Dad, You've Got Dementia: Conversations with my father

(Paperback)

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When Kristens father, Don, was diagnosed with dementia the signs had been there for five years. Hed gone out less and less, given up driving and table tennis, which hed played all his life, and relied increasingly on his wife, Penny. Conversations went in circles. Kristen started trying different ways to get her dad back not the dad who could recall what was said or retain facts about his family, but the one who was patient, curious and funny. Who said, I could talk with you for hours. She realised as he searched for words that werent there and reached for new ones, that the words he was finding and how he fitted them together felt like poetry. And Kristen, a poet, began writing it down. 'Dad, Youve Got Dementia' is not about what is being lost on a daily basis but what there is still to find. It shows people living with dementia and their whnau that its possible to stay connected with those they love.

Reviews

Demonstrates that communication and connection, and especially the mutual giving and receiving of love, are possible, even when words are lost Chris Perkins, author of 'Dementia: What you need to know'

Author Bio

Kristen Phillips grew up in Te Awakairangi Lower Hutt and recently returned to Aotearoa after thirty years living in London. While there, she came first-equal in the WriteNow poetry competition and founded a long-running poetry group. She lives in Wellington with her partner, the writer Mia Farlane, and works for Dementia Wellington.