In her new unwavering memoir, Jim's Journey: The Story of a Young Man with Early On-set Alzheimer's (published by Trafford Publishing), debut author Gretchen L Dausey reveals the touching story of her husband's battle against Alzheimer's disease and her unwavering support despite the inevitable degeneration of his mind and body.
Starting two years before her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2002 at 54 years old and following the events that led to his death in 2008, Dausey explains how Jim progressed through the disease by relaying actual stories from her past experience in caregiving. Through her observations of his actions, his mood swings and his speech in addition to her review of the journals he kept on a daily basis, she unflinchingly reveals the true face of this heart-wrenching illness as she recounts the heartbreaking situation she endured.
Jim was an avid motorcycle rider, and there is a story included in her poignant book that details the relationship between him and Dausey's brother, Zed, and how Zed became the owner of Jim's Harley Davidson. Dausey also explains how she eventually learned to manage all the episodes of sundowning, the shouting and the emotional upset. Now's your chance to follow her as she adjusts her everyday living in order to cope with him and still have some semblance of a normal day, even though there are no normal days for an Alzheimer's patient's loved one.
Venture with the strong Dausey as she relives the heartache associated with an Alzheimer victim, as she remembers how her husband told stories of his walks in the park, not knowing for sure if they were true or fictional - a caregiver living beside a chronic disease affecting memory, causing confusion at every turn and affecting bodily functions - in her inspirational memoir Jim's Journey.
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