Hello!

Hi All,

I hope you all had a great 3-day weekend! Yesterday (Memorial Day) was very beautiful in the afternoon! I like it when the temperature gets up above 75. I lived on the equator for several years, in Malaysia, and I LOVE hot weather. The hotter the better!

Well, things are going along very well here. I continue to do my daily walks and such. I just finished a book titled, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. It is a very interesting, well-written story about a man who fought in World War II (he was in the war from about 1942-1945, when it ended). The things he went through were very difficult, but he survived, and went on to live a full life (he is actually still alive - he is 98 years old now!). His plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean, and he and two of his friends drifted in the ocean, in two small rafts, for 47 days. Many other very bad things happened, but he somehow kept going. Quite an interesting story.

What are you all doing these days? What are your plans for this summer? There are lots of interesting programs to get you out and doing interesting things. Here are a few links that you can check out - talk to your family about joining in!

• St. Paul Programs - The official St. Paul City page. Click on the link and you can look at a whole book of programs available in St. Paul.
• St. Paul Urban Tennis - Learn how to play tennis at a tennis court near you!
• Sprockets - This website let's you type in your address, and then finds summer programs that are near you!
• East Side Arts Council - provides accessible, low-cost or free arts programs to children and families.
• St. Paul Public Library - Don't forget all the cool things you can do at the library - read, listen to books, use computers - and LOTS of other stuff, all summer long! Don't forget the bookmobile!

I hope you find something you like - there are a lot of other things going on this summer - and you probably have some good plans for yourself!

All the best - I think of you often -

Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Quick Hello!

Hi All,

Well, I don't have much to report, other than I am continuing to recuperate. I am walking every day, several times. It still hurts where they made the incision and did the surgery, but that will get better soon, too.

I have been reading a lot - mostly mystery and detective novels. I am currently reading one titled The Lincoln Lawyer. They made it in to a movie, which apparently was not very good, but the book is o.k.

What are you reading these days? My neighbor, who is also in 4th grade, gave me a book called The Lightning Thief. It was really fun. The setting is in the present, but it's about a boy whose father is one of the Greek gods from Mt. Olympus and his mom is just a human. This causes him quite a lot of trouble, but he seems to handle it.

What else is going on with you there at school? I hope you all are doing your work and enjoying yourselves. Let me know what's going on!

All the best -
Ms. Lucas (Sandy:-)

Home in Minnesota

Good Morning!

Guess where I am sitting in this picture to the left. If you guessed that I am sitting in my own front yard, you are correct!! I am back in Minnesota!

I flew home last Thursday. The people at the airport could not have been nicer. They put me in a wheelchair and pushed me right through security with no problem.

Me in wheelchair

One word here on people in wheelchairs... I noticed that often adults don't make eye contact with you if you are in a wheelchair, but kids almost always look at you and say hi. Maybe this has something to do with your height when you are sitting in a wheelchair - I was a lot closer to the height of most kids than adults - but in the future, I will definitely make an effort to connect!

I was very nervous about flying, but there was no reason to be. The flight was smooth from take-off to touch-down. Thank you, pilots!

Since arriving home, I am doing mostly the same things I was doing in New York:

Walking

Resting

Reading

Eating

Walking

Reading

Resting

Eating

And so forth.

Yes, I know this sounds a little boring - and honestly, it IS a little boring - but this is what my body needs to get better. As my doctor explained, it's like I have a broken bone right in the middle of my chest where they had to cut me open to work on my heart. They can't put a cast on it, like they would if I had broken  my arm or my leg, so I just have to take it easy until it heals.

As you can imagine, sitting still is NOT the easiest thing for me to do, so if you have any ideas for things I could do while I am getting better, definitely let me know!

What books are you reading these days? What are you doing in school? I know you have a few field trips planned before the end of the year. I hope you are continuing to do good work in the classroom so you can go enjoy your well-earned field trips!!

My mom and dad leaving New York

Well, that's all for now. My mom asked me to tell you all hi. I think she misses blogging! Maybe she will start her own blog!!

I hope you all are well.

All the best,

Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Homeward Bound!

Hello, hello,

Headed to Minnesota!

Well, I went back to see my doctor today, and all the news was good! He said I have a "perfect repair," and my x-rays showed that I only have a little moisture in my lungs, so they said I can fly home tomorrow - yippee!!

I am very happy to be going, but I have to say, I will always have a very soft spot in my heart for New York City. The people here at the Mt. Sinai Hospital, and the Marriott Hotel on 92nd Street where we stayed, at the little restaurants and stores in the neighborhood, and the taxi drivers who drove really carefully after I told them I had heart surgery, were ALL wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. It is a busy, alive, eclectic place. I met people from the Philippines, Morocco, Guyana, Colombia, Turkey, Somalia, Canada, France, China, Hong Kong, and many other places. Fantastic!

So, I'll be back in Minnesota tomorrow, but my heart (kind of literally!) belongs to New York!

More soon -

Love, Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Back to the Doctor - Fingers Crossed

Me leaving hospital!

Hello, hello,

Sorry I haven't posted much. To be honest, I have never been more exhausted in my life than I have been since getting out of the hospital.

My daily routine =

Wake up

Weigh myself (I have to do this every day at the same time for two weeks to make sure I am not gaining or losing too much weight).

Eat a little breakfast.

Rest.

Walk a little.

Rest - read a little.

Eat a little something (I'm supposed to eat many small meals a day instead of three BIG meals).

Walk a little, maybe up one flight of stairs.

Rest some more - read.

Eat a little more.

If weather is nice, walk outside one block to park - find a bench, and rest.

Walk back to hotel room.

Rest.

Eat a little.

Watch Oprah (I have never really watched Oprah, and now she is going off the air!)

Walk a little.

Rest.

Eat a little dinner.

Watch Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

Walk.

Get ready for bed.

And that's about it. Not very exciting, but it's what I can do right now!

Dr. Adams

Chest x-ray

Today is a big day as I am headed back to see Dr. Adams for the first time since leaving the hospital. They will take an x-ray of my lungs to make sure they are working o.k. Hopefully he will tell me that I can fly home to Minnesota tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

I hope you all are well and being good at school! What are you reading these days? I need some good suggestions!!

All the best!

More soon - Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Still Doing Fine!

Hello, hello dears,

Well, I have been home from the hospital for almost four days (since last Thursday). I was IN the hospital for almost 10 days!!! That's a long time!! As I said in my last post, it feels like it was a dream - but it wasn't. I kind of keep trying to put the pieces back together from the day I went in. It went something like this:

On Monday, April 25, I went in to the doctor for a pre-surgery test, and to find out final details. They told me that I would need to check in at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday for surgery. "Great!" I thought, "Not too early, not too late."

Well, at 3:30 in the afternoon of the 25th, the office called and said there had been a change, and I would need to check in at 5:30 a.m.  "Well," I thought, "that's o.k. This way I won't have to wake up and worry for very long!"

So, we all got up, and walked through the quiet streets of Manhattan at 5:00 in the morning to the hospital. The hospital is about 12 blocks from the hotel, so it took us about 20 minutes to get there. It was nice to just take in all the quiet, fresh early morning air as we walked along 5th Avenue right along Central Park. The flowers were in full bloom everywhere (I think my mom shared some of the beautiful pictures of flowers she took). It really buoyed my spirits to see this feast of color on the walk to the hospital!

Upon our arrival, I had to change into my hospital attire - this robe is the same one that pretty much everyone wears when they are having surgery. I actually have TWO hospital gowns on here - they have no buttons, only a little string at the top to tie them together, so I wore one frontward and one backward. Lovely!

They then put me on a stretcher, I said good-bye to my family, and was then rolled down to the operating waiting area. I asked if I could walk down, but they would not let me ("hospital policy").

I had to wait there probably 30 minutes. Several doctors came by to say good morning, as did my nurse Her name was 'Matherese' which, of course, means 'Mother Theresa,' which I took to be a very good sign! My anestheseologist's name was Dr. Stone. I tried to remain calm, breathing deeply (in through my nose, out through my mouth), until it was time to go in.

Finally, it was time to go. Dr. Stone pushed me right up to the operating theater doors, at which time he asked if I wanted to walk in!!! I couldn't believe it, but of course I said YES. And that is what I did - I jumped right off the stretcher, pushed open the doors, and walked right in for my surgery!

Well, that's all for now. Things are moving along very well - I am walking every day and going up and down stairs and eating and resting (alot!). My energy is coming back a little at a time - I'm not doing Tae Kwon Do yet, but I hope to someday!

This is a picture of me with some friends who live here in New York who came t visit yesterday. I may be tired a lot of the time, but I can still stick out my tongue! :-)

More soon - thanks for your continued good thoughts!

Much love - Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Out of the Hospital Thank-You!!

Super-tech-mom

Hello my dearest friends!!

I am just finishing my first FULL day out of the hospital!!! I can't believe that I was in the hospital for almost 9 days! It feels like a dream.

The first thing I must do is thank my MOM for taking over blog responsibilities in my absence. She was not very sure about all of this, but she did it anyway, and it was so great!! Thank you, super-techno-Mom!!!!!

She is also in this next picture:

My Angels

Look closely - can you see the wings sprouting from the backs of these three?? That's my dad, Jim,  on the left, my mom, Jo Ann,  in the middle, and my friend, John, on the right. They all came with me out here and have been my guardian angels every step of the way. They stayed with me before surgery when I was really scared, and sat for 6 hours during my surgery waiting to find out if everything was going to be o.k. Then they stayed with me in the hospital every day (they took turns - my room was small!! :-), helping me with every little thing that I could not do for many days.


And look here - these are just a few of the things that I looked at the morning I went in for surgery that helped calm me (these are just a few that I could take pictures of - I was surrounded by all your good thoughts!!):

I'll write more tomorrow about how I'm doing (generally very well!), and how everything went at the hospital (generally very well!), but for now just THANK YOU - to every one of you for every little thing. 

More Soon - 

Love, Ms. Lucas (Sandy :-)

Thursday Reporting

Triboro Bridge

Ms. Lucas' mom reporting.   She was released from the hospital, to a hotel, this morning.  The hotel is very near the East River. We can see the Triboro Bridge.  As you may be able to tell from its name, the bridge connects three of the five parts of New York City. The parts are called Burroughs. At night there are lights all along the bridge and it is a very pretty sight. As you might imagine, the bridge has thousands of cars cross it each day.

Ms. Lucas has to keep up with the breathing machine each hour, trying to get that ball to go higher and higher. She also has to walk, and rest each day.

This will be the last time I report, as Ms. Lucas will be back to posting her own stories for you all. I thank you all for your good thoughts and greetings. This has been a fun thing for me to do.  All the best to you all.
Jo Ann Lucas

Monday Report

Ms. Lucas at work

Greetings to you all. This is Ms. Lucas' mom. Getting better from this operation is a little like being on a bicycle ride in a place that is new to you. There are unexpected dips in the road and curves that you can not see around and hills to climb. One of the dips in the road to getting better  involves the left lung.  We all have two lungs, and they are the parts of the body that use the air we breathe in to make our bodies work. The left lung is not working as well as it will, so that is making it harder for her to get that ball up on the breathing machine.  The repair that the surgery was for is working perfectly, and that is the best news.
We have met people in the hospital who are from Poland, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, The West Indies, Jamaica, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. The next time you look at the globe, check out the location of some of these places. It is fun to listen to the different languages.
All of us send thanks to you for your care and good thoughts and packages and cards and flowers....each of them helping us along this "bicycle ride" in a place that is new to us.
Jo Ann Lucas