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.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Meet Susan Elkin, Author of the Spouse Caregiver Memoir, The Alzheimer's Diaries

If you are a spouse/caregiver, you'll certainly want to add this book to your caregiving collection by Susan Elkin. She is a British former teacher of secondary school English from South London who has been writing professionally since 1990: journalism for newspapers, magazines and websites and over 50 books. So when her husband, Nick was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2017, blogging about it came naturally. Those blogs, which ran until Nick’s death in 2019, are now compiled into her new book, The Alzheimer’s Diaries.


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Susan writes:

Could, or should, I write about this “journey” that Ms Alzheimer’s had forced on us? Well, obviously, not without Nick’s permission. He was a quiet, quite private man so I expected him to give me an unequivocal no. To my amazement he said: “Yes, why not? When we meet people out it’s going to be much easier for me if everyone knows because they’ll make allowances – and maybe going public will help others.” 



Read Susan's post