Life Giving Dementia Care: Let’s Talk: How to Bring Confidence, Compassion and Joy Into Your Role as a Caregiver is a half memoir half guide book by Toni Kanzler about, as the title suggests, patients diagnosed with dementia.

In the very first few pages of the book, we find out that Kanzler is a woman with many ambitions; however, being a caregiver was never one of them, as is the case with most caregivers. She found herself in a situation where both her parents were dementia patients and passed away due to a terminal illness. Besides taking care of her parents to the best of her abilities, this was a wake-up call for Kanzler that she is at a high risk of getting dementia. In the hopes that her sons would take care of her if and when that time comes, she decided to leave them something where she would point to the mistakes and good things that happened while she was a caregiver, so they don’t make the same mistakes and have more joyful moments. Thus this book was created.

The book is divided into a few parts covering the early, middle, last, and after stages. Kanzler takes us through the whole journey from the earliest symptoms like crying and then forgetting that they have called, doctor visits and diagnosis, the hardships, mistakes, good times, saying goodbye, and the aftermath of it all from a caregiver’s point of view as well as a patient’s point of view to better understand what our loved one may be or will be going through.

Toni writes in a casual yet deeply touching tone, from her introduction and her stories to the book’s final words. Yet, she manages to get her point across to anyone who decides to give it a chance or needs it.

And just as every book finds you at the right time, this one found me just a few weeks after losing someone dear to Alzheimer’s. I was nowhere near being the caretaker of my loved one or even involved in helping her, so this book was almost a lecture about what the people closest to me dealt with because of the illness.

Life Giving Dementia Care by Toni Kanzler is primarily targeted at caregivers. Still, I recommend it to anyone dealing with or dealing with this disease, medical and psychology students, or anyone just eager to learn something new. 

Pages: 237 | ASIN : B08PYM45YD

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/11/09/life-giving-dementia-care/