The library will be closed on Thursday, June 19th, in observance of the Juneteenth Holiday. 

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When Your Parent Becomes Your Child

Ken Abraham

At first, Ken Abraham wrote off his mother's changes in behavior as quirks that just come with old age. There was memory loss, physical decline, hygiene issues, paranoia, and uncharacteristic attitudes. He soon realized that dementia had changed her life--and his familiy's--forever.

"How is it possible to lose a loved one while he or she is still living, still sitting right in front of you, talking with you, smiling at you--and yet the person you have known and loved for years is somehow gone"

According to the Alzheimer's Association, an estimated 5.4 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer's disease. That's one in eight older Americans. More than likely, that figure includes someone you know and love.

As he chronicles his own mother's degenerative condition, New York Times best-selling writer Ken Abraham educates while offering inspiration to help readers cope with and manage their family circumstances. With humor and spiritual reminders of God's command to honor our parents, Abraham encourages readers through often-difficult responsibilities. And though in most cases patients will not recover this side of heaven, he suggests many practical things that families can do to make the experience safer, kinder, and more endurable for everyone involved.

When Your parent Becomes Your Child tells the story of one family's journey through dementia while offering hope to family members and friends, that they might better understand the effects of the disease. Don't let this catch you by surprise--be informed before you face the challenges and difficulties of a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia. This book can help.

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The Things We Keep

Sally Hepworth

Anna Forster is only thirty-eight years old, but her mind is slowly slipping away from her. Armed only with her keen wit and sharp-eyed determination, she knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. But Anna has a secret: she does not plan on staying. She also knows there's just one another resident who is her age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, including her relationship with Luke.

Eve Bennett, suddenly thrust into the role of single mother to her bright and vivacious seven-year-old daugher, finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind house. When she meets Anna and Luke, she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna's and Luke's families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them. Eve has her own secrets, and her own desperate circumstances that raise the stakes even higher. 

With huge heart, humor, and a compassionate understanding of human nature, Sally Hepworth delivers a page-turning novel about the power of love to grow and endure even when faced with the most devastating of obstacles. You won’t forget The Things We Keep.

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In Love

Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease.

Forced to confront the truth of the diagnosis and its impact on the future he had envisioned, Brian was determined to die on his feet, not live on his knees. Supporting each other in their last journey together, Brian and Amy made the unimaginably difficult and painful decision to go to Dignitas, an organization based in Switzerland that empowers a person to end their own life with dignity and peace.

In this heartbreaking and surprising memoir, Bloom sheds light on a part of life we so often shy away from discussing—its ending. Written in Bloom’s captivating, insightful voice and with her trademark wit and candor, In Love is an unforgettable portrait of a beautiful marriage, and a boundary-defying love.

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Still Alice

Lisa Genova

STILL ALICE is a powerful and emotionally charged novel about a woman's descent into dementia through early-onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author and Harvard neuroscientist Lisa Genova. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, STILL ALICE captures in remarkable detail what it's like to literally lose your mind... Alice Howland is a 50-year-old cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics, with grown children and a satisfying marriage to an academic, when she starts to experience fleeting forgetfulness and disorientation. She initially attributes these episodes to normal aging or menopause. But as her symptoms worsen, she sees a neurologist and is given the diagnosis that will change her life forever: early-onset Alzheimer's disease. With no cure or treatment, Alice struggles to overcome her shock and find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her sense of self is gradually stripped away, leaving her unable to continue in her profession, take care of herself, recognise her loved ones or even understand that she has a neurodegenerative disease. Without memory or hope, Alice is forced to live in the moment, which is in turns maddening, beautiful and terrifying. Lisa Genova uses the successful, articulate and independent Alice as the perfect vehicle to capture what it feels like to literally lose your mind. This novel will touch and inspire you. You will admire Alice's strength and resourcefulness even as you cry over her losses. STILL ALICE is hopeful to the end and brings a new understanding for all those affected by this terrifying neurological disease, whilst celebrating love, family and the human mind.

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The 36-Hour Day

Nancy L. Mace

Originally published in 1981, The 36-Hour Day was the first book of its kind. Thirty years later, with dozens of other books on the market, it remains the definitive guide for people caring for someone with dementia. Now in a new and updated edition, this best-selling book features thoroughly revised chapters on the causes of dementia, managing the early stages of dementia, the prevention of dementia, and finding appropriate living arrangements for the person who has dementia when home care is no longer an option.

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Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia

Steven R. Sabat

Alzheimer's is swiftly on the rise: it is estimated that every 67 seconds, someone develops the disease. For many, the words "Alzheimer's disease" or "dementia" immediately denote severe mental loss and, perhaps, madness. Indeed, the vast majority of media coverage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia focuses primarily on the losses experienced by people diagnosed and the terrible burden felt by care partners yearning for a "magic bullet" drug cure.

Providing an accessible, question-and-answer-format primer on what touches so many lives, and yet so few of us understand, Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia: What Everyone Needs to Know contributes what is urgently missing from public knowledge: unsparing investigation of their causes and manifestations, and focus on the strengths possessed by people diagnosed. Steven R. Sabat mines a large body of research to convey the genetic and biological aspects of Alzheimer's disease, its clinical history, and, most significantly, to reveal the subjective experience of those with Alzheimer's or dementia. By clarifying the terms surrounding dementia and Alzheimer's, which are two distinct conditions, Sabat corrects dangerous misconceptions that plague our understanding of memory dysfunction and many other significant abilities that people with AD and dementia possess even in the moderate to severe stages. People diagnosed with AD retain awareness, thinking ability, and sense of self; crucially, Sabat demonstrates that there are ways to facilitate communication even when the person with AD has great difficulty finding the words he or she wants to use. From years spent exploring and observing the points of view and experiences of people diagnosed, Sabat strives to inform as well as to remind readers of the respect and empathy owed to those diagnosed and living with dementia.

Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia conveys this type of information and more, which, when applied by family and professional caregivers, will help improve the quality of life of those diagnosed as well as of those who provide support and care.
 

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Alzheimer's Disease

Elaine Landau

With President Ronald Reagen's recent announcement of his suffering Alzheimer's Disease, the nation's awareness of the far-reaching nature of the illness was raised. In clear and compelling prose, Landau examines the possible causes, the social effects, and the personal trials of this disease that touches us all.

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Oh, Hello Alzheimer's

Lisa Marshall

In Oh Hello Alzheimer's, author Lisa Marshall takes us on a journey of diagnosis with her beloved husband, Peter. Starting with the heart of their romance, to the early unsettling signs something is amiss, to the devastating diagnosis, and into the life beyond the moment everything changes. 

This book is everything a caregiver for a loved one with Alzheimer's needs. There is much to be said about the practical advice that Lisa offers: navigating the tangled world of American healthcare systems, finding tricks and strategies to support the patient at home, moving through to higher levels of care, and much more.

These things are invaluable. But what really shines through and captivates the reader is Lisa's love for Peter, her skillful storytelling, and her passion for making his life all it could be, then sharing that with others.

We can sit in the cold hard chairs of a medical exam room and hear all the things one must know about a diagnosis, or research late into the night, but nothing compares to the loving embrace of someone who understands the diagnosis on a personal and lived level can offer you.

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The Alzheimer's Prevention Program

Gary Small

Want to keep Alzheimer's at bay for years--ideally, forever? Prevention is the way, and this is the guide. Now in paperback and updated throughout, The Alzheimer's Prevention Program is essential for everyone with a family history of Alzheimer's, and for the 80 million baby boomers who worry whenever they forget someone's name. It's the book that shows how to strengthen memory and avoid everyday lapses. How to incorporate the top ten brain-protecting foods into your diet. How to cross-train your brain, exercising both the right and left hemisphere. And how to reduce stress, a risk factor for developing dementia and Alzheimer's, through meditation and 11 other relaxation strategies.

Written by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Memory Bible, this book is an easy-to-follow regimen based on the latest comprehensive research into Alzheimer's disease, and especially the critical connection between lifestyle and susceptibility. The paperback edition is updated with a brand-new section that answers the most compelling questions asked of Dr. Small after publication of the first edition, including: the power of exercise to offset a genetic predisposition; antibodies that can clear Alzheimer's plaques from the brain; and promising new treatments, from drugs to deep brain stimulation.

It's the science-based, breakthrough program that will bring mental clarity to every day and help you take control of your brain's health.

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A Look Inside Alzheimer's

Marjorie N. Allen

A Look Inside Alzheimer's is a captivating read for friends, families and loved ones affected by this mind-robbing disease. Individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's disease will take comfort in the voice of a fellow traveler experiencing similar challenges, frustrations, and triumphs. Family and professional caregivers will be enlightened by this book and gain a better understanding of this unfathomable world and how best to care for someone living in it.

Susan and PJ, share their accounts of their own transformation and deterioration with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease and Marjorie shares her perspective as the wife of a person living with Alzheimer's Disease. The book addresses the complexity and emotions surrounding issues such as the loss of independence, unwanted personality shifts, struggle to communicate, and more. The three life-stories intertwined along with boxed quotes from professionals in the field make this book special.

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Losing My Mind

Thomas DeBaggio

When Tom DeBaggio turned fifty-seven in 1999, he thought he was about to embark on the relaxing golden years of retirement -- time to spend with his family, his friends, the herb garden he had spent decades cultivating and from which he made a living. Then, one winter day, he mentioned to his doctor during a routine exam that he had been stumbling into forgetfulness, making his work difficult. After that fateful visit, and a subsequent battery of tests over several months, DeBaggio joined the legion of twelve million others afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. But under such a curse, DeBaggio was also given one of the greatest gifts: the ability to chart the ups and downs of his own failing mind.

Losing My Mind is an extraordinary first-person account of early onset Alzheimer's -- the form of the disease that ravages younger, more alert minds. DeBaggio started writing on the first day of his diagnosis and has continued despite his slipping grasp on one of life's greatest treasures, memory. In an inspiring and detailed account, DeBaggio paints a vivid picture of the splendor of memory and the pain that comes from its loss. Whether describing the happy days of a youth spent in a much more innocent time or evaluating how his disease has affected those around him, DeBaggio poignantly depicts one of the most important parts of our lives -- remembrance -- and how we often take it for granted.

But to DeBaggio, memory is more than just an account of a time long past, it is one's ability to function, to think, and ultimately, to survive. As his life becomes reduced to moments of clarity, the true power of thought and his ability to connect to the world shine through, and in DeBaggio's case, it is as much in the lack of functioning as it is in the ability to function that one finds love, hope and the relaxing golden years of peace. At once an autobiography, a medical history and a testament to the beauty of memory, Losing My Mind is more than just a story of Alzheimer's, it is the captivating tale of one man's battle to stay connected with the world and his own life.

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The Alzheimer's Prevention Cookbook

Dr. Marwan Sabbagh

A full-color cookbook and health guide featuring 100 recipes designed to reduce the risk and delay the onset of Alzheimer's, dementia, and memory loss, for people with a family history of these conditions or those already in the early stages, and their caregivers.

Strong medical evidence suggests that simple changes and additions to your diet can reduce the risk or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia and memory loss.

In The Alzheimer’s Prevention Cookbook, Dr. Marwan Sabbagh outlines the latest evidence-based research on Alzheimer’s and nutrition, and presents a dietary plan with nearly 100 recipes to enhance your health. Incorporating high-powered brain-boosting ingredients like turmeric, cinnamon, leafy greens, and even red wine, the recipes developed by Food Network star chef Beau MacMillan are also full of antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and omega-3s.

The Alzheimer’s Prevention Cookbook is a science-to-table plan that can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, and its strategies and recipes—from sandwiches to salads and beverages to main dishes—can also diminish your chances of developing other inflammatory illnesses like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. This combination cookbook and health guide is a powerful, proactive, and preventive approach to achieving optimum brain health.

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Are the Keys in the Freezer?

Patricia Woodell

Are the Keys in the Freezer?--An Advocate's Guide For Alzheimer's and Other Dementias is an artful blend of practical consumer advice and a compelling story of a family's search for answers as it grapples with their mother's descent into dementia. This well-researched book is a must-read for families looking for resources and ideas about care facilities, hospice, finances and costs of care, advance directives, and other topics about managing the affairs of the elderly. A story of conflict and of light-hearted moments, Are the Keys in the Freezer? is the rich personal testimony of a family's struggle to navigate the confusing world of dementia care choices for their mother. The book is an insider's guide to unraveling medical, legal, and regulatory issues that affect the quality of care for loved ones who cannot make care decisions for themselves. The book's easy, conversational tone turns complex issues into everyday language, making it an easy read for newcomers to the world of caring for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias.

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Slow Dancing with a Stranger

Meryl Comer

Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist and leading Alzheimer’s advocate Meryl Comer’s Slow Dancing With a Stranger is a profoundly personal, unflinching account of her husband’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease that serves as a much-needed wake-up call to better understand and address a progressive and deadly affliction.

When Meryl Comer’s husband Harvey Gralnick was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 1996, she watched as the man who headed hematology and oncology research at the National Institutes of Health started to misplace important documents and forget clinical details that had once been cataloged encyclopedically in his mind. With harrowing honesty, she brings readers face to face with this devastating condition and its effects on its victims and those who care for them. Detailing the daily realities and overwhelming responsibilities of caregiving, Comer sheds intensive light on this national health crisis, using her personal experiences—the mistakes and the breakthroughs—to put a face to a misunderstood disease, while revealing the facts everyone needs to know.

Pragmatic and relentless, Meryl has dedicated herself to fighting Alzheimer’s and raising public awareness. “Nothing I do is really about me; it’s all about making sure no one ends up like me,” she writes. Deeply personal and illuminating, Slow Dancing With a Stranger offers insight and guidance for navigating Alzheimer’s challenges. It is also an urgent call to action for intensive research and a warning that we must prepare for the future, instead of being controlled by a disease and a healthcare system unable to fight it.

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Calmer Waters

Barbra Cohn

After spending a decade caring for her husband who died from younger-onset Alzheimer's disease, Barbra Cohn offers a spiritual and holistic guide to help caregivers feel happier and healthier, have more energy and time for themselves, sleep better, feel more relaxed and confident, and experience inner peace, despite the obstacles they face.

With pathos, humor and compassion, Calmer Waters includes the author's compelling life story, inspirational essays and rituals from spiritual leaders, stories from family caregivers and twenty healing modalities from renowned experts that can be practically incorporated into a daily regimen. An added bonus is that both care partners - the caregiver and memory-impaired individual - can use most of the healing modalities, allowing for a stronger connection between the two.

Riveting personal accounts of the journeys that caregivers embarked on with their loved ones illustrate the challenging medical, financial, emotional and social roadblocks that accompany coping with Alzheimer's and Dementia. A rare blend of storytelling and practical and spiritual advice, this book offers an uplifting account of the strength of the human spirit, and a testament to the love and dedication of the 15 million Americans caring for a memory-impaired relative or friend.

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Before I Forget

Barbara Smith

Restaurateur, magazine publisher, celebrity chef, and nationally known lifestyle maven, B. Smith is struggling at 66 with a tag she never expected to add to that string: Alzheimer's patient. She's not alone. Every 67 seconds someone newly develops it, and millions of lives are affected by its aftershocks.

B. and her husband, Dan, working with Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson, unstintingly share their unfolding story. Crafted in short chapters that interweave their narrative with practical and helpful advice, readers learn about dealing with Alzheimer's day-to-day challenges: the family realities and tensions, ways of coping, coming research that may tip the scale, as well as lessons learned along the way.

At its heart, Before I Forget is a love story: illuminating a love of family, life, and hope.

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In Pursuit of Memory

Joseph Jebelli

Alzheimer's is the great global epidemic of our time, affecting millions worldwide -- there are more than 5 million people diagnosed in the US alone. And as our population ages, scientists are working against the clock to find a cure.

Neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli is among them. His beloved grandfather had Alzheimer's and now he's written the book he needed then -- a very human history of this frightening disease. But In Pursuit of Memory is also a thrilling scientific detective story that takes you behind the headlines. Jebelli's quest takes us from nineteenth-century Germany and post-war England, to the jungles of Papua New Guinea and the technological proving grounds of Japan; through America, India, China, Iceland, Sweden, and Colombia. Its heroes are scientists from around the world -- many of whom he's worked with -- and the brave patients and families who have changed the way that researchers think about the disease.

This compelling insider's account shows vividly why Jebelli feels so hopeful about a cure, but also why our best defense in the meantime is to understand the disease. In Pursuit of Memory is a clever, moving, eye-opening guide to the threat one in three of us faces now.

 

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How to Forget

Kate Mulgrew

In this profoundly honest and examined memoir about returning to Iowa to care for her ailing parents, the star of Orange Is the New Black and bestselling author of Born with Teeth takes us on an unexpected journey of loss, betrayal, and the transcendent nature of a daughter’s love for her parents.

They say you can’t go home again. But when her father is diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer and her mother with atypical Alzheimer’s, New York-based actress Kate Mulgrew returns to her hometown in Iowa to spend time with her parents and care for them in the time they have left.

The months Kate spends with her parents in Dubuque—by turns turbulent, tragic, and joyful—lead her to reflect on each of their lives and how they shaped her own. Those ruminations are transformed when, in the wake of their deaths, Kate uncovers long-kept secrets that challenge her understanding of the unconventional Irish Catholic household in which she was raised.

Breathtaking and powerful, laced with the author’s irreverent wit, How to Forget is a considered portrait of a mother and a father, an emotionally powerful memoir that demonstrates how love fuses children and parents, and an honest examination of family, memory, and indelible loss.

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Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias

Jonathon Graff-Radford

Traditionally, very little has been known about Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementias. But recent advances in medical research shine a light on information previously unknown about these debilitating diseases.

In the seventh edition of Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, expert neurologists from the Mayo Clinic organize this new research into a thorough and digestible guidebook that provides caregivers with the most up-to-date information regarding the disease. The book presents a comprehensive look at the typical symptoms associated with dementia, current findings regarding common causes of the disease, and gives essential tips for managing the day-to-day challenges of caring for someone with dementia.

While Alzheimer’s disease is the most well-known type of dementia, Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias also touches on other types of dementia—like Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal degeneration, and vascular cognitive impairment—and how these conditions are frequently developed.

Additionally, this book provides a transparent look at the neurological changes that can occur within a dementia patient’s brain, and details how to differentiate between the signs of normal aging versus aging with dementia.
Though dementia-related diseases are one of the fastest-growing epidemics in the world, Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias provides an invaluable reference guide on dementia, helping bring peace of mind to those affected by the disease and their caretakers.

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The Problem of Alzheimer's

Jason Karlawish

In 2020, an estimated 5.8 million Americans had Alzheimer’s, and more than half a million died because of the disease and its devastating complications. 16 million caregivers are responsible for paying as much as half of the $226 billion annual costs of their care. As more people live beyond their seventies and eighties, the number of patients will rise to an estimated 13.8 million by 2050.

Part case studies, part meditation on the past, present and future of the disease, The Problem of Alzheimer's traces Alzheimer’s from its beginnings to its recognition as a crisis. While it is an unambiguous account of decades of missed opportunities and our health care systems’ failures to take action, it tells the story of the biomedical breakthroughs that may allow Alzheimer’s to finally be prevented and treated by medicine and also presents an argument for how we can live with dementia: the ways patients can reclaim their autonomy and redefine their sense of self, how families can support their loved ones, and the innovative reforms we can make as a society that would give caregivers and patients better quality of life.

Rich in science, history, and characters, The Problem of Alzheimer's takes us inside laboratories, patients' homes, caregivers’ support groups, progressive care communities, and Jason Karlawish's own practice at the Penn Memory Center.

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Floating in the Deep End

Patti Davis

With the heartfelt prose of a loving daughter, Patti Davis provides a life raft for the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients.

 

For the decade of my father’s illness, I felt as if I was floating in the deep end, tossed by waves, carried by currents, but not drowning,” writes Patti Davis in this searingly honest and deeply moving account of the challenges involved in taking care of someone stricken with Alzheimer’s.

 

When her father, the fortieth president of the United States, announced his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in an address to the American public in 1994, the world had not yet begun speaking about this cruel, mysterious disease. Yet overnight, Ronald Reagan and his immediate family became the face of Alzheimer’s, and Davis, once content to keep her family at arm’s length, quickly moved across the country to be present during “the journey that would take [him] into the sunset of [his] life.”

Empowered by all she learned from caring for her father—about the nature of the illness, but also about the loss of a parent—Davis founded a support group for the family members and friends of Alzheimer’s patients. Along with a medically trained cofacilitator, she met with hundreds of exhausted and devastated attendees to talk through their pain and confusion. While Davis was aware that her own circumstances were uniquely fortunate, she knew there were universal truths about dementia, and even surprising gifts to be found in a long goodbye.

With Floating in the Deep End, Davis draws on a welter of experiences to provide a singular account of battling Alzheimer’s. Eloquently woven with personal anecdotes and helpful advice tailored specifically for the overlooked caregiver, this essential guide covers every potential stage of the disease from the initial diagnosis through the ultimate passing and beyond. Including such tips as how to keep a loved one hygienic, and careful responses for when they drift to a time gone by, Davis always stresses the emotional milestones that come with slow-burning grief.

Along the way, Davis shares how her own fractured family came together. With unflinching candor, she recalls when her mother, Nancy, who for decades could not show her children compassion or vulnerability, suddenly broke down in her arms. Davis also offers tender moments in which her father, a fabled movie star whom she always longed to know better, revealed his true self—always kind, even when he couldn’t recognize his own daughter.

 

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Living in the Moment

Elizabeth Landsverk, MD

A loved one’s dementia diagnosis can leave you feeling scared and overwhelmed. But you are not alone. Dr. Elizabeth Landsverk, founder of ElderConsult Geriatric Medicine, has led thousands of patients through a brain disease diagnosis, equipping them with knowledge, tools, and support to help them live happy and engaged lives. She shares her expertise in this practical reference that offers helpful explanations, advice, and guidance through an often confusing and challenging new landscape.

Dr. Landsverk’s advice covers understanding the disease itself to managing a patient’s aggression and paranoia, from protecting against elder abuse to creating a long-range plan for patients and caregivers that includes home care, assisted living, and hospice care. LIVING IN THE MOMENT promises a plan that will minimize medication, treat pain, and relieve agitation, without falling back on standard medical approaches.

Here is everything you need to know about caring for your loved one and making his or her life the best possible, starting now. You’ll learn:

* How to recognize the earliest dementia changes

  • How to create a plan of action for today—and tomorrow—that will help to manage this new normal
  • Innovative new activities, and holistic interventions that can slow the progression of dementia
  • Comprehensive information on both prescription and OTC medications that can help or hurt dementia patients
  • Dealing with day-to-day challenges, from staying mobile to overcoming agitation and aggression without resorting to sedation
  • A guide to understanding powerful medications that are often prescribed, and do not work
  • How to relieve pain and calm agitation – without sedation or drugs
  • How to keep your vulnerable loved one safe and secure—both physically and financially
  • How and where to get help, including online support groups, home health care agencies, care managers, neuropsychologists, communities and day programs for people with dementia, and government agencies
  • Tips on keeping your loved one at home versus placement

Dr. Landsverk demystifies the ins and outs of dementia, explaining what it is and what it’s not, making sure you and your loved one will be ready to address whatever develops and maintain quality of life. Uniquely, Living in the Moment will transform how you think about dementia, providing comfort and support for the best life possible—at any stage.

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Silver Alert

Lee Smith

Herb has a secret: he's not quite the man he once was. And when his children learn of this, they decide it is time to move him and his wife, Susan, who is slipping into early Alzheimer's herself out of their Key West home and into assisted living. But curmudgeonly Herb—annoyed with his kids and unsettled by the ever-changing world—is not going quietly.
He has one trusted friend, a young woman named Renee who has been helping to care for Susan. But Renee, too, is guarding secrets of her own, trying to start over after a truncated childhood where she had to abandon her dreams and her talents, and disappointed by a boyfriend who refuses to commit.
Together, Herb and Renee—who is really Dee Dee—take off on one last joyride up the Florida Keys, setting off a Silver Alert, and, ultimately, setting up a moment where Dee Dee can come into her own.
What life do we deserve? And how do we make it our own? In this funny, heartwarming novel, Silver Alert shows us how sometimes, you just have to seize the narrative.
 

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Angels Walking

Karen Kingsbury

When former national baseball star Tyler Ames suffers a career-ending injury, all he can think about is putting his life back together the way it was before. He has lost everyone he loves on his way to the big leagues. Then just when things seem to be turning around, Tyler hits rock bottom. Across the country, Tyler’s one true love Sami Dawson has moved on.

A series of small miracles leads Tyler to a maintenance job at a retirement home and a friendship with Virginia Hutcheson, an old woman with Alzheimer’s who strangely might have the answers he so desperately seeks.

A team of Angels Walking take on the mission to restore hope for Tyler, Sami, and Virginia. Can such small and seemingly insignificant actions of the unseen bring healing and redemption? And can the words of a stranger rekindle lost love? Every journey begins with a step.

It is time for the mission to begin…

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The Couple at Number 9

Claire Douglas

A heart-pounding psychological thriller about a couple who inherit what seems to be their dream home, until they make a horrifying discovery--and the danger begins.

The Victims . . .

When pregnant Saffron Cutler moves into 9 Skelton Place with boyfriend Tom and sets about renovations, the last thing she expects is builders uncovering human remains. The remains of two bodies, in fact.

The Investigation . . .

Forensics indicate the bodies have been buried at least thirty years. Saffy has nothing to worry about--until the police launch a murder inquiry and ask to speak to the cottage's former owner. Her grandmother, Rose.

The Witness . . .

Rose is in a nursing home and Alzheimer's means her memory is increasingly confused. She can't help the police, but its' clear she remembers something.

The Killer . . .

As Rose's fragmented memories resurface, and the police dig ever deeper, Saffy fears she and the cottage are being watched.

The Truth . . .

What happened thirty years ago? Why did no one miss the victims? What part did her grandmother play? And is Saffy now in danger?

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The Removed

Brandon Hobson

Steeped in Cherokee myths and history, a novel about a fractured family reckoning with the tragic death of their son long ago--from National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson

In the fifteen years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family has been suspended in private grief. The mother, Maria, increasingly struggles to manage the onset of Alzheimer's in her husband, Ernest. Their adult daughter, Sonja, leads a life of solitude, punctuated only by spells of dizzying romantic obsession. And their son, Edgar, fled home long ago, turning to drugs to mute his feelings of alienation.

With the family's annual bonfire approaching--an occasion marking both the Cherokee National Holiday and Ray-Ray's death, and a rare moment in which they openly talk about his memory--Maria attempts to call the family together from their physical and emotional distances once more. But as the bonfire draws near, each of them feels a strange blurring of the boundary between normal life and the spirit world. Maria and Ernest take in a foster child who seems to almost miraculously keep Ernest's mental fog at bay. Sonja becomes dangerously fixated on a man named Vin, despite--or perhaps because of--his ties to tragedy in her lifetime and lifetimes before. And in the wake of a suicide attempt, Edgar finds himself in the mysterious Darkening Land: a place between the living and the dead, where old atrocities echo.

Drawing deeply on Cherokee folklore, The Removed seamlessly blends the real and spiritual to excavate the deep reverberations of trauma--a meditation on family, grief, home, and the power of stories on both a personal and ancestral level.

 

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The Stone Wall

Beverly Lewis

Anna is eager to begin a new chapter in her life as a Lancaster County tour guide in the picturesque area where her Plain grandmother once stayed. Anna wishes she could talk with her grandmother about those long-ago days, but the elderly woman suffers from Alzheimer's, and beyond a vague hint about an old stone wall, much about that time is a mystery. Thankfully, Martin Nolt, a handsome Mennonite, takes the young Beachy Amish woman under his wing for her training, familiarizing her with the many local highlights, including Peaceful Meadows Horse Retreat, which serves children with special needs. The retreat's mission so inspires Anna that she returns to volunteer, and she quickly strikes up a friendship with Gabe Allgyer, the young Amish widower who manages it.

As Anna grows closer to both Martin and Gabe, she finds herself faced with a difficult choice--one in potential conflict with the expectations of her parents. Will Anna find true love and the truth about her grandmother's past in Lancaster County? Or will she find only heartbreak?

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