A Diagnosis for Two

The Doctor and the Caregiver…

After the publication of SEE WITH YOUR EYES – HEAR WITH YOUR HEART, I received numerous requests for my caregiving story. Honestly, I think that many caregiving accounts are rather self-serving, and that didn’t interest me. However, hearing how some of my ideas and strategies had helped others, I relented.

In order give even more help to caregivers, I recruited an internal medicine doctor to collaborate. With LaVar’s drawings, his expressions of Alzheimer’s disease, the physician’s perspective of managing the disease medically, and my caregiving tips, the view is dynamic.

A diagnosis of dementia will eventually involve a caregiver. No one bears that burden alone. I always viewed it as a shared diagnosis.

WHY bother to write a book? Dr. Jared Helms and I answer this question in an excerpt from the Diagnosis book:

“As a physician, why do I care? Weekly…sometimes daily…I have to address the issue of dementia. I’m on the front lines of diagnosing a difficult, life-changing disease. I have so much compassion for the caregiver who will carry an incredible responsibility. Witnessing the caregiver’s tears, I want to help. However, the minutes available to doctors and patients in an office visit don’t allow for the extended coaching that I would like to offer.

Collaborating on this book is my attempt to reach out to patients and caregivers in order to answer questions that they haven’t even formed yet. Each case of dementia, whatever the cause, is unique. Likewise, your questions and concerns will be different than any others. Caring–one human to another–is my “why” for contributing.”

“As a caregiver survivor, why do I care? Everywhere I encounter individuals who are struggling with the same fears, frustrations, and fatigue that I experienced. If my understanding can help others, then I’m willing to share strategies that helped me not only survive but also find joy in the work of caregiving. It has been difficult to write about myself in the context of these challenges. However, being transparent and letting you see this role through my eyes is the only way that I know how to help you personally since we can’t sit down together and chat. No magical approach makes caregiving easy although there are ways to manage it. Offering help to those who struggle as I did is my “why?.”