Book Recommendation

My Journey into Alzheimers Disease, by Robert Davis.

This was an assigned book in my Adulthood and Aging class when I was getting my Bachelor's in Psychology. I loved it (I cried), and later when my next door neighbor told me her father-in-law had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I lent it to her for her husband and mother-in-law to read.

She brought it back and thanked me. Then a few months later, she borrowed it again, because her friend's mother had been diagnosed. It had helped my neighbor's family enough for her to want to share it.

More recently, I was at a meeting, and the speaker said his stepdad had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and had become lost for an afternoon. When the speaker sat down, he was right in front of me, so I wrote down the name and author of the book and handed it to him.

The book is Robert Davis's story of his life. He became a pastor and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in the early stages, because it was interfering with his job. Davis, with the help of his wife talks about what it's like to have the disease. He describes what drives him to wander, why he couldn't handle too much stimulation, and the frustration of seeing himself losing his faculties. His journey goes through the early and mid-stages of Alzheimer's, and long after his death he still offers understanding for the family and friends of similarly afflicted patients.

If someone you love has Alzheimer's Disease, please read this book.