The Caregiver: A Life with Alzheimer´s
Aaron Alterra
Aaron and Stella Alterra had been married for more than sixty years when Aaron began to notice puzzling lapses in his wife's memory. Innocuous at first, they became more severe and more alarming. After a series of appointments and tests, the Alterras were informed that Stella was one of the more than 4.5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease.Combining medical research on the disease and often-painful anecdotes of memory loss, deteriorating motor functions, personality shifts, support-group and daycare experiences, and drug trials, Alterra chronicles his transformation from husband to caregiver after his wife's diagnosis.More than a chronology of one family's experience of Alzheimer's disease, The Caregiver is an intelligent, beautifully reflective testimony to how family members turned caregivers become the ultimate advocates for their loved ones in the face of a disease with no cure.
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About Aaron Alterra
Reviews for The Caregiver: A Life with Alzheimer´s
Kirkus Reviews
Alterra is the pseudonym of a prolific and award-winning short story writer and novelist.... Alterra's book will strike a chord with anyone who has a family member with Alzheimer's: the search for understanding, the hallucinations, mood changes, loss of mental and physical functioning, and unpredictable nature of the disease.
Library Journal
In this thoughtful and honest memoir, Alterra effectively impresses on the reader that the 'primary physician' is not the doctor but the caregiver who lives with the patient.
Publishers Weekly
The book is so well written that you might find yourself reading it as a story rather than as an autobiographical account. The book also shares a simple message: that carers are people too and that their lives are also significantly compromised and overshadowed by dementia. It is a powerful voice that deserves to be head-and a power book that deserve to be read.
Ageing and Society