Who I Am Yesterday: A Path to Coping With a Loved One's Dementia

by Victoria Adams

Overview

This book is my personal journey through the first year of learning to manage the day to day joys and tribulations of living with a loved one's dementia. It is a personal story which provides the foundation of the relationship that I had with my husband. It is also a journey of observation; a tale of learning and discovery, and a sharing of the coping mechanisms that worked for me. Join me as I follow the incredible workings of the human mind and learn how to find humor in the midst of heartbreak.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780999592700
Publisher:	Lumen Anime
Publication date:	11/08/2017
Edition description:	3rd Revised ed.
Pages:	108
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.26(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements (i)

Introduction (1)

Lost on a Civilized Island (2)

Seeing the Light in the Fog (3)

Short Course in Grieving & Therapy (4)

When I Became Legion (6)

Home Coming to Someone Else’s Home (7)

The Path to Mental Breakdown (10)

Adjusting After the Island (18)

The Visit (20)

Another Major Change – We Must Leave (21)

The Trail Back (23)

Finding a New Normal (27)

Show & Tell & Tolkien Languages (30)

Prodigal Pronouns (33)

Time is an Essence (34)

Stealing Mail (38)

The Magic Desk & Other Disappearing Acts (39)

Fixing the Coffee Pot (40)

Buying Clothes & Other Closet Adventures (42)

Personal Hygiene & Other Cleaning Guides (46)

Medical Issues & Playing Nurse (50)

Books & Magazines (57)

Movies & TV Shows (59)

Through Thick & Thin & Emily Post (61)

Grocery Shopping & Anything Goes (65)

Telephones That Translate & Other Tele-tales (68)

Ears & Other Removable Parts (71)

Unlearning to Drive (74)

Finances in Fantasy Land (76)

Legally Speaking (81)

Relationships with Real & “Real” People (84)

Becoming Who I Am to Him (90)

Editorial Reviews

I feel like caregiving books are either a narrative, or a tutorial – both equally effective – but this book gives you both, something I really appreciated. The narrative is a fascinating play-by-play of the author’s husband’s decent into Dementia, starting with the “inciting” incident that first put Adams on high alert, and the tutorial is a comprehensive manifesto of sorts, packed with some pretty brilliant ideas and insights I hadn’t heard explained quite the same. I’ve actually just shot off a detailed email to a good friend of mine who is caring for someone with Dementia, with multiple lines from this book. I’m sure she’ll appreciate them.This excerpt from the closing chapter particularly sticks out in my mind as a metaphor for the whole book. It’s as heartbreaking as it is unintentionally amusing, something to which anyone who has cared for a person with dementia can relate:

“When I would call to check on him he would want to know who was calling. So, I would try using my name, then, “your wife,” then, as things got desperate, “the lady that fixed your breakfast.”

In two lines that pretty much outlines the crazy journey.

Gregor Collins, Author of Accidental Caregiver

I can tell you straightaway-for anyone who is a caregiver, knows a caregiver, or who will soon become a caregiver for someone with dementia, this book is an absolute must. And not only with dementia; you can plug in almost every mental and physical handicap known, and there will be some wisdom that can be drawn from it. Having been down this road, with and without help, Ms. Adams has written this book to help others in her same situation. But it is no medical essay-she does not go into the whys and wherefores in jargon that only the health-centric educated can understand. Her style is such that it seems she is sitting across the table from you, offering tea and sympathy, and not just a little much-needed advice.

Kitty Muse Book Reviews (Author and Blogger)

As one in the healthcare profession, I find this book to be not only informative but very enjoyable. This is a must read for those who are touched by dementia and the day to day challenges and joys that they face on a daily basis. I highly recommend this book and hope that it reaches a wide audience in the near future as I know it can offer not only support but comfort to those living with and the care givers to those with this disease.

Kirkland (WA) Visiting Angels

From the Publisher