No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer's
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer's
By (Author) Sue Fagalde Lick
She Writes Press
She Writes Press
25th July 2024
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Physical Properties
Paperback
256
Width 139mm, Height 215mm
Description
No Way Out of This is not the kind of Alzheimers memoir where you read about a noble, self-sacrificing wife who gives up everything to take care of her husband. We see such spouses in books and moviesbut theyre not telling the whole story. Nobodys that good. Certainly Sue Lick isnt.
Sues much-older husband, Fred, is a forgetful man. Shes always found that charming. But when his absentmindedness worsens into full-blown dementia, she suddenly finds herself dealing with his illness alone. Struggling to care for Fred and manage their two loveable but incorrigible dogs and still find time to write and play music, Sue constantly faces impossible choices. Tell people about his illness Let him drive Put him in an institution Treat his medical problems, or let him go Every decision feels wrongbut in the end, their love carries them through it all.
More than 6 million Americans suffer from dementia. One in three seniors have it. Add in the spouses, siblings, adult children, and professionals responsible for their care, and we all have a stake in this story. While some caregivers have loving families to support them and enough money to pay for the best care, more often the situation is a lot messier. Here the author, a longtime journalist, tells the truth about nursing homes, Medicaid, mental health, and more.
Author Bio
Sue Fagalde Lick, a former San Francisco Bay Area newspaper reporter and editor, is the author of the poetry chapbooks Gravel Road Ahead and The Widow at the Piano: Poems by a Distracted Catholic, the nonfiction books Stories Grandma Never Told: Portuguese Women in California, Childless by Marriage, and Love or Children: When You Cant Have Both; and the novels Up Beaver Creek and Seal Rock Sound. When not writing, she sings and plays piano, guitar, and mandolin at St. Anthonys Catholic Church and wherever people will listen. She lives in a coastal forest just south of Newport, Oregon.
