Elder Rage or, Take My Father... Please! How To Survive Caring For Aging Parents
by Jacqueline Marcell
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Book Reviews of Elder Rage or, Take My Father... Please! How To Survive Caring For Aging Parents
Book Review: Enduring Stupidity
Summary: 1 Stars
Astonishing that author was able to get this book published. 0 literary worth. 0 worth for dealing with difficult people. How in the world could anyone write this? Pathetic case. Long drawn out account.Book Review: Great read even if you are not going through it
Summary: 5 Stars
There are plenty of reviews here for this that go into great detail. As one going through similar circumstances it was an absolute blessing for me to find this book.
This is a great read even if you are not going through it like I am...BUT you certainly could one day and better to be prepared, so set aside a few short hours and learn a thing or two about what may come and how to deal with it before it's your nightmare. If you're prepared and it happens to you or someone you love you can turn a nightmare into a blessing of spiritual and personal growth.
David
Book Review: Baby Boomers are getting the boom lowered on them.
Summary: 5 Stars
My mom's deterioration and incipient dementia hit me like a freight train. In my 49 year-old mind, we are both still young, still the same. The first fist in the face I got was when I found out that my mom, who had been managing without any help except visits from me during Christmas, Easter and summer, was blind in one eye from macular degeneration. I quit my job in Venezuela and came home to care for her. Strange things began to happen. She accused me of putting ExLax in her food. Then she accused me of stealing small change from her wallet. She went into rages, crying fits and threatened to walk out. Three times she saw a nonexistent person trying to steal our 1983 Nissan Sentra (not a trophy car!.) There is plenty more but this is a book review not my own book!!!
I didn't understand what was going on and I fell into a terrible depression. I was/am also physically exhausted and at my wits end. I was chatting with a colleague in the staff lounge and he began to tell me (hilarious in retrospect but not at the time) stories about his father. When we got back up to the office, he handed me Elder Rage. I tore the book to pieces figuratively speaking; I was reading it so avidly. I was talking to myself out loud: Oh My God, it's not just me. This is a real THING and there are answers.
Except for the physical violence, you could just about have plugged my mom's name in where Jackie's dad's name was and it would have been the same story. I honestly think it has saved my life. I'm hopeful and I have a support system. I was stunned when Jackie personally answered my questions by email and added even more insight and direction!!!!
With so many Baby Boomers out there going through this with their elderly parents, education is absolutely essential. Nobody prepared us for "Elderly Parents 101" in school, not even I, a psychologist.
Elder Rage is funny, a great read and so helpful I am at a loss to express it in words.
Virginia Shrader, MS.Ed., NCSP, NBCT
Jacksonville, Florida
Book Review: Excellent Reading For All
Summary: 5 Stars
My family has been going through the exact circumstances that this author writes about in her book. It has been an extremely difficult time for all of us. Although the topic is sad and one that I wish no one had to experience, the author provides support in a witty and informative way. She is a talented writer. The book contains valuable reference material, as well.
My father, a brilliant and successful man that played a major part in the development of Southern California, was already diagnosed as having dementia by the time I purchased this book. Therefore, my family did not have to go through the process of trying to convince the medical profession that my father was no longer the man we once knew and loved. However, it was heartbreaking for me to realize that my wonderful father, that I love so dearly, was slipping away. As is related in the book, the key to understanding how to live with a family member with dementia is to realize that the disease is worse for the person who has this disease than the family members. That is often hard to comprehend. However, it is not understanding why their mind is not functioning as it should that causes the frustration for the person with dementia. Getting proper care and medical help for the family member with dementia as well as support for the family members is so important. That diagnosis is so important. We lived with my father in this condition for almost ten years before we were ready to take the step to place him in a home with people equipped to care for a person with dementia. We were told he was having blood sugar problems. Once Dad started hearing music that no one else could hear, we knew the cause was something else.
I recommend this book to everyone, whether their family member has been stricken by this disease or not. Until a cure can be found, this is something that we all have to live with, in one way or another.
Book Review: Funny and personable
Summary: 5 Stars
Marcell's greatest gift is her use of humor to cope with adversity. Through all the travails she describes in her book, there is an abiding love and positive spirit. Readers will find her family's story entertaining in its way but also will be inspired to find the silver linings in their own difficult caregiving journeys.