The Emotional Journey of the Alzheimer's Family


Book Description

Alzheimer's disease is a growing public health crisis. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are 5.4 million victims of this disease; by 2050, there will be close to 15 million people who suffer from this debilitating disorder of memory, thinking, personality, and functioning. The disease profoundly affects immediate family members, close friends, and neighbors. These people - the Alzheimer's family - undergo tremendous psychological and emotional change as they witness the cruel and relentless progression of the disease in their loved one. Incorporating over thirty years of experience with Alzheimer's patients and their families with current medical knowledge, the authors chart the complex emotional journey of the Alzheimer's family from the onset of the disease through the death of the loved one. They discuss the anger that rises in the face of discordant views of the disease, the defenses that emerge when family members are unwilling to accept a dementia diagnosis, and the common emotions of anxiety, guilt, anger, and shame. They focus especially on grief as the core response to losing a loved one to dementia, and describe the difficult processes of adaptation and acceptance, which lead to personal growth. Final chapters emphasize the importance of establishing a care community and how to understand and cope with personal stress. This volume will be useful to medical professionals and ordinary people close to or caring for a person with dementia.




The Emotional Journey of the Alzheimer's Family


Book Description

Alzheimer's disease is a growing public health crisis. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are 5.4 million victims of this disease; by 2050, there will be close to 15 million people who suffer from this debilitating disorder of memory, thinking, personality, and functioning. The disease profoundly affects immediate family members, close friends, and neighbors. These people - the Alzheimer's family - undergo tremendous psychological and emotional change as they witness the cruel and relentless progression of the disease in their loved one. Incorporating over thirty years of experience with Alzheimer's patients and their families with current medical knowledge, the authors chart the complex emotional journey of the Alzheimer's family from the onset of the disease through the death of the loved one. They discuss the anger that rises in the face of discordant views of the disease, the defenses that emerge when family members are unwilling to accept a dementia diagnosis, and the common emotions of anxiety, guilt, anger, and shame. They focus especially on grief as the core response to losing a loved one to dementia, and describe the difficult processes of adaptation and acceptance, which lead to personal growth. Final chapters emphasize the importance of establishing a care community and how to understand and cope with personal stress. This volume will be useful to medical professionals and ordinary people close to or caring for a person with dementia.




Pathways


Book Description

Possibly the best rescue plan you've ever read.If you are caring for someone with Alzheimers Disease or Related Dementias,PathwaysPathwaysPathways"You have straightened out the curves and turns and false roads of the family caregiver maze. Accurate, useful, dependable, relevant, and reliable. You have done a yeoman's job and all of us who care for a person with dementia will be better for your efforts. PathwaysContact Us:For more information or immediate assistance, contact us at (877) 699-3456 or visit www.dementiahelpcenter.com




H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer's Journey


Book Description

“A useful, step-by-step guide for anyone new to caring for those with Alzheimer’s.” —Library Journal H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey equips Alzheimer’s caregivers with knowledge, tools, and advice for their difficult road ahead. Author Carol B. Amos incorporates her own experience—including her family’s email correspondence illustrating how they coped during this particular challenge. Amos also introduces The Caregiving Principle™: a simple approach that provides a deeper understanding of a person with Alzheimer’s disease and a framework for the caregiver’s role. She provides examples of how The Caregiving Principle™ helped her connect with her mother. H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey encourages caregivers to take care for themselves and provides inspiration for a less stressful, more rewarding journey.




It's Not That Simple: Helping Families Navigate the Alzheimer's Journey


Book Description

This book helps to relieve the fear, anxiety and confusion family member experience when a loved one is diagnosed with dementia. This 3-hour read provides detailed help with skills, tips and guidance based on 14 years of dementia experience.




Creating Moments of Joy Along the Alzheimer's Journey


Book Description

The beloved best seller has been revised and expanded for the fifth edition. Jolene Brackey has a vision: that we will soon look beyond the challenges of Alzheimer's disease to focus more of our energies on creating moments of joy. When people have short-term memory loss, their lives are made up of moments. We are not able to create perfectly wonderful days for people with dementia or Alzheimer's, but we can create perfectly wonderful moments, moments that put a smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes. Five minutes later, they will not remember what we did or said, but the feeling that we left them with will linger. The new edition of Creating Moments of Joy is filled with more practical advice sprinkled with hope, encouragement, new stories, and generous helpings of humor. In this volume, Brackey reveals that our greatest teacher is having cared for and loved someone with Alzheimer's and that often what we have most to learn about is ourselves.




When Someone You Know Is Living in a Dementia Care Community


Book Description

A guide to help family and friends navigate the emotional and practical challenges they face when someone they love is living in community care. Life changes dramatically for the entire family when the decision is made to move a person who has dementia from home to community care. Rachael Wonderlin, a gerontologist, dementia care expert, and popular dementia care blogger, helps caregivers cope with the difficult behaviors, emotions, and anxieties that both they and their loved one may experience. Writing from her own practice and drawing on the latest research in gerontology and dementia, Wonderlin explains the different kinds of dementia, details the wide range of care communities available for people who have dementia, and speaks empathetically to the worry and guilt many families feel. "Do not let anyone make you feel like you have taken the 'easy way out' by choosing a dementia care community," she writes. "You are still going to deal with a lot of challenging behaviors, concerns, and questions regarding your loved one's care." When Someone You Know Is Living in a Dementia Care Community is an accessible guide offering answers to such questions as: How do I choose a place for my loved one to live? What can I find out by visiting a candidate memory-care community twice? What do I do if my loved one asks about going home? How can I improve the quality of my visits? What is the best way to handle conflict between residents, or between the resident and staff? How can I cope with my loved one's sundowning? What do I do if my loved one starts a romantic relationship with another resident? An indispensable book for family members and friends of people with dementia, When Someone You Know is Living in a Dementia Care Community touches the heart while explaining how to make a difficult situation better.




Losing Mother Twice


Book Description

The authors of Losing Mother Twice know how incredibly difficult it is to watch a loved one lose herself. They watched their mother navigate the treacherous path of Alzheimer's disease for almost ten years. It was a journey set in place by plaques and tangles in her brain, and it lasted until she could no longer find her way through the brambled path. Others who also watch aging parents, failing spouses, or declining siblings struggle with dementia are not alone on the journey. This story of loss may be their story as well. The nature of the disease a family is up against becomes clearer once they face the enormity of the problem. Clarity, however, is not so easy to achieve when in the thick of it . . . as the disease is taking a mother away from them in slow motion . . . even while her physical body survives . . . even though she no longer knows who they are . . . even when she can no longer say, "I'm ready. I don't know why the good Lord doesn't take me." What the authors have learned about facing Alzheimer's disease results not only from their lived experience but also from their study of dementia. The authors share answers to important questions: What is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's? How does one deal with a loved one when dementia causes behavior changes. What are the children's chances of inheriting the disease? Why does a person with Alzheimer's remember words to her favorite hymns and yet does not remember her children's names? This engaging story about family makes complex information accessible by placing discussion of dementia within the context of their mother's life-one person among the millions afflicted by the common tragedy that is Alzheimer's disease. A discussion guide for book clubs is included.




A Path Revealed


Book Description

Just days after turning fifty, Martha Maddux, a spirited mother and civic activist, was told she had Alzheimer’s disease. She and husband Carlen felt as though they’d been shoved out of a plane 10,000 feet up, with nothing to grab but themselves. A Path Revealed is not about the fallout from an insidious disease that extended over seventeen years. It is the story of a path of hope emerging during the darkest hours - a path that lifted Carlen and Martha above the devastating symptoms of this disease. Carlen traveled with Martha to the backwoods of Kentucky, where the quiet presence of a Catholic nun revealed a hidden path. He was forced to slow down as he traced this path halfway around the world to Australia, retreated weekends to a monastery, embraced meditation, and landed all alone in Thomas Merton’s cabin. This story conveys a message of hope and joy in the midst of an almost overwhelming tragedy.




Losing a Hero to Alzheimer's


Book Description

This is a compelling story about the life of a caring woman, Pearl, who was the rock of her family and afflicted with Alzheimers. She was in a bad marriage for over thirty years and had a strong relationship with God. Pearl was the biological mother of four children but a mother to many others. Jesse, Pearls husband, was unfaithful and verbally and physical abusive throughout their entire marriage. Pearl also struggled with depression. Her husband conveniently remained in denial about her illness. That way he wouldnt have to address his wife losing her independence. As Pearl progressed through the grueling stages of Alzheimers, she became more and more forgetful. She was forced to retire from her job and started to lose her social life. With the stress from her marriage that she masked for so many years and an unsafe living environment, Pearls condition took a turn for the worse. As the illness progressed, her body functions started to shut down. Patricia was forced to take action as other family members stood still, watching from the sidelines. When Patricia and Blake accepted Pearl into their home, it was the beginning of a divided family and an estranged relationship with her father, who was bitter and felt betrayed. Trish held on to God as she dealt with the stress from her family and her mothers debilitating disease.