Mother of God, am I glad to be done with this book. I know that sounds like it was terrible, but it was, in fact, the opposite, of which I am truly astonished. There was actually positivity and joy in this book. I think that is a very rare find in the world of Alzheimer's and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who knows a person with this disease, or who has in the past. I wish I would have had this information when my grandma was still alive. That being said, it was such a struggle for me to get through. Not because it's a hard read, just because of my own shit. Here are a few things I liked:

"There's intriguing new evidence that marijuana (TCH, that is) and red wine might inhibit the progress of the disease." Drink up! Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

"Now I know this sounds way out there," he told me, "but look at it this way: Alzheimer's is a detaching disease. It detaches people from their memories, their selves. We can look at that as tragic and awful, or we can change the frame." I didn't know where he was headed, but he had my attention. "Consider Zen," he said, "which is all about clearing your mind, detaching from your thoughts, grounding yourself in the moment." He paused, either to give me time to consider or for dramatic effect. "Well," he said finally, "that's Alzheimer's." I know this is hard to digest, but Kessler talks about how she understood this more and more while working in the field.

"They don't have ulterior motives. They don't manipulate. They don't play games. They just are." This is rare, and I enjoyed the trait very much in my grandmother.


I had more bookmarked to put in this review but it's too exhausting. It's a good and very helpful book. ( )

DANCING WITH ROSE
Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer’s
Lauren Kessler

One journalist’s riveting—and surprisingly hopeful—in-the-trenches look at Alzheimer’s. Like many loved ones of Alzheimer’s sufferers, Lauren Kessler was devastated by the ravaging disease that seemed to turn her mother into another person before claiming her life. To better understand the confounding aspects of living with a condition that afflicts four and a half million people a year, Kessler, an accomplished journalist, enlists as a bottom-rung caregiver at a residential Alzheimer’s facility she calls Maplewood.