It is just before 6:00 a.m. here in Boise and I have arrived at Galen/Bethany’s to be here when Berkeley wakes up. She is an early riser like me, and her parents can sleep in if I am here to manage the morning.
Managing the morning means that I will test her blood when she wakes up, give the medicine that does not appear to have any significant impact and so is likely to be stopped soon, and feed her something regularly to keep her blood sugar up.
Conversations have started to transfer Berkeley’s care to Salt Lake City. She remains the same — happy and playful with glucose levels that swing throughout the day for reasons that are unexplained.
It amazes me how quickly things take on the dimensions of normality. All of this is just life now — an unwanted intrusion that demands attention and action but is just part of the New Normal.
Yes, it is terrible and unfair and scary but no child deserves to live a life wrapped up in those things. Leaning into the New Normal while handling what needs to be handled in matter-of-fact ways is the best and most effective way to deal with something so hard — and Berkeley is getting that from everyone around her.
Normal Life for Berkeley certainly has had some abrupt changes — all this blood sugar drama and her new brother, who — like her blood sugar — demands quite a bit of attention.
But she simply deals with it, crying at the hard parts and then moving on.
We could all learn a lot from a toddler.
Like that your brother’s hiccups are the funniest thing EVER…
Who knew?!