The Person with Alzheimer's Disease
Author: Phyllis Braudy Harris
Few families are untouched by Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Moving accounts of what it is like to care for someone with this disease have already been published, as well as how-to books that offer caregivers advice and information on coping. But this book is the first to provide a comprehensive report of what it is like to have dementia oneself-the subjective experience of living with progressive memory loss.
Each chapter discusses a different aspect of having dementia, from the initial assessment and diagnosis through placement in a nursing home. The discussions are grounded in qualitative research and case studies, which convey the variable and personal nature of the experience. They seek to help clinicians, researchers, students, and caregivers (both professionals and family members) understand the experience of dementia, and thereby to promote better caregiving through a person-centered approach.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Marquis D. Foreman, PhD, RN, FAAN (University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing)
Description: This book presents various perspectives on the personal experience of living with progressive memory loss:specifically that due to Alzheimer's disease.
Purpose: The purposes are to describe what it is like to live day-to-day with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and to identify what lessons can be learned from these accounts to improve the quality of care for these individuals and their families.
Audience: The editor indicates that the audience includes scholars and practitioners truly committed to person-centered dementia care and research.
Features: This book consists of 14 chapters in three parts: The Medical Experience; The Impact of the Diagnosis on Everyday Life; and Experiences with Formal Services. These chapters are written by both the providers of care as well as by people at various stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Assessment: This is an amazing book! The personal accounts of those either living with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or intimately providing care to such individuals are overwhelming. I was greatly moved by the very personal and intimate accounts of the difficulties and challenges presented by progressive memory loss. More important is the effort to take these experiences and learn from them. This book is critical for people newly diagnosed and their family and friends, and all of us who provide care to these families.
Booknews
In order to provide insight into the daily lives of Alzheimer's patients, Harris (aging studies and sociology, John Carroll U.) presents an overview of the subjective experience of living with progressive memory loss. Relying primarily on interviews and surveys with patients, 14 chapters look at Alzheimer's patients' experience with medical institutions, daily living, and formal services. The focus throughout is on the maintenance of selfhood and quality of life. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
What People Are Saying
Nancy L. Mace
This book is essential reading for everyone providing care. It moves beyond negative stereotypes to explore the richness and complexity of personhood with dementia. (Nancy L. Mace, co-author of The 36-Hour Day)
Murna Downs
Drawing on contributions from researchers and clinicians who have gathered information from a wide variety of sources, this book presents the day-to-day experience of living with dementia in the words of the people themselves. The book's originality lies in the evidence it brings to bear on the active and able manner in which people with dementia live with the condition. There are no comparable books published in this area. This will be a key text in dementia studies. (Murna Downs, University of Bradford)
Nancy L. Mace
This book is essential reading for everyone providing care. It moves beyond negative stereotypes to explore the richness and complexity of personhood with dementia.
Murna Downs
Drawing on contributions from researchers and clinicians who have gathered information from a wide variety of sources, this book presents the day-to-day experience of living with dementia in the words of the people themselves. The book's originality lies in the evidence it brings to bear on the active and able manner in which people with dementia live with the condition. There are no comparable books published in this area. This will be a key text in dementia studies.
Rating
5 Stars! from Doody
Book review: Analyzing and Controlling Foodservice Costs or Merry Christmas from Kentucky
New Cancer Survivors: Living with Grace, Fighting with Spirit
Author: Natalie Davis Spingarn
Surviving with cancer, Natalie Davis Spingarn tells us, means seeing yourself differently and recognizing that others may see you differently. It means worrying more about work and money. It means facing your mortality. It means dealing with the medical system by learning how to be a good consumer of health services -- including making choices among different doctors, medical centers, and insurance plans.
Diagnosed with cancer in the early 1970s and now an independent writer specializing in health and social policy issues (particularly for the Washington Post), Spingarn uses her experiences as the basis for describing and critiquing what experts say about the emotional, physical, family, and practical issues involved. She helps others deal with such issues by relating her own experiences, good and bad, and offering practical encouragement to readers in similar situations.
Lively and empathetic, The New Cancer Survivors will appeal to persons with cancer who, thanks to modern medical science, are "hanging in there with illnesses that once evoked only submission or surrender" -- as well as to their families, friends, and caregivers. Throughout, the author shines a bright light on the cancer experience, providing good reason to be hopeful as well as insight into how to respond when things do not go so well. Because she has suffered recurrences, she can compare treatment in the seventies (week-long hospital stays, for example, and extensive surgery and chemotherapy) with treatment in the nineties ("drive-through" precision surgery, genetic testing, the incorporation of some "complementary" therapies into mainstream medicine) and weigh the differences. The New CancerSurvivors digs deep for the truth and serves it up with humor and attitude -- offering a wealth of information, comfort, and inspiration.
Praise for Natalie Davis Spingarn:
"Spingarn... gives encouragement to others in similar situations, drawing on and citing the wealth of literature dealing with various aspects of cancer to supplement her own observations." -- Library Journal
"Deals with many topics traditionally considered taboo in talking to those with life-threatening illness, including problems with money, work, friends, relatives, and erratic health insurance coverage." -- Boston Globe
"The most important ingredient of the Spingarn recipe for 'hanging in': A generous dash of hope seasoned with the self-discipline of making choices and a willingness to take risks." -- New York Daily News
"A Baedeker for cancer patients and their families." -- Washington Post
"Natalie Davis Spingarn's great talent is finding the most common denominator that is not the lowest common denominator. She offers herself to her fellow cancer survivors as a favorite aunt who will 'talk about it' when no one else will. Every cancer survivor, no matter how well informed already, will find information and affirmation in this book. Medical professionals who want to learn what their work looks like from the patient's perspective will find a mirror view in which they can improve their practices." -- Arthur W. Frank, University of Calgary, author of At the Will of Body: Reflections on Illness and The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics
Lisa A. Desjardins
This is the compilation of the experiences of the author and other survivors who have experienced the many life issues of living with cancer. Through a collection of personal experiences of cancer survivors, the author purports to address realistically the paramount issues for those who are living with a serious illness and those who are taking care of people with a serious illness. She discusses issues that the cancer survivor and their caregivers experience on a daily basis and how they have overcome their obstacles. She also offers insight to what the future may hold, and to help ease stress for those who are already going through their experience. The goal is worthy. The author offers education and hope, and assists the reader in finding peace and acceptance in what could be a tumultuous experience. This book is geared towards cancer survivors and their caregivers, but would be welcomed by all. The medical community, politicians, or anyone who wants to understand the experience of a human being living with cancer would benefit greatly from this work. A variety of issues faced by the cancer survivor are discussed -- family, personal, spiritual, and medical. The book is easily delivered and appealing to the audience as these issues are discussed from the author's personal experience, seasoned with medical research. Concluding the book is the appendix, in which the Cancer Survivors Bill of Rights is discussed and a detailed reference list is provided. This is a work that has significant value for all involved with the cancer survivor. The author offers hope, encouragement, wisdom, and insight during a time when people with cancer and their families need it most. I would offerthis book to my own patients and their families as a source of comfort, as they go through their cancer journey.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Lisa A. Desjardins, RN, MS, FNP-C (Mount Sinai Hospital)
Description: This is the compilation of the experiences of the author and other survivors who have experienced the many life issues of living with cancer.
Purpose: Through a collection of personal experiences of cancer survivors, the author purports to address realistically the paramount issues for those who are living with a serious illness and those who are taking care of people with a serious illness. She discusses issues that the cancer survivor and their caregivers experience on a daily basis and how they have overcome their obstacles. She also offers insight to what the future may hold, and to help ease stress for those who are already going through their experience. The goal is worthy. The author offers education and hope, and assists the reader in finding peace and acceptance in what could be a tumultuous experience.
Audience: This book is geared towards cancer survivors and their caregivers, but would be welcomed by all. The medical community, politicians, or anyone who wants to understand the experience of a human being living with cancer would benefit greatly from this work.
Features: A variety of issues faced by the cancer survivor are discussed:family, personal, spiritual, and medical. The book is easily delivered and appealing to the audience as these issues are discussed from the author's personal experience, seasoned with medical research. Concluding the book is the appendix, in which the Cancer Survivors Bill of Rights is discussed and a detailed reference list is provided.
Assessment: This is a work that has significant value for all involved with the cancer survivor. The author offers hope, encouragement, wisdom, and insight during a time when people with cancer and their families need it most. I would offer this book to my own patients and their families as a source of comfort, as they go through their cancer journey.
Booknews
Spingarn, a prize-winning writer on health care and social policy for the and other publications and a longtime leader in the cancer survivorship movement, uses her experience as the basis for describing and critiquing what experts say about the emotional, physical, family, and practical issues faced by cancer survivors. She helps others deal with such issues by relating her journey as a cancer survivor and offering encouragement. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Rating
2 Stars from Doody
Table of Contents:
| Preface | ||
| 1 | Hanging In There | 1 |
| 2 | The Bad News | 12 |
| 3 | Talking and Hoping | 27 |
| 4 | Being Sick: The Short Run | 46 |
| 5 | A New Subculture: The New Survivors | 63 |
| 6 | Tools and Crutches | 79 |
| 7 | Complementary and Alternative Therapies | 96 |
| 8 | Significant Others: A Part of the Main | 120 |
| 9 | The Media and the Message: Cancer as Metaphor | 141 |
| 10 | Work: The Passion of Labor | 160 |
| 11 | Money | 175 |
| 12 | The Big Picture: A Search for Meaning | 196 |
| App | The Cancer Survivors' Bill of Rights | 217 |
| Notes | 221 | |
| Index | 233 |
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