How Alzheimer's Changed My Family

This has been the most interesting book I have read because the irony shown in this book as well as the emotion I felt throughout reading this was different from when I read other books. As a Harvard professor of psychology, it’s ironic how Alzheimer’s takes parts of her psychology. In addition, while reading Alice’s story, I felt connected to her and wanted to support her during her struggle with Alzheimer’s. My sympathy towards Alice, as many people in the book felt, taught me how someone in her shoes would

I chose to read Still Alice by Lisa Genova for this critical book review. I chose this book because I have a strong interest in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. I also work with clients who are living with dementia and I can see how much of an impact that has on both my clients and their families. We hear stories about Alzheimer’s disease from doctors or caregivers all the time, but it is so rare to get to learn about the disease straight from the source, or straight from the person actually living through the progression of the disease.

This review aims to explain the story of Still Alice, how she was diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s Disease and how her life changed drastically.

After Alzheimer's is diagnosed in a parent, or other elderly family member, the caregiver has the task of deciding what the best form of care for the patient is. In order to do this they have to fully understand what the disease is, and

Still Alice (Genova, 2009) is a captivating debut novel about a 50-year-old woman’s sudden decline into early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The book is written by first time author Lisa Genova, who holds a PH.D in neuroscience from Harvard University. She’s also an online columnist for the national Alzheimer’s association. Her other books include Left Neglected and Love Anthony. She lives with her husband and two children in Cape Cod.

Alzheimer's disease is a familiar sight to me. I had a sad experience during my work as a nurse in my country Colombia and Spain with Alzheimer disease patients. Day by day I came to know each patient’s story because every day they were living the moment without remember the last minute. This is also what happened to Lisa Genova’s novel Still Alice. The protagonists is a 50 year old woman, a very well organized, efficient, highly-educated, and smart Harvard professor, wife of a successful man, and the mother of three grown children, who has diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. People have learned about the progression of Alice’s disease through her reactions, so feeling what she feels- a

Alice likes to spend time on her own and to run all over the city. After that the doctors discovered she had Alzheimer´s disease, then the whole plot tells us what is happening with her during the disease.

“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book

Every year, the number of people with Alzheimer's doubles every 5 years beyond the age of 65, and as of 2013, 13 million Americans were suffering from this disease (CDC). Still Alice, written by Lisa Genova is about a woman in her fifties who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. She is a very successful woman with three kids and a loving husband. She had a great career as a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard, but that came to an end when this disease took over her brain. As the story reads on you learn about her thoughts and overcome her hardships along with her as she fights against this disease.

Did you hear the words that haunted me as well? Did a close family of yours get diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a detrimental disease that burdens not only the patient, but the family as well? What is Alzheimer’s exactly? According to What is Alzheimer’s Disease? Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment, published on Medical News Today, Alzheimer’s is “… a neurological disorder in which the death of brain cells causes memory loss and cognitive decline” (Macgill). Now that you know what you and are going against, what are you going to be doing next? When my family first found out that my grandma had Alzheimer’s, we were faced with a decision that would affect my grandma for the rest of her life. Though we knew that we would eventually have to place my grandma into a nursing home, we had to decide whether we wanted to place my grandma into a nursing home or take care of my grandma ourselves when it wasn’t necessary to place her in a nursing home. There were pros and cons for both decisions that made the two decisions very difficult to choose from. My mom, who would be the main caregiver of my grandma, eventually decided that it would be best for my grandma to be in the hands of her family and opted against professional help. Making the

A lecture which is called “From Diary to Graphic Memoir, How and Why I Wrote Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me” was held by Hiram College’s Center for Literature and Medicine on November 3rd. I was just curious about that lecture because I have read a novel about Alzheimer and I like books. A speaker, Sarah Leavitt is a writer and cartoonist, and teaches Creative Writing at University of British Columbia.

This experience scared me to my core considering that that could be the future for not only my grandmother, but grandparents everywhere. Seeing that made me realize that no one else deserves to deal with this disease. My life’s mission is to find treatments and possibly a cure for Alzheimer’s. That is why I wish to take part in the NINDS program; it provides the unique opportunity to not only conduct research on neurological disorders, but also to learn about how clinicians work with patients on a daily basis to put into practice the ideas that research brings

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the nerve cells, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and skills, and behavioral changes (America, 2014). This disease now has a huge impact on my own life, and the lives of those who are closest to me. Around the age of 67, my grandma started forgetting things periodically. I can remember her saying, “Where did I put those keys?” “I just had them.” People did not think much of it; they just figured that she was getting older. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Now, three years later, she is living a much different and confusing life then she had in the past. Her independence is fading and she must have someone with her most, if not all of the time. The once independent woman is so lost yet at the same time she doesn’t really realize it. Luckily, the progression is not happening as fast as they thought it could. She definitely has her days, and some are just better than others for her. She does not remember those who weren’t close to her. She does not even recognize acquaintances. Through out her life, she had good health. Besides the usual cold and flu, my mother said that she doesn’t remember her having any other major health issues. Now, with the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, her health has seemed to decline with the passing years. Yes, she is aging, but it seems to be more than that. The fact that she no longer takes good care of herself has a lot to do with it.

In February of 2000, I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's disease. She was diagnosed with the disease just less than two years prior to her death. Throughout that time, I watched changes in my grandmother that made her seem like an entirely different woman to me. She gradually began losing her short-term memory and we began to see signs of her long-term memory degrading too. It began to get harder and harder to take her out into public without being afraid of what would happen next. Her emotions would fluctuate with the changing of each minute it seemed. Physically she became weaker and weaker and would often scare us with falling while she would be walking. Eventually she had to be moved into the

     It is inevitable that eventually each of us will grow old and begin to face more and more health problems as our age rises. Elderly people are challenged by many illnesses and diseases that unfortunately, are incurable. One disease that becomes more common as people age is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s a common cause and a form of dementia and can severely damage a patient’s cognitive functions and can ultimately cause death. Living with Alzheimer’s disease can be saddening for both the sufferer and the family. Family and friends will find it very hard to cope when a loved one begins slipping away and losing memory of who they are.