Edited by: Persis R. Granger
Publisher: iUniverse
Star
ISBN: 9780595297269
Click Here To Purchase Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer's: Writing a Path to Peace
This book is a collection
of personal stories shared by daughters of patients diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease. The shock, the anger, the grief, the stress etc.
are brought out with sincerity and honesty by the different authors.
The editing by Persis R. Granger is by and large excellent and the
book is highly readable (though my sharp eye caught some slips, they
won't interfere with the reading). The book is not easy to read
because of the emotions that are shared but is a valuable addition to
the growing literature on Alzheimer's disease, a progressive and as
of today incurable form of dementia, whose final diagnosis can only
be made through a postmortem!
More and more people are
becoming victims of Alzheimer's (partly because of increasing life
span) and caring for them when they fail to recognize themselves and
their care givers is no easy task. Relationships get affected apart
from financial difficulties. Sending the person to an institution for
care is one of the toughest decisions and the stories give an
intimate look at the emotional trauma of the care givers. The book is
thus moving at many places. In a country like India, where elders are
supposed to be taken care of by children and there is no real
infrastructure for their separate living, the relationships are
affected severely due to the stress and strain of chronic illness and
consequent burden on the care givers. Some of the stories in the book
will thus strike a chord for such readers too!
Though
the book focuses on Alzheimer's, any chronic illness that makes the
person dependent on others causes similar problems and thus the book
would be relevant to patients and caregivers of other chronic and
debilitating diseases.
The book has a foreword by Pat
Jimison, an introduction by Kathleen Adams and resources section at
the end. However, alternative, holistic treatment options if any are
left out and it is hoped that the future editions and a website will
carry such information (as of now there is no specific website for
the book). A lot of research on the role of antioxidants and herbs in
delaying the onset of or improvement of Alzheimer's is now coming up
and the book / website could have covered that.
I went
through many emotions as I was reading this book since my own mother
passed away in 2003 at the age of 89 and I felt (and feel even now)
that I could have been a better son as far as her care is concerned.
Her presence in the house was not stress free and many times I felt
helpless! Journaling as suggested in the book is a good and effective
way of coming to terms with the emotions that one cannot process
immediately.
I recommend this book to all caregivers and
even to chronic patients to give them an idea of the life ahead for
those in early stages of Alzheimer's.
Click Here To Purchase Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer's: Writing a Path to Peace