In the previous post, I recounted the various health issues I dealt with this past year, but I left out one. A few months ago, I learned that I had cataracts in both eyes. I had to have them operated on, one month apart, this summer (as Bette Davis supposedly said, growing old is not for sissies.)
I called around in search of a highly respected eye surgeon. With some trepidation and much hilarity (cue the nervous laughter), I settled on Dr. Michelle Rhee of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She seemed very professional and skilled when I met her.
The first surgery is over. My left eye is healing well. Thank you, Dr. Rhee.
One of life’s little ironies.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh chuckling here. You are going to be a new woman. Bionic. Equal to your “superwoman of education” title! My dear teaching colleague told me once that, “the only trouble with getting old, is the getting old part.” You make me want to get to the gym! We need to value all we have and work hard to keep ourselves as healthy as we can.Thanks for that reminder, even though it was not your intent.
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Ye olde, “Truth is stranger than fiction.” Too funny! Here’s sending good thoughts your way for part 2 & recovery of both…
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I was hoping your headline meant, the other Michelle Rhee read your health post and wrote to wish you well. I should have known better. THEY don’t get the humanity side of life. Be well, my friend. Thanks for your health tips. They are serving me well – so far!!
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Not only do I applaud you for giving credit where credit is due—
Your knee may not be 100% but your sense of humor is better than ever!
😜
And as for the other Michelle Rhee, well, a little reworking of some Dorothy Parker does the trick:
“She wasn’t just plain terrible, she was fancy terrible. She was terrible with raisins in it.”
😎
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Krazy TA .. Ditto for this message to Diane.
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Hee, Hee… I love serendipity at work.
I had cataract surgery when I was 40, and then the second eye when I was 50.
Grandma gave me the genes, and the cataracts developed early. I love not having to wear glasses.
Today, it is a simple easy surgery.
We are so lucky to reach this age, and to have Mt Sinai, and MIchelle Rhee…LOL!!
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Hahahahahaha!
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That is so funny! btw – just want to say your so amazing! With 2 eyes out and a torn ACL and the horrors that went with that ordeal, you were still with us. Your formidable voice gives us strength and, apparently, your other body parts, too! Best wishes!
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I had to laugh when I read your health update. I can so relate to knee problems but then my limp and other activities lead to back problems. Good therapy trumps surgery and even though I’ve slowed down my life a bit I know Bette Davis was correct. And I especially enjoyed the Michelle Rhee story. 😃. Hoping for your continued good health.
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It’s a surgery that has come a long way.
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Good News on your health.
Sheer Bravery!
Glad your spirits are up and thanks for the shout-out to caregivers.
Millions of us are doing it, lovingly.
Diane, such unbelievable irony!
What are the odds? Lottery odds?
Please do absolutely hesitate and refuse surgery if another physician appears and his name happens to be Dr. Arne Duncan.
Cannot believe it, Michelle Rhee?
Did you finally have a successful debate with her?
Stay strong…millions of us count on you.
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Maybe we shouldn’t utter the deformers’ names so often.
Instead represent them with three Easter Island statues transformed by masking tape into ‘See no truth, hear no truth, speak no truth’. Guess which Michelle would be.
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Hint: tape over mouth plus broom
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Gates? Tape over glasses, three cups of murky liquid: recycled poo, VAM, Common Core?
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I would have run screaming………
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Was she aware of the evilness of her name-sake? Bet she is now!
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Bette Davis was a wise woman. I am writing this sitting with ice on my lower back–thanks to a spoiled Pomeranian that has to always be picked up like a baby. Getting old is no fun. My state of mind may be that of a 25 year-old, but my 61 year-old body tells a different story. And yes, I to, was just diagnosed with a cataract though hopefully a few years away from surgery. We may not be able to run a marathon, but people like us are energetic in different ways. Just keep on plugging–at the keyboard.
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One further irony and connection to education: Mount Sinai’s excellent med school is named for Carl Icahn, the sponsor of a high-performing, low-class-size, Core Knowledge-using network of charter schools in the Bronx. You were truly in the lion’s den!
“Dr. Rhee completed subspecialty training in diseases of the cornea and refractive surgery at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary following a residency in ophthalmology at the Eye and Ear Institute of Pittsburgh. Dr. Rhee earned her M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she was part of the Humanities and Medicine Program which offered early acceptance to a selected group of undergraduates. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University. Before pursuing a career in medicine, Dr. Rhee studied piano, cello, and music composition at the Juilliard School in New York City.”
That is one hell of a resume, the result of lots of ranking and stacking and sorting. Admission to Princeton and (especially) the HuMed program likely required perfect or near-perfect scores on the SATs/ACTs and MCATs. First-rate fellowships and residencies like these only go to top performers in med school.
I think it’s safe to say you won’t find many devotees of Noel Wilson when you’re in the foxholes of a serious medical, legal, or business issue.
I am glad your procedures have all gone well and that you are feeling better.
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Coincidence or fate!
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Harvey Karma!
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“I think it’s safe to say you won’t find many devotees of Noel Wilson when you’re in the foxholes of a serious medical, legal, or business issue.”
And they say that there are no atheists in foxholes, and that’s a lie also.
So does that mean you are a liar, Tim? No, I don’t think so, just a totally misinformed or should I say blinded by an idiology that demands a monkey see, monkey deny and monkey do do to the truths that Wilson exposes about the educational malpractices that, too many supposedly higher thinking apes than monkeys continue to go GAGA over in spite of the proven harm done to many students by those malpractices.
Or should we just say you are a Wilsonian Athiest???
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Señor Swacker: they’re just trying to help us follow doctor’s orders—
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” [“Dr.” Charlie Chaplin]
Be honest—was this day wasted?
But, admittedly, not nearly as funny as someone declaring ‘my hero is Michelle Rhee’ and then proving that her claim of 13th to 90th percentile was sheer ‘nincomPOOP.’
And what are the chances that the latter is qualitatively funnier than the former?
😏
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It’s that sort of thinking that led people to believe that people like Gates and Bloomberg had real solutions.
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“Rheely Seeing”
If Rhee could fix the eyes of Rhee
Then Rhee could Rheely really see
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Twins??
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Separated at birth??
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Oh Diane. Hilarious. They are perhaps two sides of a coin, good and evil, and now you have tangled with the good. I wish you well.
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Congratulations, Diane. Has it ever occurred to you that your Michelle Rhee may be the exception that proves the rule?
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I think I would have requested an iris scan before she did the surgery to confirm that she was actually the right Rhee.
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Poet,
I thought about that but couldn’t think of the appropriate identity check. Believe me, the question was on my mind all the time. But this Dr. is younger, kinder, prettier, confident in a nice way, and gentle. Character tells.
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Maybe you could ask Pearson! They have all kinds of identity – finding schemes!
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Come to think of it, the absence of a broomstick was probably all the proof you needed.
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Perhaps sometime in the future Michelle Rhee will benefit from the talents and erudition of a Diane Ravitch! Of course, she should listen to the current one!!!
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Whenever you are ready Diane, I will sing for you. You may have to cover your ears.
I always get confused with that other Adam Levine.
Feel better and get well soon.
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In LA, we have first cousins Condi Rice, yes, from the Bush Administration, and Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney. Similar genes do not always produce similar outcomes.
Glad you are in great enough shape to keep laughing, Diane. Remember Norman Cousins advice and watch endless comedies to simulate the endorphins…it really works. I have learned that nothing slows you down. When you were on the beach last year in the Caribbean you were generating tons of info. Now with the healed knee and far better vision, I anticipate having to stay up all night to keep up with the homework.
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Take care of yourself Diane
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It is truly hilarious for the name-sake.
Yes, action and experience will be shown through body, mind and spirit.
I hope that those people who intentionally enforce INVALID testing scheme will have time to observe their look in the mirror in order to compare THE AURA of their originally innocent ambition VERSUS their currently sinful look.
Thank you Dr. Ravitch for your sense of humor. May.
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Maybe surgery is her calling after all. I had cataract surgery here in Austin done by Dr.Dell the brother of the famous computer Dell.
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Be healthy 🙂
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I love this story! Get well…
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Thank god she had more than 5 weeks training;)
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TAGO!
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Lol!
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I nearly snorted coffee out my nose :-).
Hope you find, like many, that you didn’t know what you gradually lost. Someone close to me said it was like living in a new world.
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Her father is my cardiologist; he speaks very proudly of her. Have a speedy recovery. I had the surgeries last Jan & March with another good eye surgeon- Dr. Marc Rosenblatt. It’s an amazing difference. Best, Arlyne LeSchack
Sent from my iPad
>
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There is another irony, here….something about a Michelle Rhee helping one to see.(!)
Best wishes for a speedy recovery and good outcome.
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That is ridiculously funny!!! : D I think you’re eyes are great – I’ve observed them to be quite far-sighted!!! I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.
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Well, your vision has always been outstanding. I hope that the good Dr. Rhee can help with your eyesight.
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Diane.
Thank you for the work that you do. Wishing you well, and yes, thanks to the Good Michelle Rhee. Well wishes for your full recovery on your next surgery.
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Karma seeks balance.
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Yes, Dr. Ravitch, I found this very amusing. However, I’m happy the good Dr. Rhee is taking good care of you!
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