Mary and Bervin spent last week living in a hospital room at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Then over the weekend she graduated, making a move to a hotel across the street, walking over there on her own steam.

Throughout the week Mary pushed herself in every category. When nurses asked her to take 4 hall-walks a day, she took 6. When they asked her to get out of bed and sit in a chair a couple of times, she did it many. When she felt loopy from pain meds, she asked that they be decreased. Despite several set-backs, especially with nausea, she beat the surgeon’s prediction that she’d be in the hospital at least a week. Not Mary!

Most of us quickly seek the path of least resistance, because it’s the easiest way to go. Our natural bent is to find comfort, especially in the case of physical pain. But then there are those special people who quietly set comfort aside and take wise action instead, acknowledging that comfort and wisdom don’t always go hand-in-hand.

For example, Mary loves chocolate. Good chocolate, like Fanny May. She says, “I’m familiar with each piece in the box. The curly-cues on top identify the filling inside, and I know them all.” Yet she wouldn’t dream of eating one after another. Not Mary!

Last week when several of us were in her room at Mayo’s, the Pain Management Team swept in, 3 doctors in white lab coats armed with clipboards and expertise. With knitted brows they studied the numbers on the IV and epidural screens, amazed at the low doses.

“You’re getting only minimal doses,” they said. “Would you like to increase them?” Not Mary! Her pain level was already manageable, a result of not medicating herself through the years.

How does a person get like that? Mary wasn’t always. She and I did some crazy things as teens and twenties, but the difference came in that she was quick to learn from her mistakes and their consequences, while I had to make them repeatedly to gain the same ground.

Mary often mentions dad’s example of being moderate in all things (except moderation, which was an always-thing). When she talks about him as a role model she’d like to emulate, I remind her she’s been doing it for years.

And now, with the raw discovery of pancreatic cancer and the massive surgery following it, her wise way of living has come in handy. She didn’t need high drug doses and felt stronger quicker than expected, even escaping her hospital room sooner.

She and Bervin will stay at the hotel near the hospital for a week or so. They’ll learn to manage her temporary feeding tube (batteries and bags of formula), making sure she’s close to professional help if needed.

May her speedy recovery continue!

“Wise choices will watch over you.” (Proverbs 2:11)

Mary’s prayer requests:

1. Praise for Bervin’s exceptional care, love, and closeness
2. Praise for the abundant “milk of human kindness” from so many
   
3. For Mary’s patience while her “insides” heal
4. To get the knack of managing the feeding tube