From the Caregiver's HAErt – a Column by Danita LaShelle Jones

How I Stopped Forgetting to Remember

After a losing battle trying to find a comfortable sleeping position, I sat up in bed, maneuvered my laptop around my large, pregnant belly, and started Googling “tips on having twins.” By hour two, I had a wealth of information, mostly from reputable websites about babies and parenting. But my…

Coming to Terms With Caregiver’s Guilt

By the time my husband and I added a set of twins to our already rambunctious 5- and 2-year-old, family and friends appropriately named our house “the Circus.” Sure, there were families out there with way more kids than we had, but our reality was what mattered. Everything seemed to…

We Forgot to Tell Our Daughter About Her Diagnosis

In retrospect, I took a lot for granted. My 12-year-old daughter, whom we affectionally refer to as Ladybug, has probably seen more doctors than the average child her age. Although her visits started with the discovery of a rare allergy to spinach, finding out she has hereditary angioedema, or HAE,…

The Tale of Two Truths

Of all the places to have a meltdown, mine happened in the parking lot of the public library. Last summer, my daughter, whom we affectionately call Ladybug, was hospitalized several times overnight due to hereditary angioedema (HAE). When she was at home, I had to administer multiple IV sticks…

Step-ball-Change Into Butterfly Needles

I am a theater person. I was introduced to it in kindergarten, majored in it in college, and have taught it at every educational level. As a result, words that would never pop into someone’s head when describing me are “doctor” or “medicine.” Those words are reserved for my amazing…