Diary Of An Alzheimers Caregiver

One year shy of her fiftieth wedding anniversary, Dee Hershberger was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Her husband, Bob, serving as her primary caregiver, kept a journal the following four and a half years. Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver provides an unflinchingly honest and heartbreaking account of what the couple went through. During the first two and a half years, Dee gradually lost short-term memory but maintained most physical and social abilities. Over the last two years she lost these abilities, most words, and long-term memory. She also became incontinent, suffered from undetected illnesses, and experienced psychotic episodes and uncontrollable, violent behavior. This is a brutally raw look at what it is like to lose a loved one to Alzheimer’s, including what the disease does to the patient and the effects it has on loved ones and caregivers. This personal view into caring for a spouse with Alzheimer’s will help readers understand the physical, emotional, and financial consequences of the disease, as well as provide support, advice, and hope to anyone in the same situation.

One who Forgets and One who is Forgotten One in eight over the age of sixty-five and one in three over the age of eighty will be diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. In her memoir, author Joan Sutton narrates a moving account of her years as caregiver to her husband, noting that Alzheimers is a disease of the brain that is paid for with the currency of the heart. A member of the board of overseers of The Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation, she stresses the need to develop more effective treatment for the five million Americans currently diagnosed with this incurable disease, pointing out that for every patient there is a large circle of others also affected. Sutton offers practical advice for the care of the caregiver and the patient, and shares the pain that came as she watched pieces of her husbands self disappear. Following his death, after what Nancy Reagan described as the long goodbye, she writes candidly about coping with her new status as a widow and the aching loneliness of the heart that is the price paid for having known a great love. 100% of the authors royalties (20 to 40% of the purchase price) will benefit the Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation/Canada. Cover design by John R. Lewis

One year shy of her fiftieth wedding anniversary, Dee Hershberger was diagnosed with Alzheimer?s disease. Her husband, Bob, serving as her primary caregiver, kept a journal the following four and a half years. Diary of an Alzheimer?s Caregiver provides an unflinchingly honest and heartbreaking account of what the couple went through. During the first two and a half years, Dee gradually lost short-term memory but maintained most physical and social abilities. Over the last two years she lost these abilities, most words, and long-term memory. She also became incontinent, suffered from undetected illnesses, and experienced psychotic episodes and uncontrollable, violent behavior. This is a brutally raw look at what it is like to lose a loved one to Alzheimer?s, including what the disease does to the patient and the effects it has on loved ones and caregivers. This personal view into caring for a spouse with Alzheimer?s will help readers understand the physical, emotional, and financial consequences of the disease, as well as provide support, advice, and hope to anyone in the same situation.

One who Forgets and One who is Forgotten One in eight over the age of sixty-five and one in three over the age of eighty will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. In her memoir, author Joan Sutton narrates a moving account of her years as caregiver to her husband, noting that "Alzheimer's is a disease of the brain that is paid for with the currency of the heart." A member of the board of overseers of The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, she stresses the need to develop more effective treatment for the eight million Americans currently diagnosed with this incurable disease, pointing out that for every patient there is a large circle of others also affected. Sutton offers practical advice for the care of the caregiver and the patient, and shares the pain that came as she watched pieces of her husband's self disappear. Following his death, after what Nancy Reagan described as "the long goodbye", she writes candidly about coping with her new status as a widow and the aching loneliness of the heart that is the price paid for having known a great love. All profits from the sale of this book will benefit The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation/Canada. Cover design by John R. Lewis

In 2009, my wife of over fifty-eight years was diagnosed with dementia with Alzheimers symptoms. My caregiving responsibilities began before that time and continued until her death in January 2018. She was provided care in her own home. As time went by, the caregiver duties became more and more demanding. It was truly twenty-four hours each day and seven days each week. My sweetheart was referred to the hospice program as a patient beginning in 2013 with a life expectancy of six months or less. At the time of her passing, she had been a hospice patient for four years, eleven months, and five days. The Diary of a Caregiver begins with her entry into the hospice program and continues until her death. Caregiving can be very frustrating at times as one never knows what to expect or when to expect it. The Diary of a Caregiver identifies many of the problems and frustrations associated with care of a dementia patient. It also identifies different techniques and solutions to some of those problems. It should be of interest to anyone who is involved in caregiving, especially those who are just beginning.

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Today, there is a disease afflicting many people and arousing fear in those whose ages can start as young as forty years, and moving on through the sixties, seventy and eighty year old groups. It is known as Alzheimers Disease. This book is about sharing this experience with my sister-in-law who came down with this disease in her later years. She was eighty-four at the time and lived to be ninety four years old. I was encouraged to take notes and write about this by a doctor who told me I would be in a position to see its development every day for as long as she remained with me. He said, Take lots of notes. You will be able to observe so much more than I, because I dont spend that much time with a patient, and you will be with her day and night and observe the changes as they happen and what triggers her behavior. Good Luck! With that I started out on my ten year trip through the ups and downs, the good days and bad days of Alzheimers disease. Our days were laced with pain and humor, but I was determined to see it through, laughing a little and crying a lot, hoping the scenery would change, but finally surrendering to this fate that had come upon us. Our mantra became Lets laugh because if we dont we shall most certainly cry! I chose to care for her because I wanted her to be surrounded by love, music and laughter, in a place where we could laugh with her and cry with her and never be alone. Im glad I did.

A Caregiver’s Diary (Struggling With Alzheimer’s) By: William Franklin Kerns This is a love story. William and his wife, Dora, shared a beautiful marriage of fifty-four years when Alzheimer’s disease began to take a fierce grip on Dora’s health and mind. Intimate and deeply moving, William beautifully captures snippets of their daily interactions and conversations, revealing how this disease not only ravaged Dora’s mind and well-being but also challenged his relationship with his longtime love. William details his daily struggles as Dora’s sole caregiver as her disease progressed and as their marriage moved from a mutually supportive one to one that required William’s constant support and care. This diary details the harsh reality of Alzheimer’s while also capturing touching moments shared between a husband and wife. This story is an honest, often raw look at the effects of this disease, not only on the afflicted but on those who love them.

PAPERBACK & DOWNLOAD EDITIONS---For 15 years, Robert Tell was his widowed Mom's caregiver as her mind and personality disappeared into the fog of dementia. He tells the tale with compassion and humor in this full length, fast moving memoir. His lesson: Caregiver burnout can be helped. If you are watching your loved one vanish into the sinkhole of Alzheimer's Disease (or another dementia), "Dementia Diary" will lift your spirits.

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.