Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A warped sense of normalcy

(3/17; Here's an unpublished post from a month ago; the granddaughter is fine.)

Well, that subject could cover a multitude of issues, couldn't it? In this case:

With our daughters' and grandchildren's chronic and acute medical issues, primarily with familial pancreatitis, but also with asthma, a recent emergency appendectomy, and the like, our family seems to have grown accustomed to having a family member in the hospital. It has become part of our sense of "normal." So when our 3-month-old granddaughter had to be taken in last night because she wasn't keeping anything down, we kinda' shifted into crisis mode, but neglected to ask those around us to help with prayer support. It just seemed almost like, "No big deal, we've been here before," especially given that so many others are dealing with so much, too.

Our dear little one really doesn't seem to be doing too badly. She has rotavirus, on top of the RSV with which she was diagnosed last week, but I went by to see her at lunch time, and she's bright, alert, and happy as ever. But that doesn't change the fact that, aside from her not-so-scary diagnosis, condition, and prognosis - depending how quickly she responds, she could be home today - this really cranks up our stress level, too. Mrs tg is in Maryland this week, celebrating with her dad and siblings her mom's first birthday in heaven - at least she has our baby girl's big sister with her, so there's one less grandchild to make arrangements for (including transportation to and from preschool). Middle daughter and I took turns last night helping out with "Bubby," who was about as dear and sweet as I've ever seen him; I think he's really flourishing in his time out of big sister's shadow.

Still, this morning I was feeling a bit chagrined by my lack of clearer vision, and chastised for not immediately turning to the Source of our strength. Finally getting a bit more on-track, I took a short break at work this morning to compose an e-mail asking our friends to lift us up before our loving Lord.

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