Telling Tales About Dementia: Experiences of Caring A Books on Prescription Title

How does it feel when someone you love develops dementia? How do you cope with the shock, the stress and the grief? Can you be sure that you and your family will receive the support you need? In "Telling Tales About Dementia", thirty carers from different backgrounds and in different circumstances share their experiences of caring for a parent, partner or friend with dementia. They speak from the heart about love and loss: 'I still find it hard to believe that Alzheimer's has happened to us', writes one contributor, 'as if we were sent the wrong script'. The stories told here vividly reflect the tragedy of dementia, the gravity of loss, and instances of unsatisfactory diagnosis, treatment and care. But they contain hope and optimism too: clear indications that the quality of people's lives can be enhanced by sensitive support services, by improved understanding of the impact of dementia, by recognising the importance of valuing us all as human beings, and by embracing and sustaining the connections between us. This unique collection of personal accounts will be an engaging read for anyone affected by dementia in a personal or professional context, including relatives of people with dementia, social workers, medical practitioners and carers. Telling Tales About Dementia: Experiences of Caring 5 Contents 9 Foreword 13 PREFACE 15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 16 Introduction 18 Living with Loss 29 1. A Big Enough Supply of Love 30 2. We Don’t Know What is Going Through her Mind 39 3. The Departing Light 44 4. Walking on Thin Ice 49 5. The Most Difficult Decision of my Life 56 6. We Learn to Enter her World 62 7. Half a World Away 69 8. Have You Seen my Pat? 76 9. Feisty Love 81 10. Glimpses of Glory on a Long, dark Road 84 11. Our Mum Had To Be the Man of the House 92 12. On the Contrary 97 13. Family Matters 107 14. Back and Forth 115 15. A Very Important Moustache 121 Despatches from the Battlefield 127 16. This Has Gone Beyond my Mother 128 17. Rage, Rage 135 18. Forever in my Thoughts 140 19. A Sister’s Story 143 20. Surely the World has changed 149 21. Look Back in Anger 156 22. Cracks in the System 159 23. Strained to the Limit 166 24. Break on Through to the Other Side 173 25. Rocking the Boat 175 26. The Significant Other 180 27. An Instruction Manual for Keeping your Mind 187 Keeping in Touch, Letting Go 191 28. When Words Fail 192 29. The End of the Story 196 30. State of Grace 205 GLOSSARY 213 RECOMMENDED READING 216 HELPFUL ORGANISATIONS 218 THE CONTRIBUTORS 221 WHAT IS FOR DEMENTIA? 225 9781843109419 How does it feel when someone you love develops dementia? How do you cope with the shock, the stress and the grief? Can you be sure that you and your family will receive the support you need? In Telling Tales About Dementia, thirty carers from different backgrounds and in different circumstances share their experiences of caring for a parent, partner or friend with dementia. They speak from the heart about love and loss:'I still find it hard to believe that Alzheimer's has happened to us,'writes one contributor,'as if we were sent the wrong script.'The stories told here vividly reflect the tragedy of dementia, the gravity of loss, and instances of unsatisfactory diagnosis, treatment and care. But they contain hope and optimism too: clear indications that the quality of people's lives can be enhanced by sensitive support services, by improved understanding of the impact of dementia, by recognising the importance of valuing us all as human beings, and by embracing and sustaining the connections between us. This unique collection of personal accounts will be an engaging read for anyone affected by dementia in a personal or professional context, including relatives of people with dementia, social workers, medical practitioners and care staff. "In Telling Tales about Dementia, thirty carers from different backgrounds and in different circumstances share their experiences of caring for a parent, partner or friend with dementia. They speak from the heart about love and loss: 'I still find it hard to believe that Alzheimer's has happened to us, ' writes one contributor, 'as if we were sent the wrong script.' The stories told here vividly reflect the tragedy of dementia, the gravity of loss, and instances of unsatisfactory diagnosis, treatment and care. But they contain hope and optimism too: clear indications that the quality of people's lives can be enhanced by sensitive care and support. This unique collection of personal accounts will be an engaging read for anyone affected by dementia in a personal or professional context, including relatives of people with dementia, social workers, medical practitioners and care staff." --Back cover