Customer Reviews

In Sickness and in Health

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"Laced with anger, grief and love, this nonagenarian's painful tale of loss and survival makes clear the heavy burden that Alzheimer's places on both patient and family. Shortly after retired college professor Grubbs (political science at Georgia State University) and his wife Bess celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1977, he noticed the first symptoms of her dementia. Gradually, Bess lost her memory, her self-control, her ability to read, converse and think. Writing became one of Grubb's coping techniques, and he began recording his difficult experiences as an elderly husband and caregiver. For the first eight years, he managed alone, until discovering ACTO (Alzheimer's Caregivers Time Out), a volunteer day-care center that took Bess for four hours a week. Bess spent the last four years of her life in nursing homes, years that her husband describes as filled with "disappointment, frustration, helplessness, and grief." Grubbs argues convincingly for a new model of care to meet the needs of Alzheimer's patients and their families and better training for doctors to make them more aware of Alzheimer's effects on both patient and caregiver. In unadorned prose, Grubbs lucidly traces his path through these anguishing years, his compassion lending a moving, human dimension to his account."-

As the happiness and joy of a life's companionship were ruthlessly snatched away by this terrible disease, I cried, I ached, I raged...the author met his challenge with humor, pathos and a willingness to allow the reader into his agony.

The reader will come away filled with admiration for the author, and determination to find solutions to ease the stress of caregiving