Alzheimer's Daughter

The Story

Alzheimer’s Daughter introduces the reader to my healthy parents, Ed and Ibby, years before their diagnosis, then recounts painful details as our roles reversed and I became my parents’ parent.


Their disease started as translucent, confused thoughts and ended in a locked memory care unit after a near decade of descent into the opaque world of Alzheimer's.

I began writing Alzheimer’s Daughter one week after my mother's death––when I was stunned, realizing Dad had no memory of her or their 66-year marriage.

I write to pay tribute to the undying spirit at Ed and Ibby's core, and with the hope that the story of their parallel decline might be helpful to others.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Patti Davis Pens Heartfelt Memoir/Caregiver Guide, Floating In The Deep End



This week AlzAuthors features a beautifully heartfelt memoir by Patti Davis, Floating in the Deep End, written from her experience with her father, President Ronald Reagan, as he declined from Alzheimer's at the end of his life.


Patti writes:


On a blue-sky November day in 1994 I walked into Central Park, which was near my apartment in New York. My mother had just called to tell me that my father was going to release a letter disclosing to the world that he had Alzheimer’s. I had only learned of the diagnosis days earlier. Days before that I had walked in the park weighed down by despair and hopelessness; everything in my life was going wrong, I was completely alone, tired down to my soul, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go on living. Then I learned that my father had Alzheimer’s, a disease that everyone was aware of but no one was talking about. That could have been the thing that pushed me over the edge, but instead it pulled me back from the edge. It gave me something bigger than myself to focus on. I wanted to show up for this journey, whatever it was going to be. I wanted to be there for my father.


Read the entire post:

https://alzauthors.com/2022/04/26/patti-davis-floating-in-the-deep-end/


Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Candy Abbott Continues Her Spouse Caregiving Journey in her 2nd Memoir, "And I’ll Never Love Him Less"

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AlzAuthors elevates the work of over 300 authors of noteworthy books and blogs though:


The management team of AlzAuthors thanks each of our authors for allowing us to share their books in our quest to provide caregivers and others concerned with dementia quality resources.


Please continue reading for AlzAuthors' featured book this week.


On the Blog: Candy Abbott

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AlzAuthors featured Candy Abbott's first book, I've Never Loved Him More, in September of 2017. Now she continues her story as a spouse caregiver in her second book, And I'll Never Love Him Less. Candy's books are honest and moving. Her covers are stunning and simple as they immediately engage a reader in the desire to know more about the intimate story she is so bravely reveals.


Candy writes:

Drew and I were only as far as the mid-stage of his Alzheimer’s journey when I released book one, and I found myself making promises for “the rest of the story” before I discovered that writing the second half would be more challenging. The first time, whenever something noteworthy or funny happened, I’d race to the keyboard and type it up, so the book sort of wrote itself. But capturing the second half of a day in the life of this caregiver was tedious because Drew followed me around and talked nonstop. He had become needier, and the best I could do was jot the event down on scraps of paper and then hope for a block of time to record the experience. Not only was it not as fresh, but I had to put myself back in the situation and relive each scene. The second half of our journey was more intense. I was adamant about including humor, so I had to diligently search for lighthearted moments and wondered if it would be as well-received as the first book.


Read the entire post here:

https://alzauthors.com/2022/04/06/candy-abbott-mem…er-love-him-less/