an almost unbelievably upbeat book about that most feared of all diagnoses, dementia.
several points strike me as i speed my way through this book in the wake of the odd aftertaste of another dementia book, before i forget by b. smith and dan gasby:
- in the interest of accuracy, she has FTD, not Alzheimer's.
- she sees herself as the embodiment of three layers - the cognitive who and what that is most visible and is lost soonest, the emotional with which she engages others and over which she is losing control bit by bit, and the inner core of who she is in her spirit, which she does not lose. dementia takes her memories and her thoughts but has no power over her core self. i suppose, having lived with dementia for twenty-three years (by 2018, not 2005), she has some authority in this.
- and she says, why does it matter if i cannot remember... if i enjoy your visit, why must i remember it?... let me live in the present. if i forget a pleasant memory, it does not mean it was not important for me.
a remarkably wise book, this. it reminds me of that old promise that nothing shall separate me from the love of God.
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