An eventful week (part 2)

Early on Thursday we threw some clothes into a suitcase, threw the suitcase into our car along with our 12-lb. chihuahua-Terrier mix Abby and her pink crate -- okay, we didn't really throw the dog or the crate into the car -- and made the four-hour trip over to Alabama to spend a few days with our daughter and son-in-law.

You will remember that we couldn't be there on Wednesday when she had lumpectomy surgery for breast cancer because on the same day I was receiving intra-vitreous injections in both eyes for macular degeneration.

Late in the day on Thursday, we received the news we had all been waiting for and did not have to wait two weeks after the surgery to receive. Our daughter's surgeon called to tell her that she had had a "pathologic complete response" (pCR), which means there are no redidual cancer cells in her body. She is cancer-free. There were some very happy people around here Thursday afternoon. Our daughter had chosen to receive chemotherapy first, then surgery (this approach is called adjuvant surgery) and it proved to be successful. This method of treatment works best most often for women who are HR positive (HR+) and HER2 negative (HER-), but our daughter was the complete opposite going into this; she was HR negative (HR-) and HER2 positive (HER2+).

I have learned that HR stands for hormonal receptors (for hormones like estrogen and progesterone) and HER2 stands for human epithelial growth factor 2 receptor. Scientists have determined that HER2 is located on chromosone 17 in humans. Science has certainly come a long way since my mother's mastectomy in 1949.

On Friday we received the sad news from our second son that the family had decided to put down their black Lab, Sharpie. One of the sweetest dogs we have ever known, Sharpie was nearly 17 years old; he joined the family when he was a 3-month-old puppy. In his old age, he had become both blind and deaf, and for the past few months had grown weaker to the point he had difficulty standing, let alone trying to walk. It was time, probably past time, and we will all miss him greatly. I will remember him in his happier and stronger days when he was running in the yard.

On Saturday afternoon, we learned that an old friend, Walter Turner, had succumbed to Covid-19 while on a ventilator at Floyd (County) Medical Center in Rome, GA. He had been diagnosed as having pneumonia, Covid-19, and colitis. He was in renal failure as well. Walter and his wife Margaret, who celebrated their 47th anniversary in August, have a daughter, Claire, and a son, Christopher. Margaret is also in the hospital with pneumonia and Covid-19. For several years Margaret was choir director at our church and Walter sang in the tenor section. Margaret also taught piano at a university about two hours away in Tennessee. At the time of Walter's passing he was pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Rome and Associate Chair of the Religious Studies Department at Beulah Heights University in Atlanta. During the years that Margaret directed our choir, I was its accompanist, and many of us often stopped on the way home after choir rehearsals on Wednesday nights to eat at a Waffle House or an International House of Pancakes. We would talk and laugh, and one memorable night we stood in the parking lot of the Waffle House while Walter, Margaret, and I sang "Love, Mercy, and Grace" (#153 in the old Cokesbury Hymnal) from memory. The others in the group, who had not grown up using the Cokesbury Hymnal, stood around with their jaws dropped open in disbelief. This is all by way of saying that we are going to miss Walter very much and are fervently hoping that Margaret will recover soon.

With Paul's death a couple of weeks ago and Walter's on Saturday, five people I knew personally have died of Covid-19.

Other things happened this week that I had intended to write about in this post also, but somehow they suddenly seem unimportant.