Vennie Reech

The Caregivers Vennie Reech

Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.

When her already ailing mother, she began showing signs of dementia, the author decided the best option would be to move back to her childhood home to care for her. In the eight years that followed, their relationship changed for the better, even as her mother's Alzheimer's worsened. In a poignant, warm, and often humorous narrative in two voices, she takes the reader through eight years of the challenges and rewards of being her mother's caregiver. We hear firsthand her frustrations with the loss of her memory and learn how she - by trial and error (and a lot of support) -- learned to deal with the many stages of her mother's condition.

A must-read for anyone facing the caregiving of a loved one ... or for anyone who has traveled the same path as the author and her mom.