Falling Leaves: Experiences with Alzheimer and Parkinson Diseases

In a biographical account of caring for her mother with Alzheimer's and her father with Parkinson's disease, the author shares striking details drawn from her journals kept across several years. She tells of the contrasting ways in which they were affected. Her mother's reperotire for ordinary living faded along with knowledge of recent events, historical happenings, societal customs, religious connections; Her dad's loss of physical abilities were made worse by confusions about self identity and occasional puzzlement as to whether his perceptions were real. Both struggled over the identities of family and friends and suspicions sometimes harbored about who among them could be trusted. This tale, sometimes funny, often surprising, yet heart-warming, is a retelling of the earlier account, "Until the Trees Are Bare." It has been brought back into circulation by reader demand.