The Girl With Arthritis

(Resharing this from 2021)  When I first started this column, I had so many things I wanted to share with families coping with juvenile arthritis (JA). I’ve written about everything from making home injections less painful to ergonomic backpacks. As this will be my last column, I wanted to share the most important thing I’ve learned over the years. The most valuable piece of advice I can pass on has nothing to do with treatments, doctors, accommodations, or arthritis hacks. It’s that you need to hold on to hope and remember that a life with JA can still be a happy one. Even if the future looks a little different than you expected. Read the full article at juvenilearthritisnews.com

Makes you think differently about some words. "I'm going to hospital." The hospital. That hospital. Hospital. This hospital. Over to hospital. I use one of these expression nearly every day. And no matter what name you give it, no matter how you refer to it, one thing is for certain: 'Hospital' is a severe word. It makes people expect the worse. I think a lot of people just harbour a lot of terrible thoughts about hospitals. Sometimes you can get people use to this term without acting as if it were a big deal; I've gotten probably 75 per cent of my friends now joke with me about it, as well as understand that my visiting the hospital is nothing to get nervous about and feel is a terrible, dreadful thing. Maybe it is a terrible, dreadful thing? I'm just very used to it. I don't feel especially nervous going to the hospital, unless maybe if I forget a jumper (sweater) in case it's very cold inside or if I'm missing a test in school while I...