Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's: One Daughter's Hopeful Story by Lauren

Description: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's by Lauren Kessler A compelling, clear-eyed, and emotionally resonant narrative, this work offers a new optimistic look at what the disease can teach, and offers a much-needed tonic for those faced with providing care for someone they love. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "An excellent book…an emotional and ruminative anchor...She leaves her readers with hope."-- San Francisco ChronicleOne journalists riveting and surprisingly hopeful in-the-trenches view of Alzheimers Nearly five million people in the United States are living with Alzheimers. Like many children of Alzheimers sufferers, Lauren Kessler, an accomplished journalist, was devastated by the disease that seemed to erase her mothers identity even before claiming her life. But suppose people with Alzheimers are not slates wiped blank. Suppose they experience friendship and loss, romance and jealousy, joy and sorrow? To better understand this debilitating condition, Kessler enlists as a bottom-of-the-rung caregiver at an Alzheimers facility and learns lessons that challenge what we think we know about the disease. A compelling, clear-eyed, and emotionally resonant narrative, Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers offers a new optimistic look at what the disease can teach us and a much-needed tonic for those faced with providing care for someone they love.Previously published as Dancing With Rose. Author Biography Lauren Kessler is the author of six works of narrative nonfiction, including Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts, and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker, the Washington Post bestseller Clever Girl, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Happy Bottom Riding Club. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, O magazine, and The Nation. She directs the graduate program in literary nonfiction at the University of Oregon and lives in Eugene, Oregon. Review "A miracle of caring…Lauren Kessler manages to humanize the victims and shine a clear, compassionate light on those who struggle to care for them. Anyone affected by the disease has to read this book." --Barbara Ehrenreich"Heartening and thought-provoking…Kessslers feelings as a daughter and her experiences as a caregiver add up to a touching read, and the book offers some unusual ways to think about living and dying with the disease." --The Seattle Times"…a magnificient book. I read it mornings and evenings on the train, Kleenex in hand, weeping. But laughing too. I have to thank you for really opening my eyes to the humanity of a group of people I would for"---Deborah Way, O (Oprah) magazineProfound… Kessler learns that rather than stripping humanity away, dementia lays it bare"--Chicago Tribune"This is the true brilliance of Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers. It upends our assumptions and forces us to ask: What do I have to hold on to? Who would I be if my memories were stripped away? What is my essence?" --Los Angeles Times"…turns our assumptions on their heads."--Baltimore Sun"…an excellent book…an emotional and ruminative anchor...She leaves her readers with hope."--San Francisco Chronicle"Revealing…tender…a riveting view into the world of people living with Alzheimers." --Portland Oregonian"…a gifted writer. Warm, uplifting, even hopeful…this book [is] a refreshing standout."-AARP magazine"Excellent… a powerful lesson in the humanity of those we often see as tragically bereft of that quality." --Publishers Weekly Review Quote Heartening and thought-provoking. . . . Kessler deftly marries research with hands-on experiences. Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide Note to Readers: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers: One Daughters Hopeful Story was originally released in hardcover, audiobook, and eBook as Dancing With Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers . INTRODUCTION Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers is a perfect title for a book as incongruously absorbing, as surprisingly lively and enlivening, as this one. Even though Alzheimers afflicts more than five million people in America, most of us have only a vague idea of what it is to actually live with the disease. Lauren Kessler writes: "Theres so much research about the medical aspects of Alzheimers, the decoding of the disease, the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the push to diagnose early, the race to develop drugs to cure it or at least mitigate the symptoms. But there is little research, almost no attention given, to the experience of the disease, what day-to-day life is like for someone with Alzheimers" (p. 63). This book represents a major step toward correcting that imbalance, taking readers inside an Alzheimers facility and offering an intimate sense of what daily life is like for those who suffer from Alzheimers. Motivated by a desire to learn more about the disease and to atone for her failures in caring for her own Alzheimers-stricken mother, Kessler takes a job as an entry-level caregiver at Maplewood. She quickly discovers that it is an almost impossibly challenging job, both physically and emotionally--feeding, washing, lifting, toileting, calming, and comforting the many residents--and that the caregivers who do it are both underpaid and overworked. Most last only a few months, some only a few days. What Kessler also discovers is that those who suffer from Alzheimers, while they may have lost much of their memory and other cognitive faculties, have not lost their humanity. While not sentimentalizing the residents, or ignoring how difficult they can be, Kessler nevertheless sees them, and introduces them to readers, on their own terms--not as shadows of their former selves or as zombielike victims of illness--but as individuals going through an important stage in their lives. There is the dapper but diaper-wearing ninety-year-old Hayes, who alternates between incessant calls for help and witty one-liners. When Kessler introduces herself to Hayes by asking "How do you do, Hayes?" he responds: "I do as I please" (p. 24). There is Eloise, far gone into dementia, for whom Kessler nevertheless feels a deep connection and who becomes Kesslers adoptive mother. And there is Marianne, a highly educated career woman who has convinced herself that she is either a professional on vacation or a still-working administrator. With her, Kessler employs validation therapy, participating in rather than challenging Mariannes fictional world. Doing so, Kessler feels, keeps the channels of communication open. "You are not only respecting the dignity of the other person. You are actually being forced to consider that a person with Alzheimers might be doing important life work right in front of you" (p. 89). This feeling of respect for the dignity and individuality of each resident at Maplewood suffuses the entire book. There are many moments of grace and humor and deep compassion in Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers . There are also moments of frustration, pain, loss, delusion, fear, and exhaustion, and these are rendered as honestly and carefully as are the experiences of joy and connection. Kessler gives us the whole picture of Alzheimers, shattering any number of myths--about those who have the disease, their families, and those who care for them at facilities like Maplewood--along the way and replacing those misconceptions with all the depth, immediacy, and wisdom of lived experience. ABOUT LAUREN KESSLER Lauren Kessler is the author of five works of narrative nonfiction. Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers (published in hardcover as Dancing with Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers ) was named one of the best books of 2007 by Library Journal , won the Pacific Northwest Book Award, was a BookSense alternate selection, and was excerpted in O, The Oprah Magazine . Her other books include The Washington Post bestseller Clever Girl and the Lo s Angeles Times bestseller The Happy Bottom Riding Club . Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; Los Angeles Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Utne Reader ; and The Nation . She directs the graduate program in literary nonfiction at the University of Oregon and lives in Eugene, Oregon. A CONVERSATION WITH LAUREN KESSLER Q. How have readers responded to Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers ? Have you received a lot of letters/e-mails from caregivers, family members, elder-care administrators? Do you have a sense that the book is having an impact? The response has been overwhelming--hundreds and hundreds of e-mails and letters from nurses, hospice workers, health-care professionals, facility administrators, elder-care advocates, and the grandchildren, children, spouses, and friends of those who suffer from Alzheimers. I cant tell you how gratifying it has been to see the book making its way in the world and making a difference in peoples lives. Many people write that the book has helped them see the disease in a new way and helped them connect with those who have it. This is not something I was able to do when the disease hit close to home, with my own mother, so helping people be wiser and more compassionate than I was able to be at the time has meant a great deal to me. Q. What was your writing process like for Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimers ? Did you keep a journal while you were working at Maplewood or did you do most of the writing after you left the job? As a writer of narrative nonfiction it is vital to me for my work to truly be nonfiction--which means no fabrication, no fudging. All of the scenes I capture in the book, all of the action and dialogue really happened and happened just as I wrote them. I was able to do this because I kept a reporters notebook with me at all times (in the pocket of my work apron next to my stash of latex gloves) and took notes whenever I could steal a second--during my breaks, during lunch, during any lull in activity or when the people I cared for were involved in an activity that did not involve me, like an exercise class or a sing-along. At the end of my more than four months of work, I had filled two dozen reporters notebooks. These notes--as well as background research, interviews, and other material--became the book. Q. Are there any special challenges or advantages in writing about a subject that is intensely personal and has a broad social significance as well? I wanted to use the "small story"--my experiences as a caregiver in the Alzheimers facility and my experiences as the daughter of a woman with the disease--to illuminate the larger issues around aging, around how we think about disease and death, and, most especially, how we approach the question of who we are when we no longer remember who we are. I think that using personal experience is the way to do this, to make a deep emotional connection with readers while also exploring broader issues. I loved writing about my work at the Alzheimers facility because of how surprisingly vibrant and quirky the people I cared for were and how calm and compassionate my fellow workers were. There was drama every day. There were lessons to be learned every day. It was a privilege to be part of that world. It was much, much harder to write about my own mother and the difficult relationship we had. But it was part of the story. It was the reason the book was written, the reason I took the job . . . so it had to be part of the project. Q. Are you more at peace with your mother, and your experience of trying to care for her, after writing this book? At peace, not exactly. But that experience led to my taking a job as a caregiver which led to the book. And the book has helped other daughters do what I couldnt do at the time, to connect with and spend quality time with their ailing mothers. So I am glad to have spun a little gold from that straw. Q. You list many of the problems that we as individuals and as a society face in dealing with Alzheimers: understaffing, undertraining, low pay, and high caregiver turnover at elder-care facilities; undervaluing the elderly; fear of aging; and fear of death. Do you see progress happening in any of these areas? I see a growth of what is called "person-centered care," which looks at people as individuals not walking diseases. I see the design and construction of better environments for those with Alzheimers. I see the continued hard work of advocates and ombudsmen to improve care for the elderly. But I also see a culture obsessed with youth and terrified of aging. I see a culture that somehow doesnt believe that death is part of the "great circle of life." Huh? As long these values persist, and as long as elder care is a mostly for-profit industry and Americans do not have guaranteed health care, I am not sure we will make much meaningful progress as a society. As individuals, though, we can make meaningful progress if we learn to look at people with Alzheimers--or any aging or ailing person--for who they are rather than who they no longer can be. Q. What changes would you like to see in the ways Alzheimers sufferers are both perceived and cared for? I would like people to see the humanity and individuality of those who have Alzheimers. I would like people to understand that we humans are more than th Details ISBN0143113682 Author Lauren Kessler Short Title FINDING LIFE IN THE LAND O Language English ISBN-10 0143113682 ISBN-13 9780143113683 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY 362.196 Year 2008 Residence Eugene, OR, US Affiliation University of Oregon, Eugene Subtitle One Daughters Hopeful Story DOI 10.1604/9780143113683 Place of Publication New York, NY Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2008-05-27 NZ Release Date 2008-05-27 US Release Date 2008-05-27 UK Release Date 2008-05-27 Pages 272 Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc Publication Date 2008-05-27 Imprint Penguin USA Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:16885304;

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