Sara would choose to be remembered for the person she was-a whole person having lived a full, productive life. She was far more than one who succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. Her story is of one who overcame obstacles by virtue of her inherent gifts. She made her mark as a faithful wife, mother, and exemplary educator. In her chosen field of speech therapy, she was trained by pioneering professionals who found in her the perfect disciple. Sara touched the lives directly and indirectly of many thousands of children in a vital way. That way was through helping children and youth to build their speech and language skills. She constantly emphasized the pragmatics of communication-communication that was practical, effective, and facilitative of positive interpersonal relationships. She had health problems to contend with and she did so with courage. In later life, she was able to deal with Alzheimer's in a dignified way. She had the aid of others in doing so. Particularly, she had her husband who stood by her, demonstrating the power of love. The story of this love is told dramatically through her husband's journal written during the crucial years of their battle with this tragic disease.
What if the person who knew you best and loved you most forgot your face, and couldn't remember your name? A nursing facility is everyone's solution for what to do about Sara, but her husband, Jack, can't bear to live without her. He is committed to saving his marriage, his wife, and their life together from the devastation of Alzheimer's disease. He and Sara retired years ago to the house of their dreams, and operated it as a Cape Cod bed and breakfast named Blue Hydrangeas. Jack has made an impossible promise: He and Sara will stay together in their beautiful home no matter what the disease brings. However, after nine years of selfless caregiving, complicated by her progressing Alzheimer's and his own failing heart, he finally admits he can no longer care for her at home. With reluctance, he arranges to admit her to an assisted living facility. But, on the day of admission, Sara is having one of her few good days, and he is unable to follow through. Instead, he takes them on an impulsive journey to confront their past and reclaim their future. In the end, he realizes that staying together at any cost is what truly matters.
A haunting story of family ties and wartime secrets. Three generations of the Tremain family have occupied the idyllic cliffside cottage on the Cornish coast. There's Fred, the country doctor who built this house for his wife, Martha; their daughter Anna, an esteemed lawyer, and son Barnaby, a vicar to the local parish; and beloved granddaughter Lucy, who, on the cusp of adulthood, is faced with the prospect of leaving home—and her family history—forever. But the past is never far behind, and before long Lucy discovers that the Tremain estate also harbors tragic lies and dangerous truths. When she finds a cache of long-hidden documents, the family will be forced to confront upheavals caused by wartime secrets and domestic disputes—and unlock the door to new beginnings, and new loves. Set in Cornwall, London, and Warsaw, Sea Music is a sonorous, transcendent journey that no reader will soon forget.
The instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller A groundbreaking plan to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s Disease that fundamentally changes how we understand cognitive decline. Everyone knows someone who has survived cancer, but until now no one knows anyone who has survived Alzheimer's Disease. In this paradigm shifting book, Dale Bredesen, MD, offers real hope to anyone looking to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's Disease and cognitive decline. Revealing that AD is not one condition, as it is currently treated, but three, The End of Alzheimer’s outlines 36 metabolic factors (micronutrients, hormone levels, sleep) that can trigger "downsizing" in the brain. The protocol shows us how to rebalance these factors using lifestyle modifications like taking B12, eliminating gluten, or improving oral hygiene. The results are impressive. Of the first ten patients on the protocol, nine displayed significant improvement with 3-6 months; since then the protocol has yielded similar results with hundreds more. Now, The End of Alzheimer’s brings new hope to a broad audience of patients, caregivers, physicians, and treatment centers with a fascinating look inside the science and a complete step-by-step plan that fundamentally changes how we treat and even think about AD.
The instant New York Times bestseller The New York Times Best Selling author of The End of Alzheimer's lays out a specific plan to help everyone prevent and reverse cognitive decline or simply maximize brainpower. In The End of Alzheimer's Dale Bredesen laid out the science behind his revolutionary new program that is the first to both prevent and reverse symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Now he lays out the detailed program he uses with his own patients. Accessible and detailed, it can be tailored to anyone's needs and will enhance cognitive ability at any age. What we call Alzheimer's disease is actually a protective response to a wide variety of insults to the brain: inflammation, insulin resistance, toxins, infections, and inadequate levels of nutrients, hormones, and growth factors. Bredesen starts by having us figure out which of these insults we need to address and continues by laying out a personalized lifestyle plan. Focusing on the Ketoflex 12/3 Diet, which triggers ketosis and lets the brain restore itself with a minimum 12-hour fast, Dr. Bredesen drills down on restorative sleep, targeted supplementation, exercise, and brain training. He also examines the tricky question of toxic exposure and provides workarounds for many difficult problems. The takeaway is that we do not need to do the program perfectly but will see tremendous results if we can do it well enough. With inspiring stories from patients who have reversed cognitive decline and are now thriving, this book shifts the treatment paradigm and offers a new and effective way to enhance cognition as well as unprecedented hope to sufferers of this now no longer deadly disease.
When all signs point to heartbreak, can love still be a rule of the road? A “touching father-daughter story” (Kirkus Reviews) from the author of Bittersweet and Twenty Boy Summer. Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath—with candles and a contract and everything—to never have anything to do with one. Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle—which means hiring a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas? Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away—no way would she fall for them. But Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak…unless her sisters were wrong? Jude may have taken an oath, but she’s beginning to think that when it comes to love, some promises might be worth breaking.
A definitive and compelling book on one of today's most prevalent illnesses. 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.
The scientifically-proven practical plan to help reverse Alzheimer’s and prevent cognitive decline from the international bestselling author of The End of Alzheimer's. Following his ground-breaking book that transformed how we think about Alzheimer's and its treatment, world-renowned neurology expert Dale Bredesen provides an unprecedented hands-on guide to achieving complete brain health. In The End of Alzheimer's Programme, he lays out step-by-step his highly sought after, scientifically-proven method that you can follow with a healthcare professional to stop Alzheimer's in its tracks. Alzheimer’s Disease is a protective response to an array of factors that directly affect the brain, such as inflammation, genetic inheritance, nutrients and hormones. In this book, Bredesen will show you which of these factors you need to address to enhance your cognitive abilities by laying out a personalised lifestyle plan. Covering sleep, exercise, diet, brain training and more, Bredesen will show you how to retain, regain and maximise cognitive function for any ability and for any age with extraordinary results. Based on cutting-edge research and full of inspiring success stories from Bredesen’s patients, this book is a must-read for anyone looking to enhance their brainpower and is a vital guide for carers and healthcare professionals.
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. An inherently wise work that promises to become a classic, Floating in the Deep End ultimately provides hope to struggling families while elegantly illuminating the fragile human condition.
From a Harvard- and Yale-trained neuropsychologist, a science-backed five-step program to boost memory and dramatically decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s. American adults fear Alzheimer’s more than any other disease—including cancer—and because many don’t realize there is no genetic cause for 99 percent of Alzheimer’s cases, they don’t take the necessary steps to change lifestyle factors shown to significantly protect against the disease. In this book, board-certified neuropsychologist Dr. Michelle Braun inspires you to make lasting improvements by explaining the truth about brain health and providing expert guidance through the maze of conflicting media advice on supplements, brain games, nutrition, and exercise. Braun interviews eight leading brain health experts, combining their insights with cutting-edge research to offer proven strategies to implement the five steps of the High-Octane Brain. Interactive exercises help you develop a personalized program for optimal brain health. Dr. Braun also provides a tracking system with a visual depiction of progress, and shows the High-Octane Brain plan in action through the lives of clients. Packed with valuable tips you can implement immediately to minimize common “brain blips,” exercises to boost your memory within minutes, and inspiring insights from nine High-Octane Brain role models ages 44 to 103, this groundbreaking book helps put the future of your brain in your control. “Thorough, backed up by the best available research, and accessible.” —Barry Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Cognitive Neurology/Neuropsychology Division, Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and University
