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ABSTRACT
In this piece I narrate the lived dialectical tensions I experienced and embodied as a health advocate for my daughter during her stay in the pediatric intensive care unit: emotionality-rationality and presence-absence. Ultimately, I argue that “metacommunication” (Tracy, 2004) is one strategy that can help health advocates recast these tensions as complementary rather than contradictory in nature, with the aim of empowering these advocates to live more productively within them.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers well as Drs. Bill Rawlins & Lynn Harter for their keen scholarly advice and unwavering support throughout this process.