Saturday, October 13, 2007

The Twerp is Dead

Hello everyone,

The end of chemotherapy. It began on May 3rd, and no one could have made me believe then how it would affect Deb over time. Everyone has side effects of course, but somehow, even though you know they will happen, and you read the list, my mind at least, could not process the information. Nor did I understand the loss of taste, the rash and the extra side effect like the pain in her fingers and toes. Deb does such a good job with this, never complaining and working most every day. She made cookies and took them in with her to show her appreciation to the great staff at Dr. Weyburn's clinic.

I spoke to a friend Wednesday and he related that his wife, a nurse, had the identical treatment and developed chronic congestive heart failure as a side effect from the chemo, so praise God, we seem to have dodged all that.

Next Wednesday we visit the doctor to determine the surgical schedule, decide on reconstructive surgery options and see how the new MRI looks. I plan to be off when she has surgery for a few days.

Today is Deb's thirty year high school reunion. Two other couples are going that we attend church with, so we will have some friends there. I'm looking forward to going, it should be a blast.

Oh yes, as all of you know, we have Strider, who seems to feel a responsibility to protect us from everyone and everything. But there was a dog who she grew to like. She would bark in that special way she has when Twerp would walk by with his master, Bob. Strider would rush out to greet both with no barks or growls but with her tail wagging at 100 miles and hour. Twerp was a long legged black dog who seemed to love everyone and every dog, very hard of hearing but always willing to have a treat. Bob's constant companion since his wife died five years ago, Twerp liked ice cream after dinner and a warm buttered English muffin for breakfast. Too old to chase rabbits and squirrels anymore, he delighted in resting with Bob on the bank in the front yard and watching the world go by. Twerp died three weeks ago, and Bob is doing his best to understand and deal with the loss of his best friend. Because as we all know, dogs supply unconditional love in this sometimes unloving world. Twerp was sixteen, old in dog years. Will Rogers said that he didn't know if dogs went to heaven, but when he died, he wanted to go where they go when they die.

Amen.


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