteries in your heart, so they can see how everything is working in there. My heart is in great shape, except for my mitral valve. This is GOOD news, because if everything else is working well, the surgery will be easier, and my recuperation (that means the time it takes for me to get better) will be speedy.

Please feel free to leave comments and ask questions. Thanks for stopping by!

Always - Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)