An Open Letter To My Public

A Letter From Jane. Some of you received this e-mail, but I thought I would interpret any misconceptions the patient may have led you to believe. My interpretations are in italics.

I want to wish all of you a happy Easter on this gorgeous Good Friday and hope that you enjoy a celebration with your families this weekend. Caroline comes in tonight and I know Paige is really looking forward to having her with us, as am I. Yes this is correct.

It's been a good week with the beauty of my garden and the warm sunshine lifting our spirits. I continue to take short walks and keep blowing into my spirometer faithfully. Paige and I have watched lots of movies and done some reading as well as enjoyed the companionship of Henry, Puck and GiGi. But most of all we have taken pleasure in our many visitors this week and appreciate the efforts they have made to hasten my recovery period. I would like to thank you all for stopping by and bringing us delicious food, which have enjoyed eating.

My health has been good with one exception, and that has been a persistent cough. Those with whom I have spoken know that I can't talk without coughing. Nighttime is especially difficult because I can hardly stop coughing. Paige discussed this with my doctor's assistant and they determined that it is caused by the trauma to my vocal cords from the tube I had down my throat during surgery. Unfortunately, the only cure for that is for me not to talk! There is no cure; we just have to wait for it to heal. Talking will not affect the healing time, talking will only make her cough when she talks. We have only had this problem a couple of days so we are still figuring out how to deal with it. Jane has self-diagnosed “no talking” and is whispering. I have said that whispering is bad for the vocal cords. She does not believe me, but what do I know I have only been dealing with sensitive actors and their sensitive voices for 10 years. So I will not be available for conversation for the next few days. I know several of you were planning to come by next week, but I hope you will understand that I first have to allow my vocal cords to heal so I get this cough under control. Please come by, we are going to have visitors every other day and we have no idea how long this will last. She needs the companionship; it is just that the visitors will have to be the talker. I will be housebound for the next several weeks O.K. this is a flat out lie. She has been told she can go out and has been encouraged to do so. She is very nervous about car travel, I took her to see the cherry blossoms just the other day and she was fine. There is some discomfort with the seat belt, but that will get better with time. I also think after one more week with me nagging her, she will be wiling to go anywhere. So there will be plenty of time for you to come by and visit, or for us to talk on the phone. I have even have her ichat and skype ready if you want too! In the meantime, Paige is always available for conversation and I am reading my e-mails.

Thanks so much for your concern, prayers and good wishes. I feel much better already and have much to be thankful for. Happy spring!

Love,

Jane

As you can see she needs more encouragement, and help now. The key to cardiac recovery is exercise. I finally printed out the Cleveland Clinic’s breathing and exercise guide today. Why I did not think to do this two weeks ago is beyond me, but she read it and was already doing some of the deep breathing exercises they recommend. I also found out she needs to be taking 7-10 minute walks not the 5 minute putz around the house that she has been doing.

Many of you have asked me if there is anything you can do, well I need help with Miss Stubborn Pants to get her to believe in herself to help her heal.

May your weekend be filled with chocolate bunnies and jellybeans!

P.

P.S. Our dear friend Chris Lindley just has knee surgery. So any extra good vibes please send his way.