Before I fill you in on my doctors appointment, I have to give a shout out to all of the FABULOUS people who brought Justin and I dinner, sent goodies, and came to visit. We feel so loved and thankful for your prayers and support during this not so fun time.
I also went back to school full-time this week. Here was the sign I had hung on my whiteboard when I got there. I’m not going to lie…it was good to be missed.
I also had a goodie basket from the staff waiting for me. Yum!!

My students had been very concerned about me and had several questions. Two of the most common ones were…
1- Where did you collapse? (They did not understand that my lung collapsed…not me)
2- Does your new lung fit okay? (They were told that once my lung was good as new I would be able to come back to school, which they translated into- Mrs. Luddeke has a new lung.)
Other questions included:
Did it hurt? Did you cry? Was your mom there to take care of you? Are you going to collapse at school? Was it because of your allergies? Did you get a shot? Did you miss us?
I have such a sweet class!
Ok, on to the updates…
I had a follow-up doctors appointment on Wednesday and it went great! They said that my lung was 100% inflated and that the hole had completely healed itself. Woo-hoo!! I can now return to my regular routine. Even though I was relieved to hear that, I still had LOTS of questions to ask. Here are some that people have asked me about.
1- How likely is this to happen again?
I was told that this is no more likely to happen again than it was for it to happen the first time.
2- Can this be prevented?
No. Some people had said it could by exercising more, taking certain vitamins, etc. but this is not true-altough those things are still recommended for daily health. My doctor’s exact words were “Just live your daily life and if it happens again go to the ER. If it doesn’t I’ll probably never see you again”. I can handle that!
3- Does the fact that my lung had a small hole affect my immune system at all? (we have several kids at our school with the flu)
Apparently my profession makes me more likely to get the flu, not the fact that I had a collapsed lung. That was so good to hear. So I will continue to wash my hands like crazy, Clorox wipe everything and take LOTS of vitamin C.
Since I was allowed to go back to my normal routine I was excited about the Sock Hop at our school. We had a lot of people come and it was really fun. The teachers, parents, and kids all danced and laughed the entire time. Here is Kathy (the other 4th grade teacher) and I before the Sock Hop.

This is one of the reasons I love teaching elementary school. You are encouraged to get to dress up and have fun!
Thanks for all of your prayers during this recovery time. I am happy to report that I am as good as new!