Diligence, Perserverance, or Insanity? You Choose, Then Pray

Ok so this morning when I arrive at my carpool, one of our occasional riders (she’s occasional because she drops her child off at school each morning) is at the stoop waiting on us. When she emerges from the vehicle, she’s got a face towel covering her mouth, like she’s in pain or is spitting into it or something. She gets into the backseat of my car, eyes barely open, and gently rests her head on the head rest and closes her eyes. I ask her if she had some dental work done the day before and in a muffled groan says “uh huh”. So I’m thinking she’s had some wisdom teeth pulled or something of that nature so I inquire.

I hated to ask her because I knew it hurt her to talk but after several attempts at an explanation, I make out that she’s saying “bone.” “Bone” I say, “uh huh,” she replies. I say, “What did they do to your bone?” “Shaved it down…” The word shaved hit my eardrum and I immediately winced and contracted my face as if I could personally feel the pain she may be experiencing. “The bone in your face?” I ask mortified and wondering how they did that. I suppose they probably had to cut her gums and ….. its disturbing just to think about…

I asked her if she had any pain killers with her, and she shakes her head no, all this while still holding the face towel over her mouth. My colleagues, looking very concerned attempt to talk her out of coming to work, vowing to do her work to keep her caught up if she just wanted to go back home and rest and give it time to heal, but to no avail. “I’ll be fine once I get to work,” she holding up her hand in expression that she’ll be fine. “You don’t have to suffer through this day,” they plead but again, she stays their pleas with a raised hand.

Concerned for her health and pain control, they drive one more vehicle just in case we need to drive her home before the day is out and she remains in the vehicle with me. She removed her hand and the face towel, looks at me and asks “is my face still swollen?” And when I see how swollen it is, I realize that I would be doing her a favor by turning the Honda Civic around and giving her curbside service to her front door, valet style. Not to be funny (even though it looked funny) she looked like a chipmunk with a mouth full. I ask her if her dentist released her to come back to work today. She says “I told him I needed to come to work today,” of course in a muffled and strained voice. I just chuckle to myself, look at her and shake my head. “What on earth is going on at work that you need to be there?” “Its payroll week…” she replies, indicating to me that she’s got tons to do. I think in my head, if you’d pass into eternity this morning, it’d still be payroll week. But those are just my thoughts. I make a pact with her that if she can make it through the pain and finish most of her work by lunch, I’d take her home at lunch time, but at any junction during the morning, if she needed to leave, I’d take her home, no questions asked.

I then called another colleague, asked her to bring a face ice pack sling (you know the one you get when you get your wisdom teeth pulled) if she had one and some pain killers with her this morning as I didn’t have any.

So this is a tribute to the diligence, and dedication (and perhaps insanity) of my colleague to come to work to do her share of the load for this week’s goals.

It’s also a request for special prayer for her as she diligently works through the pain.

It’s also a reminder that sometimes, staying at home SHOULD be your only option. Take care of yourself people. Your body needs you too.