Download or read book Neither Married Nor Single written by Dr. David Kirkpatrick and published by Brush Education. This book was released on 2018-01-26 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Dr. David Kirkpatrick’s wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007, their lives—and their marriage—would change forever. In an honest, uplifting, and sometimes heartbreaking account of loving a partner with dementia, Dr. Kirkpatrick creates a clear guide for others in similar circumstances. He shares his perspective both as a loving and grief-stricken husband coping with a profound change in his marriage, and as a geriatric psychiatrist doing everything he can for his wife while continually learning throughout that experience. Dr. Kirkpatrick tackles the tough questions about caretaking, grief, loss, love, and sex for those whose partners have dementia. When is the right time to find or even to begin considering a care home for your loved one? How can you navigate the complexities of your changing sexual relationship with an Alzheimer’s partner? When is it appropriate for you to consider new relationships? With wisdom and compassion, Dr. Kirkpatrick reflects on these questions and more. Whether your partner has been recently diagnosed or has been living with dementia for many years, Neither Married Nor Single will help lead you to effective strategies for living and loving in an Alzheimer’s marriage, and for dealing with the changes ahead. And it will help you remember that you are not alone.

Download or read book In Love written by Amy Bloom and published by Random House. This book was released on 2022-03-08 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful memoir of a love that leads two people to find a courageous way to part—and a woman’s struggle to go forward in the face of loss—that “enriches the reader’s life with urgency and gratitude” (The Washington Post) “A pleasure to read . . . Rarely has a memoir about death been so full of life. . . . Bloom has a talent for mixing the prosaic and profound, the slapstick and the serious.”—USA Today ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease. Forced to confront the truth of the diagnosis and its impact on the future he had envisioned, Brian was determined to die on his feet, not live on his knees. Supporting each other in their last journey together, Brian and Amy made the unimaginably difficult and painful decision to go to Dignitas, an organization based in Switzerland that empowers a person to end their own life with dignity and peace. In this heartbreaking and surprising memoir, Bloom sheds light on a part of life we so often shy away from discussing—its ending. Written in Bloom’s captivating, insightful voice and with her trademark wit and candor, In Love is an unforgettable portrait of a beautiful marriage, and a boundary-defying love.

Download or read book The Majesty of Your Loving written by Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle and published by The Majesty of Your Loving. This book was released on 2008 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Olivia and Hob received his diagnosis of Alzheimer's, the enormity of that prospect propelled them to make a pact with one another: they would navigate the illness - consciously and lovingly - to the end.The Majesty of Your Loving: A Couple's Journey Through Alzheimer'sis their courageous story. Given this couple's rich background in psychology, Buddhist meditation, and the wisdom traditions, they were able to handle the pain and promise of the illness with unusual thoughtfulness. The author not only writes about the inspirations and spiritual perspectives that sustained them, but gives an intimate account of how they faced loss, crisis, and eventually death. This book has a distinctively positive and uplifting tone, revealing that ultimately their experience was about growing in wisdom and deepening in love. An indispensable guide for anyone dealing with loss, each chapter includes a self-help section with reflections, suggestions, and seed thoughts. This memoir, unique for the its inclusive spiritual orientation, provides both hope and practical approaches to anyone dealing with mental loss or diminishment of any kind.

Download or read book The Alzheimer s Couple written by Colleen Whyte and published by Paragon Agency, Distributors. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main focus of her book is the concept of both partners being victims of the disease. The non Alzheimer¿s spouse is more than a caregiver, but often a patient as well. Together the Alzheimer¿s Couple ride through the lengthy course of the disease together as on a tandem bicycle. There is no getting off, one without the other, until the disease has run its painful course.

Download or read book LIVING WITH ALZHEIMER S DISEASE ONE COUPLE S JOURNEY written by Frances Siegel and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a guidepost for caregivers and families of Alzheimer's patients, an objective but emotion-filled assessment of how to handle life when the one you love the most begins gradually to lose memories and reason, and medical science cannot restore what is lost or offer any cure. The focus is the case of a prominent scholar with dementia and the impact of the illness on his marriage of 40 years. Frances Siegel kept track of her husband's symptoms, the behaviors that showed a slow but accelerating loss of cognitive function. The author offers her journey of adaptation and adjustment to the changes in their lives. Compassion and love alone become the guides of her existence as she grows in understanding. Readers will be moved and guided by her experiences. The foreword is by the Co-Director of the Neuropsychiatric and Memory Group of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Download or read book Ten Thousand Joys Ten Thousand Sorrows written by Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ten Thousand Sorrows & Ten Thousand Joys offers a vision of lives well-led, and of love in the thick of crisis and loss. Beyond inspiring."-Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence "This beautiful book is unlike any other personal account of living with Alzheimer's disease that I have ever read . . . it offers patients and families practical insights into how they can live their lives more fully amidst the heartbreak of a mind-robbing illness."- Paul Raia, Director of Patient Care and Family Support, Alzheimer's Association, Massachusetts Chapter "A story of courage, love, and growing wisdom in the face of Alzheimer's."-Joseph Goldstein, author of One Dharma, Founder / Director of Insight Meditation Society In this profound and courageous memoir, Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle describes how her husband's Alzheimer's diagnosis at the age of seventy-two challenged them to live the spiritual teachings they had embraced during the course of their life together. Following a midlife career shift, Harrison Hobliztelle, or Hob as he was called, a former professor of comparative literature at Barnard, Columbia, and Brandeis University, became a family therapist and was ordained a Dharmacharya (senior teacher) by Thich Nhat Hanh. Hob comes to life in these pages as an incredibly funny and brilliant man who never stopped enjoying a good philosophical conversation-even as his mind, quite literally, slipped away from him. And yet when they first heard the diagnosis, Olivia and Hob's initial reaction was to cling desperately to the life they had had. But everything had changed, and they knew that the only answer was to greet this last phase of Hob's life consciously and lovingly. Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows provides a wise and compassionate vision for maintaining hope and grace in the face of life's greatest challenges. (This memoir was originally self-published as The Majesty of Your Loving.)

Download or read book Four Umbrellas written by June Hutton and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2020-10-17 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A writing couple searches for answers when Alzheimer's causes one of them to lose the place where stories come from — memory. At the age of fifty-three, Tony walks away from a life of journalism and into an unknown future. June is forty-eight, a writer and teacher, and over the following decade watches as her husband changes — in interests, goals, and behaviour — until Tony has a fall, ending the life they had known. A diagnosis is seven years away, yet the signs of Alzheimer’s are all around. A suitcase Tony packs for a trip is jammed with four umbrellas, a visual symbol of cognitive looping. But how far back do these signs go? The couple starts probing the past and finding answers. This is not an old person’s disease.

Download or read book Jan s Story written by Barry Rex Petersen and published by Behler Publications. This book was released on 2010 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen tells the tender story of his wife's battle with Early Onset Alzheimer's.

Download or read book A Story of a Marriage Through Dementia and Beyond written by Laurel Richardson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-02-09 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Story of a Marriage Through Dementia and Beyond is the extraordinary, unflinching account from sociologist Laurel Richardson of her love and caregiving through the last period of her husband Ernest Lockridge's life - from his transient amnesia to his death from Lewy Body Dementia. Focusing on the lived experience of the caregiver through the loved one’s journey from mild cognitive impairment to death, the book gives the reader the experience of what the medical diagnoses mean and what has led up to the loss. It shows the complex, nuanced lives of a couple both living with the worst effects of a disease like Lewy Body Dementia, while maintaining, sometimes with hope and laughter, their loving connection nourished through a 40-year marriage. Dementia is a ‘silver tsunami’ - the third leading cause of death amongst senior populations. Richardson’s beautifully written book gives on-the-ground emotional support to those already in service as caregivers and helps prepare others for such service. Hospices, book clubs, and medical and allied professionals will find this book extraordinarily valuable. Weaving in autoethnographic and sociological methods and scholarship, as well as a list of reading and further resources for caregivers and scholars, this book will also appeal to courses in a wide range of disciplines and fields, including health communication, nursing and allied health, courses covering death and dying, end-of-life, and illness care, and, of course, scholars pursuing autoethnography, creative non-fiction, and qualitative methods.

Download or read book Before I Forget written by Barbara Smith and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2016 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Working with Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson, B. and her husband Dan share B.'s unfolding story on dealing with early-onset Alzheimer's. Crafted in short chapters that interweave their narrative with ... advice, readers learn in small bites about dealing with Alzheimer's disease's day-to-day challenges, the family tensions, and ways of coping, as well as gain tips on diet and exercise from a lifestyle maven using her decades of expertise in a new and unexpected way"--

Download or read book Help Me I m Slipping One Couple s Love Story Coping With Alzheimer s Disease written by Phyllis R. Brown and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book My Two Elaines written by Martin J Schreiber and published by Harper Horizon. This book was released on 2022-06-13 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In My Two Elaines, author Marty Schreiber, former governor of Wisconsin, watches his beloved wife, Elaine, gradually transform from the woman he fell in love with in high school, and who diligently supported his political career, to the Elaine who knows she is declining and can’t remember how to cook a meal, and finally to the Elaine who no longer recognizes Marty or their children. One part love story, one part practical advice, this compelling book includes several unique elements: Excerpts from Elaine’s journal, recounting her thoughts, concerns, and frustrations as the disease progresses A recurring feature called “What I Wish I’d Known,” which provides helpful takeaways for caregivers based on Marty’s observations about what he wishes he’d known sooner and done differently A Q&A between Marty and neuropsychologist Dr. Michelle Braun, to equip caregivers with the right questions to ask and empower them to advocate for their loved ones and their own needs Beyond sincere, practical advice, My Two Elaines gives the reader permission to feel the full spectrum of emotions, including humor, even in the face of this relentless illness. And the book speaks to anyone touched by this disease--spouse, child, friend, or family member.

Download or read book Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade written by Gary Chapman and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across America and around the world, the five love languages have revitalized relationships and saved marriages from the brink of disaster. Can they also help individuals, couples, and families cope with the devastating diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD)? Coauthors Chapman, Shaw, and Barr give a resounding yes. Their innovative application of the five love languages creates an entirely new way to touch the lives of the five million Americans who have Alzheimer’s, as well as their fifteen million caregivers. At its heart, this book is about how love gently lifts a corner of dementia’s dark curtain to cultivate an emotional connection amid memory loss. This collaborative, groundbreaking work between a healthcare professional, caregiver, and relationship expert will: Provide an overview of the love languages and Alzheimer’s disease, correlate the love languages with the developments of the stages of AD, discuss how both the caregiver and care receiver can apply the love languages, address the challenges and stresses of the caregiver journey, offer personal stories and case studies about maintaining emotional intimacy amidst AD. Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade is heartfelt and easy to apply, providing gentle, focused help for those feeling overwhelmed by the relational toll of Alzheimer’s. Its principles have already helped hundreds of families, and it can help yours, too.

Download or read book Love and Forgetting written by Julie Macfie Sobol and published by Second Story Press. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: t takes courage to face serious illness, whether it is you who are sick or someone you love. This is the story of two courageous people, Julie and Ken Sobol. Julie and Ken were writing partners as well as life partners, so it was natural that when Ken became caught up in the frightening and fatal fog of Lewy Body Disease, they decided to write about their experience with the disease together. This is the story not just of a devastating illness, but of an amazing relationship. As KenÕs disease progresses and his symptoms worsen, his voice on the page dwindles. Julie continues the narration, sharing her sadness, frustration, and attempts to find the best care for her husband. Their chronicling of the ravages wrought by LBD is intelligent, insightful, enlightening, and often funny. It isÑat heartÑa love story.

Download or read book Doing things together written by Therése Bielsten and published by Linköping University Electronic Press. This book was released on 2020-03-13 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Background: Most people with dementia live in their own homes, often together with their partners, who become informal caregivers. Relationship quality and sense of couplehood can be threatened as a result of the transition from a mutually interdependent relationship to a caregiver-care-receiver relationship. This, in turn, may lead to many negative consequences for both partners. Support provided for couples is often divided into different types for the person with dementia and for the partner without dementia and lacks couple-based support that targets the relationship, resources and the couple’s everyday life together. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis is to explore couple-centred interventions in dementia and to develop and test a salutogenic, resource-oriented and couple-based intervention among couples in which one partner has dementia living at home. Methods and findings: This thesis comprises three parts: The first part Exploring involves two linked reviews, one narrative review (study I A) and one scoping review (study I B) that aim to identify and describe what previous couple-centred interventions comprised and why they were conducted. The results of the reviews revealed a knowledge gap in and a need for easily accessible support that targets couple relationships, resources and everyday life. The second part Developing (study II) refers to the development of an easily accessible resource-oriented couple-management intervention. The first step was to identify priority topics for such an intervention through a co-researcher process with couples living with dementia. This included a comprehensive literature review, interviews with couples in which one partner has dementia, and consultation meetings with expert groups of people with dementia and partners in both Sweden and the UK. The co-researcher process and the expert meetings informed four main themes with corresponding sub-themes that couples with dementia considered as important to their wellbeing in their everyday lives: (1) Home and Neighbourhood, (2) Meaningful Activities and Relationships, (3) Approach and Empowerment, and (4) Couplehood. The themes were further developed and integrated into the multimedia application DemPower, which was developed for the delivery of the intervention. The third part Testing and Evaluating describes a feasibility study (study III) in which the DemPower application was tested for feasibility and acceptability among couples in Sweden and the UK. The results of the feasibility study indicated that the DemPower intervention was feasible and acceptable among couples in which one partner has dementia living at home. The testing and evaluating part also comprise a qualitative study (study IV) that explores the experiences of engaging with DemPower together as a couple living with dementia in Sweden. The findings resulted in the three themes: (1) Growth of the relationship, (2) We are not alone, and (3) Positive approach, which the couples appreciated and associated with the resource-oriented and salutogenic approach of DemPower. The overall findings of the thesis are presented in a concluding synthesis at the end of the thesis. The concluding synthesis, focused on “Meaningfulness”, “Empowering health promotion”, “Normalization” and “Transitions and couplehood”, represents the core findings of this thesis. What this thesis adds: This thesis contributes to research, healthcare and the public by highlighting the need for a salutogenic approach toward couples living with dementia. The DemPower application, with its focus on couples’ relationships, resource-orientation and everyday life, has proven feasibility and acceptability and has meaningfully addressed a gap in the literature and in practice. As researchers, healthcare professionals and the public, we need to support couples where one partner has dementia to continue to live as normal life as possible. This can best be achieved by focusing on what couples can do, by inclusion and by valuing them as the experts within dementia research and of their life experiences. Bakgrund: Majoriteten av personer med demens bor i sitt eget hem och ofta tillsammans med sin partner som blir en informell vårdgivare. Relationens kvalitet och känsla av parskap hotas ofta till följd av övergången från en ömsesidig beroenderelation till en vårdgivare-vårdtagar-relation allt eftersom demenssjukdomen fortskrider. Detta kan innebära många negativa konsekvenser. Stöd för par där ena partnern har demens delas ofta upp i olika former för personen med demens och för partnern utan demens, vilket innebär att det saknas parbaserat resursorienterat stöd med inriktning på att främja parrelationen och parets vardagliga liv. Syfte: Syftet med denna avhandling är att utforska parcentrerade interventioner inom demens och att utveckla och testa ett parbaserat, salutogent och resursorienterat stöd för par där ena partnern har en demenssjukdom och som bor tillsammans i det egna hemmet. Metoder och fynd: Denna avhandling består av tre delar. Den första delen att utforska inkluderar två länkade litteraturöversikter, en narrativ översikt och en kartläggande översikt (studie I) som beskriver tidigare interventioner för par som lever med demens och varför de genomförts. Resultaten av översikterna visade ett kunskapsgap i, och ett behov av lättillgängligt stöd som riktar sig till parförhållanden, parens resurser och att främja det vardagliga livet. Den andra delen, att skapa (studie II) involverar utvecklingen av ett lättillgängligt resursorienterat och parbaserat stöd. Det första steget var att identifiera prioriterade ämnen för en sådan intervention tillsammans med par som lever med demens, genom en så kallad medforskarprocess. Detta inkluderade en omfattande litteraturgenomgång, intervjuer med par där ena partnern har demens, och konsultationsmöten med expertgrupper bestående av personer med demens och partners i Sverige och i Storbritannien. Medforskarprocessen och expertmötena resulterade i fyra huvudteman med motsvarande underteman vilka par med demens ansåg vara viktiga för deras relation och för välbefinnande i vardagen: (1) Hem och grannskap, (2) Meningsfulla aktiviteter och relationer, (3) Förhållningssätt och empowerment och (4) Parskap. Dessa teman vidareutvecklades och integrerades i multimedia-applikationen DemPower, som utvecklades i syfte att erbjuda interventionen till par som lever med demens. Den tredje delen att testa och att utvärdera beskriver genomförbarhetsstudien (studie III) där applikationen DemPower testades med avseende på genomförbarhet och acceptabilitet hos par där en partner har demens i Sverige och i Storbritannien. Resultaten av studien visade att DemPower-interventionen var genomförbar och acceptabel bland par där ena partnern har demens. Denna delen av avhandlingen inkluderar även en kvalitativ studie (studie IV) som undersökte parens erfarenheter av att testa DemPower tillsammans som ett par. De samlade upplevelserna resulterade i tre teman: (1) Utveckling av parrelationen, (2) Vi är inte ensamma och (3) Positivt förhållningssätt. De övergripande resultaten från avhandlingen presenteras även i en konkluderande syntes i slutet av avhandlingen. Den konkluderande syntesen med fokus på Meningsfullhet, Empowerment, Normalisering och Parskap representerar kärnan i denna avhandling. Avhandlingens slutsatser och kunskapsbidrag: DemPower-applikationen med fokus på parförhållanden, hälsofrämjande resurser och vardagen har bidragit med ett stöd som vilar på en genuin parbaserad grund tillämpad i det vardagliga livet för par som lever med demens. Denna avhandling bidrar även med kunskap till forskning, vård och allmänheten genom att lyfta fram ett salutogent förhållningssätt till par som lever med demens. Som forskare, vårdpersonal och allmänhet bör vi stödja par där ena partnern har demens för att de ska kunna fortsätta leva ett så normalt liv som möjligt. Detta kan bäst uppnås genom att fokusera på parens resurser, genom inkludering och genom att värdera dem som experter inom demensforskning och i deras livserfarenheter.

Download or read book Alzheimer s Disease and Marriage written by Lore K. Wright and published by SAGE Publications, Incorporated. This book was released on 1993-02 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The marriages of patients with Alzheimer's disease are examined in this book, which relates research findings to specific assessments and interventions that nurses can employ to help the caregiver. The author carefully documents how Alzheimer's disease invades various dimensions of marriage and how spouses retain or lose awareness of each other. The dimensions of marriage that are explored include household tasks, companionship, affection and sexuality. For each dimension, clinical assessment strategies and guidelines for interventions are described.

Download or read book I Still Do written by Judith Fox and published by powerHouse Books. This book was released on 2009-09-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a lovely book about a devastating problem-Alzheimer's. The pages are like poetry and the photos saymore than words. Anyone who has cared for a loved onewith Alzheimer's will relate to and appreciate every one ofthese pages." -Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor "There is a sweetness in the light Judith Fox finds thatsoftens a brutally unique and all too common experience.Ms. Fox has made the story about love and devotion when itmight easily be expected to be about a more tragic and angryvision. But the tough stuff is lurking around every corner..." -Arthur Ollman, Director, School of Art, Design,and Art History at San Diego State University Three years into their marriage, Judith Fox's husband, Dr.Edmund Ackell, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.Over the course of the next ten years, Fox watched as theman who used to perform surgery, fly planes, and rununiversities, forgot how to turn on the coffee maker, placea phone call, or remember what his wife had told him twominutes earlier. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's. A poignantand beautiful portrait of a man with Alzheimer's as seenthrough the loving lens and words of his wife and care-partner,I StillDo: Loving and Living With Alzheimer's puts ahuman face in front of the statistics, exploring the diseasethrough Fox's intimate photographs and poetic writing.While the details of I Still Do are personal and unique, thisdeeply candid story of illness, aging, partnership, and lovingis universal.