What Al Left Behind

Life after Alzheimer's

By: Daphne Simpkins

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Did you know that history is being rewritten in your neighborhood?
And it’s happening in surprising ways.

People without dementia are taking care of people who have dementia. And they are experiencing that time differently and telling those stories differently than they were initially told over twenty years ago when the subject began to grab the national consciousness.

Inside neighborhood homes traditions and long-held opinions are being questioned. Minds are being changed and lives improved because of the shift in thinking about dementia care and how to react to the diagnosis that someone you love has it.

That awakening is happening to people very easily dismissed as caregivers, and it’s happening because of heroic neighbors who are winding down in their lives from a condition called dementia.

There is a slow head-shaking moan of sorrow that erupts automatically at the sound of that word. And it’s that reaction that a new generation of veteran caregivers and professional healthcare workers are trying to modify, to ease—to change.
For the story of dementia and its effect on others is real, but it’s not without good times and benefits that can be a part of the process and a reward for the time spent housebound with someone who has special needs.

People with dementia have special needs, but they don’t need the stigma often assigned to this condition. What they do need is understanding from the people around them.

Special needs for dementia patients require patience, energy, imagination to put yourself in their position, a desire to try and translate what they are saying by providing what will help them, and a willingness to stay the course by asking for and receiving the kind of help that is now available in senior citizen centers and in faith-based organizations like the Respite centers being planted all over my home state and beyond by the Methodist church.

Unlike 20 years ago when some of us were being introduced to the special needs of dementia patients, these resources didn’t exist. Neither did the stories written by specialists and caregivers who can help rewrite the story—tell the truest story possible which is of hope rather than the expected traditional story that admits to a kind of defeat that is not true.

Managing life with dementia is hard, but it’s not hopeless. You can still have good days whether you are the patient or the caregiver.

These essays were written to become part of that message of hope. They are part of the new narrative being written for caregivers by caregivers about dementia patients and dementia care. Hope and meaning do exist inside the story of dementia care, and this book shares some of that hope and help.
If you need a boost—some encouragement or some company inside the life you are living right now taking care of someone who is struggling to express him or herself because of dementia—then take heart. And take this book.
You’re not the only one this is happening to and refreshment right now is possible.
Buy it today for yourself or the caregiver you know who needs a boost.

Daphne Simpkins has written books on caregiving and a series of books on church lady Mildred Budge. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin.com, Bookbub, Goodreads, and of course, Amazon.