Thanks to all who sent expressions of support and concern. I read every one and appreciated them. You gave me the strength to get through the first days, which are the hardest. I even heard from people with whom I have had disagreements. I was humbled by the goodness that people expressed. We–including me–should all work harder to find the good and praise it rather than submit to the fault-finding, attacks, and meanness that now infests so much of our culture.
On the health stuff, the good news is that the diagnosis of walking pneumonia was a false positive, meaning the first x-ray was wrong. My lungs are clear. My job now is to take my blood-thinning medicine to dissolve the clots in my right leg, which are always dangerous. Luckily, I got medical treatment before the clots could go traveling to my lungs, heart, or brain.
What causes blood clots (in my case, deep vein thrombosis)? Too much air travel, too much inactivity. If you must fly (and I will), get up and walk around every half hour. Don’t let the blood pool in your legs. Drink a lot of water. But above all, walk up and down the aisles frequently.
I am home now, and I have an appointment to see a vascular specialist on Monday.
I won’t travel as often as I did in the past. I will blog and tweet as often as ever.
I plan to speak to school leaders on Long Island on November 19. I plan to speak to the Virginia Education Association on November 22 in Richmond. I will be in Las Vegas on December 6 to address the Association for Career and Technical Education and will stay a couple of extra days, not to gamble, but to adjust to the air travel.
On December 11, I will speak to parents and teachers at PS 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. That’s the Patrick Daley School, named for its beloved principal who was killed in 1992 when he stepped into gang crossfire in a housing project while going to a student’s home to see if he was okay. All are welcome.
Be of good cheer. Thank you for the good you do in the world and never stop seeking the justice and freedom from want that we all need.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is good news. I was truly worried about you, Diane. Please take good care of yourself. I send you BREATH and LOVE, and GOOD HEALTH. You are valued. Thank you for ALL you do.
Be well!
Take care and know that you don’t have to carry the entire burden of advocacy for public ed. relax sometimes and let the troops work. Good luck and take care of your health.
Great news!!
Diane, great news!
I encourage you to consider one more thing when flying – wear Support Hose. Not necessarily the straight jacket panty hose, but the support knee socks. Ask your doctor about the prescription strength. Can be life saving. Speaking from experience. Remember, if all this energy in writing and speaking could stop the CorpEdReformer$, it would have done it by now. We are in it for the l.o.n.g run! Marathon!
Stay well!
This is great news! Please take care of yourself.
Continued healing to you. I am so glad to hear you are on you way.
Glad to hear you are you feeling better, Diane, and thanks for the post from Commonweal on disruption. I know business has been using the disruptive technique for quite some time now. I teach as an adjunct at a state university that is moving into the creative disruption/destruction process as I write this. I am sharing the article with colleagues in hopes of stopping this destructive path our university seems hellbent on taking. Obama came to our campus in August and gave a speech that launched us on the path and in the fall of 2014 the mass of disruptive polices will be enforced. It is solidly in higher education now, not just K-12. Take care, Diane and thanks for your dedication to our children and society.
Delighted to hear you are feeling better. I realize that doctors know a lot about a little and a little about a lot, but they do offer good advice in walking and keeping the circulation going. As a teacher, I am following your wonderful, informative blog daily. Thank you for all the insightful information.
Very glad to hear that you are progressing well!
Your advice on more healthy air travel is good advice to all. Thank you for sharing that.
We are fortunate to live in a time where technology provides so many conveniences for interacting and dialogue, through blogs, Twitter, videoconferencing, etc.
Best wishes on a continued strong recovery!
Diane — I am so very happy to hear that you are on the mend!! On Wednesday, November 13th we are celebrating World Kindness Day at my school, Allendale Elementary in West Seneca , New York. One of our teachers is in Africa and hopes to skype in to our program. She is sponsoring an 18year old boy, and wants to stay in touch with her students and our entire school to teach All of us the true meaning of Kindness. Isn’t that a BEAUTIFUL lesson!?!! So pure of heart.
I am happy to share this with you.
Continue to heal.
Marge Borchert
Take care of yourself – your voice is very much needed for the long haul.
I am happy for you/your good news. Take care! I learn from your blog everyday and do my best to share what I am learning.
Take care of yourself, please! Thoughts and prayers for you and glad that you are on the mend. We are all cheering for you! Lots of cheerleaders! Stay positive! Vicki Daydda
thank you for the update; select carefully where you will go; use your energy to write and communicate and prepare your articles and your next book! There is so much to tell and you have experienced some wonderful things happening so it is energizing for the rest of us who stand in awe!
Great news!
Great news. Be well.
So glad that you are doing well, endorse ( as an MD) your advice to your followers, air travel especially in the smaller airplanes is challenging situation especially if seatbelt signs are “on,” but we must keep the threat of venous thrombosis in mind! Take care of yourself, Diane, we need you so much!
( I am the MD who teaches teachers about the developing brain and added a comment after your DC book signing)
Great news, Diane! Take as long as you need to recover. Blood clots are scary.
I’m a strong believer of prayers. This is such great news (and prayers do work). Please rest and follow the doctor’s instructions. I get up reading your blog and go to sleep reading your blog. I want to read your blogs for many, many years to come. I admire you immensely and your love for public education.
Cuidate siempre.
I was very happy to hear that the worst of your initial medical assessment, pneumonia, was a false positive. Your commitment to public education is remarkable and unfortunately many of us who work for social are so determined that we neglect or just get health problems. So take care- for you and all of us.
I read your blog daily and it keeps me going. Be strong but rest
Such good news – that you don’t have an infection. How lucky they caught the thrombosis in time to forestall complications. Flying is so stressful, physically and mentally — though it is a great boon, as well.
Take care of yourself Diane we need you. As a former HS radical on the lower east side in NYC from ’68-’71 I was a “doubting Thomas” but your epiphany and prodigious labors these past years on behalf of public education and k-12 educators are much appreciated and have worn away my skepticism.
Sean, thanks for your trust. I have worked hard to earn it.
You are amazing! Inspirational… You keep us all on task! Please follow up on your recovery.
Diane, I am so glad that you don’t have pneumonia and that you are improving. I had pneumonia more than a decade ago and it flattened me for more than 2 weeks; it was like a 1,000 times worse than the flu. I subsequently took the pneumonia vaccine (http://www.webmd.com/vaccines/pneumococcal-vaccine-schedule) and then a booster shot a few years later. I really wish you would take a month off from traveling to further enhance your recovery. In any case, keep getting better and best wishes forever.
Relieved to hear the false medical report. Please continue to take care of yourself. I hope you’re going to find time to be on the Majority Report with Sam Seder radio show so people around the country can hear you.
Thank YOU, Diane. From someone who used to get pneumonia almost every year (bad allergies and a bad respiratory system), I’m glad you don’t actually have it but hope your real problem isn’t worse. Best wishes and I hope you recover completely, and soon.
Very good news. Please rest and don’t overdo it. We will keep reading and educating parents and students thanks to you.
This is great news but I say cuddle up with a good novel and a cup of tea anyway…
I do hope that you will be able to reinstate the midwestern leg of your book tour when you are better!
Take care.
Glad you’re on the mend, may your strength equal your days.
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” [Mark Twain]
Thank you for doing us all the kindness of letting us know things are turning around. It was genuinely painful to read that you were in difficulty; it is truly heartening to read that you are on the mend.
😎
Thank heavens you are on the mend and you were able to get treatment for your thrombosis. After you posted about your condition, I actually was concerned that I may have contributed to your respiratory illness. When I met you last Monday, I believe you shook my hand. I ended up at the doctor a few days later with an upper respiratory infection. So glad to hear your lungs are clear.
Sounds like you have an excellent idea of what your body can take in regard to travel. Just remember to keep putting your health on the forefront of your mind even when traveling by car. Don’t forget that hand sanitizer, especially when meeting all those teachers who are exposed to the nasty germs the kiddies bring to school.
Take good care of yourself, Diane. We all love you!
Good news, thank you, God bless as we approach the holidays.
Glad to hear the news that your recovery is progressing well and you are home. Thanks for truly being a hero of public education. You are an inspiration to me. Hoping you will be able to reschedule when your health and time permits and come to Wisconsin. We desperately need your voice of reason here.
Didn’t your family get you a dog to get you to walk? Maybe you need another dog, so they can pull in opposite directions. Then, stay home, so you can walk them!
Diane, we are all thinking about you and waiting to hear that you are fully recovered. You are an amazing person who is fighting a battle to save public schools. We do all love you.
get up~ watch a funny movie~ enjoy every single delicious, precious moment ~
TERRIFIC!
Cheers to Diane !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to hear your lungs are clear, and your blood clots were caught before they were able to cause real damage. Listen to your doctors and get better. We will keep fighting the good fight. Best wishes forba speedy recovery.
Take care of yourself! Use some of the money from your bestsellers to fly first class so you’ll have room to move around. We need you to be well!!!!
Fabulous news!!! Please take care of yourself, even to the point of lavishing luxurious lunacy in the process… We indeed need you!!!
Encouraging news! Best wishes for a quick and complete recovery. Even recovering I suspect you’ll have more energy than the rest of us have on a good day!
So glad to hear no pneumonia and that you’re getting better all around. Do continue taking care of yourself. But if you decide you’d like to try Chicago again and you don’t want to fly, I’ll be happy to drive over and pick you up. We can stop to walk as much as you want. Or I bet I could find people willing to contribute to one of those buses that rock stars travel in. First class treatment all the way. Just say the word.
Thank goodness you will be coming to Virginia! I am so looking forward to hearing you and I just started reading your book. I frequently post your blog postings on my fb page. Some parents are beginning to realize that they have the option to opt out their children of Virginia’s SOL’s, which they never knew.
Such wonderful news and, as always, filled with inspiration. I love you, Diane Ravitch! You enrich our lives. many blessings, jayne
Yes, yes, yes! Keep up the good healing!
… and when you feel the time is right, feel free to come back to Chicago; however, may I recommend late spring/early summer… the weather is MUCH friendlier 🙂
… except for the thunderstorms…
Diane, Thank you for the update. I read your posts, buy your books, attended your lecture at Elmhurst College in Illinois, and wish you the very best. We need your voice in the campaign to defend our schools against those who want to monetize our children for profit. And we want you to get well and live a long and thoughtful life not just as a voice in this effort but because…not even knowing you personally…I believe we do know you personally. I feel a personal connection to you.
We are contemporaries. Health wise, I too am having to reassess what has been happening to me and my health mostly I think as a result of stress. But we have to fight back. We must fight for what we believe. And we believe that children and students vary in important ways. We believe there can be no innovation without divergent thinking which the reformers drive out with standardized testing.
And a canned curriculum on a computer eliminates the fact that physical qualities and social interaction enable learning, retention of concepts. And concepts must be built on concrete activities to be meaningful. The reformy people want to drive these qualities out of education in the name of efficiency; it’s cheap; it’s profitable. And it is wrong especially for young children.
So protect yourself. Write thoughtfully. Keep up the good fight. You are an inspiration to us all. Patricia Herrmann
Good to hear you’re on the mend. Take care of yourself.
That is good news.
The night before you came to my city, I attended a business dinner on the waterfront with my husband. I thought of you coming here, and hoped that your hosts had taken the time to show you the sunset over the water. Then you described your visit here–a rushed meal in a Mexican restaurant and a dash to the hall for your talk. It sounded so exhausting. Publishing companies, or whatever entities set up book talks need to be more sensitive to the needs of their authors.
Please do take this time to regain your health, and to nurture yourself gently by doing the the things you love.
Wonderful news! All very managable!
Some great news. Take it easy. Maybe you should consider having a train car or bus like the “Nuns on a Bus”. That would alleviate the need for flying but would take longer. You could have whistle stops along the way. Best wishes for a complete recovery.
So happy to learn that you are better. We need you! Please take care of yourself.
We love you Diane. Keep up the good fight in good health. Thanks for this update.
feel better Diane!
we need you for the war ahead!
Yay! Soooooooooooooooooo Hippy!
Wonderful news!
And as to the blood clots….my mother suffers from same (deep vein thrombosis). It was discovered years ago. She is taking her warfarin (coumadin) and going strong 10 years later at age 85!
Perhaps you might consider train travel? Mother prefers the ease/comfort of getting up and walking about, and the infinitely decreased drama surrounding security. In your part of the country, I believe, the trains to be even more accessible and convenient.
Taks good care of yourself, (perhaps a walk with the puppy?) and thank you a million times over.
Hope you enjoyed the chicken soup!
That noise you hear is a relieved exhale from our little part of the world.
Diane, I wrote the last two lines of your letter down and will quote you often. Those poignant words say so very much. The depth of your courage and caring is an inspiration. Please take good care of your health. We need you in this world. Love and Prayers, Lisa
Mazel tov, Diane.
I think your advice on plane travel is good. The problem is getting them to let you do the walking, given the paranoia that is rife on air travel. On jumbo jets, it’s easier, I suspect, but on typical domestic flights, I wonder if you’ll have to clear it with the flight crew when you board. Keep us posted. 😉
Good news, Diane. Take you meds! Another tip for those long flights: Take an aspirin before flying to help prevent deep-vein thrombosis.
I’d be cautious with the aspirin because if Diane is taking warfarin or any other anti-clotting/blood thinning meds taking an aspirin could have fatal side effects.
I’m sure Diane will be listening to the experienced ones, the docs for her care, just as anyone who cares about education should be listening to the experienced ones, the teachers, and not the inexperienced folks the edudeformers put forth as “leaders” (sic) and “healers” (sic) of public education.
Wonderful News about our “WonderWomen”! Continue to rest, restore and repair yourself! Walking does wonders for your health. Make sure you get a comfortable pair of walking shoes.
Diane, I can join with Dienne to carry your bags. We want and need you here. You have done so much to support public education in this country. You are our hero.
I was wondering how you were sustaining the travel schedule. Was too much.
Please take care.
My husband also had trouble with bloodclots in his legs. They inserted a filter in his vena cava to prevent any clots from traveling to the vital organs.
Best of luck with your recovery, sending healing thoughts from NC.
I love you, Diane Ravitch. You are my idol and I want you to live forever. Shirley Willis
Ahhh, Shirley.
Seriously. No wonder you’re having leg problems–what a load you carry. I taught for 34 yrs and now write the stories. So tough. You give me daily shots of courage. Rock on!!
Glad to hear you are better! I just started reading your blog. Where are you speaking on Long Island? I would love to come and hear you!! Carmen from Cutchogue
Hi, Carmen, I’ll see you at King Kullen in Cutchogue!
Diane, you are so loved & respected and rightfully so! Please take care and don’t rush yourself too quickly to travel. Thank goodness for skype.
There is a special kind of socks you can wear for air travel. I bought some in 2006 before flying to Italy. They’re expensive but worth every penny. However, maybe a train or bus would be better. Listen to your doctors.
I will pray for your speedy recovery! God bless you for all that you do for our nation’s teachers & students!
Perhaps it is time for all of us to join Diane on the Education bus or train?
Sooo glad to hear that you are better than they thought.
Fish oil is a natural blood thinner and is good for the brain, too. It’s also a natural anti-inflammatory. But you should check with the doc before combining it with any blood thinner you’re using.
Also–try squeezing your leg muscles if you sit for long periods of time–this helps the circulation, too.
Best wishes on healing.
You are amazing! I haven’t noticed that you have slowed down very much, and here you are sending positive thoughts to all of us. I am very happy, as everyone else is, that you are on the mend. The things happening in Arizona scare me. We need you. One way or another we are going to get you here. I promise you we will take it easy and make sure you get enough rest, etc. You are my hero.
Great news Diane…
we all get these warnings to take care of ourselves..
Take care of yourself, we all need you
Diane, You have many fans and you are needed but please don’t over do it. Glad to hear you did not have pneumonia. Prayers. Nancy Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 16:14:33 +0000 To: nancyturnbo@hotmail.com
This is wonderful news. And I can only imagine how many people sitting on that plane will love to see you walk by. I know I would!! And living in NYC, I get to see lots of celebs, but none that have made such an impact as you have!!!
I haven’t gone through all your blog posts, but I was especially thrilled with a Youtube video of a young 16-year old student from Knoxville, TN telling his school board why teachers should be appreciated and how wrong it is to evaluate them by tests results. Hope you can share it here.
If you want the full video of this meeting, let me know.
This next one: “Name-calling turns nasty in education world” has a great cartoon (with you included) coming out of an apple with angry faces. People who know you, know it takes a lot to get you to that anger point. Ben Austin’s dirty tricks is deserving of everyone’s ire.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/education-debates-rhetoric-99556.html
Oops!! Had no idea the video would come up. Hope teachers and parents share and make it go around the world.
Fatigue and other “Inviisible Disabilities” can have a profound effect on one’s life.
Diane, thank you for all that you do. You have brought a renewed awareness to the critical changes that are so necessary to our educational system.
You are lucky to be able to modify your busy schedule and to get the rest that you need.
It will be a loss to the many people who may miss seeing you and hear you speak now that you are making changes to the pace you were working in the past. Wishing you a complete recovery.
Remember to focus on your abilities; what you are able to do rather on what you used to be able to do or wish you could do.
i worked for almost ten years in full-time Autism Spectrum Disorder classes. there was a time when I reached teacher burnout. I begged for a change in teaching positions, to work with a less physically strenuous group of children. Instead, I was bullied by school district administrators and forced to continue working with lower functioning, unpredictable and sometimes aggressive students. I sustained several painful injuries that resulted in the need for going to Physical Therapy for several injuries and one injury which required surgery.
I feel that I was bullied, allowed to be beaten up ( by children who didn’t know their own strength and were unaware of what they were doing) and then thrown out the door. I am careful not to disclose details because I eventually was forced to settle for an insufficient amount of money compared to if I would have been allowed to continue teaching with less risky students.
There are so many things wrong with our school systems and despite my situation, I am a strong supporter of public schools. Teachers being seriously bullied by school administration has had a profound impact on my life. I miss teaching and prefer not to work in one of the many Charter Schools and I feel that I was “blacklisted” from the large cou nay public schools which has a monopoly on local teaching jobs.
I share this with you as an example of how older, more experienced and higher salaried teachers are put out to pasture many years before they would be ready to retire. I do not blame my co-teachers lack of support; I understand their fears of being targets of administrative scrutiny.
I am one of the lucky people who had the opportunity to hear you speak and got to meet and speak with you briefly. Thank you for continuing to do what you do best by sharing your thoughts and providing us with the opportunity to share our experiences as we all strive to improve our educational system in America.
Sincerely,
Denise Geller
Thank you Diane for the health update. Please do take care. Your wisdom is needed in so many battles nationwide. Here in Dallas after 16 months of Broad trained leadership our senior enrollment has dropped by 531 students, the first drop after 5 years of constant growth and graduation rate increases. Now senior enrollment is pushed back to 2009 levels. The Dallas ISD Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) has fallen 3.6 percentage points, again the first drop following 6 years of monumental growth.
Mike Miles comes from a Colorado Springs District where in 6 years the CPI dropped over 15 percentage points, and he decimated the senior enrollment, loosing 1/3 of the class in search of the high scoring students. It worked! The average ACT score went up and he received the endorsement of the Secretary of Education who recommended him for the Dallas position.
Now he is destroying Dallas ISD in the same way he destroyed that Colorado district. See http://schoolarchiveproject.blogspot.com/2013/11/dallas-isd-student-attrition-explodes.html
We need you to help guide us through this wasteland!
Great news that you’re on the mend. Take care of your wonderful self!
I rejoice with the legions of your loving & loyal supporters on this health update. A collective shiver went through that same crowd earlier in the week, and now a collective sigh of relief. Patricia Polacco, one of our most beloved children’s authors, only travels by train. Maybe that would be a good way to slow down and prevent any traveling blood clots—and get a close up of our beautiful country whose educational health you are fighting so hard to restore and preserve. Continue to recover.
Happy to hear you are on the mend. You are the voice of so many of us, but you need to take care of yourself first.
Diane, Good news to hear that you do not have pneumonia. Please do take care with all your traveling, and do as your vascular specialist tells you. Your words mean so much to those of us who love children and love to teach. Justice demands that we educate our children well, to be active and thoughtful participants in the workings of society. Thank you for your encouragement! Be well. Dorothy Petrie
Diane, you be well, and love your cheer. Tell your partner to take away your screens every now and then, just so you can walk around and get rid of those clots. Hope to see you soon. Much respect, Nate
Diane: I’m sorry to miss you in Chicago this coming week. But I’m very pleased that you have some clarity about your situation. Hang in there! Be strong. Be yourself. Thanks for being public, with your fans, about the situation. Most sincerely, Tim Lacy
Take it easy!
Sent from my iPad
My father, at 90, just had the same thing happen but the clots shot to both lungs. Even so, he is recovering. I counted it as a blessing is disguise! All of us are so glad you are on the mend. Thank you for updating us. You give us hope ❤
Dear Diane,
Great to get your health news update. Do take care when you fly: walk, flex your legs, and avoid fizzy water and sodas. Twenty-four hours after a long flight, my Mom developed a blood clot that traveled through her heart and lodged in her lung. Excellent emergency room MD must be credited for her survival. At 91, happy, healthy and still with me. Best wishes for all you do, especially on terra firm. Danette Littleton
So glad to hear you are better and will take better care of yourself. You are such an important force in the resistance to the dismantling of our public school system…you must take good care of yourself! We appreciate the work you have done and are doing now. Keep healing!! Adeliine and Murray Levine, Buffalo, NY
Thank you so much for all your efforts. You book and tireless adherence to facts instead of misleading-to-false corporate slogans has raised my awareness and helped me to speak concisely to others about this important educational issue.
Please do what ever you need to do to keep your health up throughout these anxious times.
Hi Diane,
Thank you for taking the time to update us all. So glad that your update had much better news! (Steve and I discussed that you seemed like you didn’t feel well in Atlanta–your eyes looked like you didn’t feel well.) Go glad that you’re on the road to healing and making more time for rest. We still need you! 🙂 We continue to send good and healing thoughts your way! Continue to take extra good care of yourself!!
Phyllis
I am so glad you are doing better and it wasn’t walking pneumonia. I was curious who you are meeting with on Nov. 19th? School Superintendents? Legislators? Principals? Get some rest and as always- THANK YOU
STUPENDOUS news. Thanks for the update.
Glad to hear you are thriving Diane,
From Myles, a fan in Canada
Thanks, Myles
Good news and continued good luck Diane. Never give up the flight. Don
Donald M. Stewart
5555 S. Everett Ave., Apt. B1
Chicago, IL 60637
donstewart74@gmail.com
(773) 684-9044
_____
Continue to feel better!!! We need you in this fight!!!
Diane, I’m so glad you’re on the mend. Please take care of yourself, for your own sake and for all of ours; you are a National Treasure. We need you! I am so grateful for everything you do. Thank You!
Beth Forrester
Good luck Diane, and I am happy to see that you are making progress. When health concerns demand it, it is so difficult to “slow down”. Educators must be masters of multi-tasking as we efficiently juggle multiple children and family life. I believe your efforts have been the stumulus for a national rejection of top down, inappropriate education by those with little actual experience in the field. Rest a bit, and regenerate to continue the fight.
Thank You!
Diane,
I am so happy to hear you are better. I continue to read your blog and its many links every day and find myself constantly torn – inspired then depressed and then hopeful once again, wanting to leave teaching then wanting to stay and make a difference and then puzzled as to what I should do, scared and then angry and then frustrated when I think of my daughter in kindergarten and her future in public schools – but always you are a beacon of hope amidst all my frustration, and for that, I truly thank you for the work you do. I hope you continue to get better and regain your strength soon!
Mary