Where Is Jack? Memoirs of an Alzheimer's Caregiver

Where Is Jack? Memoirs of an Alzheimer's Caregiver PDF Author: Sarah Burakoff
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1430303395
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
At age 80, Sarah looked forward to enjoying the "golden years" with Jack, her husband of 40 years. Unfortunately this was not to be. After episodes of surprise, disbelief, denial and despair, Sarah finally had to accept the devastating truth; Jack had Alzheimer's disease and life would never be the same again. Now began her challenging task as Jack's caregiver. With the help of family, friends and a sympathetic social worker, she tries to make a life for herself while getting the best possible care for Jack. This loving and courageous woman recounts her experiences, heartbroken to see Jack slowly losing contact with the world around him.The episodes she describes are illuminating, sometimes sad, sometimes amusing but always difficult and frustrating. They were a challenge to her resourcefulness in working out ways to care for Jack and at the same time lead a life of her own. She could no longer share with her beloved Jack, the wonderful memories of days gone by.

Where Is Jack? Memoirs of an Alzheimer's Caregiver

Where Is Jack? Memoirs of an Alzheimer's Caregiver PDF Author: Sarah Burakoff
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1430303395
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Get Book

Book Description
At age 80, Sarah looked forward to enjoying the "golden years" with Jack, her husband of 40 years. Unfortunately this was not to be. After episodes of surprise, disbelief, denial and despair, Sarah finally had to accept the devastating truth; Jack had Alzheimer's disease and life would never be the same again. Now began her challenging task as Jack's caregiver. With the help of family, friends and a sympathetic social worker, she tries to make a life for herself while getting the best possible care for Jack. This loving and courageous woman recounts her experiences, heartbroken to see Jack slowly losing contact with the world around him.The episodes she describes are illuminating, sometimes sad, sometimes amusing but always difficult and frustrating. They were a challenge to her resourcefulness in working out ways to care for Jack and at the same time lead a life of her own. She could no longer share with her beloved Jack, the wonderful memories of days gone by.

Alzheimer's Disease Memoirs

Alzheimer's Disease Memoirs PDF Author: Pramod K Nayar
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 981166112X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
This book examines writings by people living with Alzheimer's Disease and their caregivers. Its focus areas include the construction of the self in the face of diminishing linguistic and cognitive abilities, the stigmatization of ageing, the various narrative strategies that these texts (often collaborative) employ, the health activism and advocacy generated via a 'biosociality,' and the ethics of care. It examines the 'disease writing' genre about a condition that ravages the ability to use language. It serves as a "literary" examination of the work done in this area through a critical reading of the memoirs of those with AD and caregivers and a healthy dose of literary theory. The book is a valuable resource for those interested in literary and critical theory and researchers in the field of ageing/dementia studies.

An Eight Year Goodbye

An Eight Year Goodbye PDF Author: Maryanne V. Scott
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1647019869
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
Samuel Valenti was an unpretentious, humble man who required very little in life to make him happy. He grew up during the Great Depression, working on the family farm in New Jersey, growing tomatoes to sell to Campbell Soup Company. Seeing the Hindenburg fly over his farm, receiving visits to the farm from his cousin, Anne Bancroft, and serving his country in World War II were a few of the highlights of his young adult life that he spoke of often. However, marrying the love of his life and having his daughter and son were the basis of what sustained him every day as he lived the American dream of working hard and prospering. Life had always been wonderful for Sam until later in his life when he started to lose his precious memories and abilities to Alzheimer's disease. His slow cognitive decline lasted for eight long years with his children by his side, helping him to navigate through the stages of the disease. An Eight-Year Goodbye is the story of Sam's journey through this debilitating illness with some helpful suggestions from the author on how to handle some of the heartbreaking challenges that Alzheimer's presents. It is also a story of love and compassion as Sam's children watch their father go from the vital, independent, vibrant man that they grew up with to the feeble, confused man who was no longer able to communicate with his family. This story will touch the heart of anyone whose loved one has experienced or is experiencing the long, slow deterioration that Alzheimer's disease brings.

Help for the Caring

Help for the Caring PDF Author: Brenda Parris Sibley
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595253563
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
This much-needed bibliography and filmography brings together lists of books about Alzheimer's and caregiving, including biographies, poetry, and even fiction, as well as in instructional and dramatic films.

The Caregiver

The Caregiver PDF Author: Aaron Alterra
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501720589
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Aaron and Stella Alterra had been married for more than sixty years when Aaron began to notice puzzling lapses in his wife's memory. Innocuous at first, they became more severe and more alarming. After a series of appointments and tests, the Alterras were informed that Stella was one of the more than 4.5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease. Combining medical research on the disease and often-painful anecdotes of memory loss, deteriorating motor functions, personality shifts, support-group and daycare experiences, and drug trials, Alterra chronicles his transformation from husband to caregiver after his wife's diagnosis. More than a chronology of one family's experience of Alzheimer's disease, The Caregiver is an intelligent, beautifully reflective testimony to how family members turned caregivers become the ultimate advocates for their loved ones in the face of a disease with no cure.

Memoirs of a Caregiver

Memoirs of a Caregiver PDF Author: Cynthia Young
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1475970994
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Alzheimers is a memory-robbing, debilitating disease that affects millions of Americans. For most families, having just one member afflicted with Alzheimers disease can be devastating. In her poignant memoir, Cynthia Young shares her story of love and devotion as she learns how to care for four family members stricken with Alzheimers disease over a ten-year period. Young narrates a journey filled with laughter, challenges, and sorrow as she commutes from California to Michigan to care for her mother, two aunts, and a cousin. She provides insight into how the disease progresses and gradually destroys the memory and abilities to learn, reason, make sound judgments, communicate, and carry out daily activities. While sharing her personal story and detailing how she overcame each obstacle along the way, Young also teaches other caregivers how to use valuable resources, navigate the court system as a guardian and conservator, handle the Alzheimers personality, and search for an assisted-living facility. Memoirs of a Caregiver shares one womans inspiring story of unconditional love and courage with the hope that it will encourage and empower other caregivers to be diligent, strong, and, most importantly, to never give up. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be directed to the Alzheimers Association.

Mashed Potatoes in My Salad

Mashed Potatoes in My Salad PDF Author: Eunice L Sykes
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1499061692
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Mashed Potatoes in My Salad is foremost a love story. It is a poignant tale of a woman, who, after several unsuccessful, toxic and abusive relationships, finally finds the man of her dreams under unlikely, risky and daring circumstances. What she had not anticipated, though, was being a caregiver time and time again as he endures serious illnesses -- including a devastating Alzheimer's diagnosis. This is her complex, multilayered story of ambition, drive, romance, endurance, resilience, loyalty, survival, love, and joy. Her lessons learned will inspire and motivate you to be all that you can be and to live your best life better.

We Keep Our Potato Chips in the Refrigerator

We Keep Our Potato Chips in the Refrigerator PDF Author: Cox Patricia Cox
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 145020256X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 111

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Book Description
Alzheimer's disease affects millions worldwide, and this figure is compounded by all the involved caregivers, relatives, and friends of those who are afflicted. This touching memoir is about one man, Fred Thompson, who fell victim to this disease, and the reflections of his wife and caregiver, Patricia Cox who learned from daily experience how dilibilating this cruel malady can be. This honest exposure of successes and failures is intended to convey there is no set formula for dealing with dementia, but there is hope available for those who think they are alone in this quest. These candid stories are filled with some humor and profound sadness; some successes and many failures, but with great love and respect for the man Patricia married and the man he eventually became.

Looking After

Looking After PDF Author: John Daniel
Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
"Vagabond and spiritual seeker, wife and mother and former labor organizer, Zilla Daniel led a full and varied life. But in the fall of 1988, troubled with the onset of Alzheimer's, she comes to Portland, Oregon, to live with her son and his wife. Evolving slowly into the unfamiliar, she watches the dogwood outside their kitchen window, reads poetry, asks and re-asks the names of birds." "Uneasy in his role as caregiver, and coping with his own depression, John Daniel struggles with guilt, embarrassment, and anger over his mother's transformation. As she loses her memory, Daniel delves into his own, uncovering both the root of his depression and the medicine for its cure in fragmented, long-dormant recollections of his childhood and youth." "Mother and son journey through difficult and mysterious terrain, ultimately divining a path to each other. "Whatever she recognized, whatever she perceived, whatever she sensed, she faced the good world she had loved... The world flowed in through her window, flowed into her open eyes whatever they saw, even as she flowed forth to join the world from the personhood of her many days."" "Combining graceful prose with the tenacity of a lifelong seeker, John Daniel pays tribute to the life of a remarkable woman and depicts the burdens and unexpected blessings of caring for her. In the midst of daily tension and occasional despair, Daniel comprehends - then shares with us - Zilla's "deep smile of the spirit.""--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Last of His Mind

The Last of His Mind PDF Author: John Thorndike
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0804041202
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
The second, expanded edition of this acclaimed memoir by an Alzheimer’s caregiver living with his father during his final year includes a new introduction that illustrates the immense toll of the disease, important lessons from the author’s experience, and a readers' guide. Joe Thorndike was managing editor of Life at the height of its popularity immediately following World War II. He was the founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines, the author of three books, and the editor of a dozen more. But at age ninety-two, in the space of six months he stopped reading or writing or carrying on detailed conversations. He could no longer tell time or make a phone call. He was convinced that the governor of Massachusetts had come to visit and was in the refrigerator. Over six million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and like many of them, Joe Thorndike’s one great desire was to remain in his own house. To honor his wish, his son John left his own home and moved into his father’s upstairs bedroom on Cape Cod. For a year, in a house filled with file cabinets, photos, and letters, John explored his father’s mind, his parents’ divorce, and his mother’s secrets. The Last of His Mind is the bittersweet account of a son’s final year with his father and a candid portrait of an implacable disease. It’s the ordeal of Alzheimer’s that draws father and son close, closer than they have been since John was a boy. At the end, when Joe’s heart stops beating, John’s hand is on his chest, and a story of painful decline has become a portrait of deep family ties, caregiving, and love.