Your Name Is Hughes Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver's Guide to Alzheimer's (Agendas for Aging)
In August 1984, Lela Knox Shanks saw the first sign that her life and that of her husband would change forever. "Hughes was driving, and suddenly he called me Nena, our older daughter's name... he continued to repeat the mistake.... And then he said, 'How are the kids doing in the back seat?'" As their children were all grown, she knew something was wrong. Shanks had shown the first sign of Alzheimer's: "Irreversible and deadly, it is the fourth leading cause of death in adults in the United States today," Shanks explains in her introduction. Experts frequently recommend placement in a nursing home, but Shanks rejected that idea, in part strengthened by the knowledge that she had already cared for her parents, who died of cancer. With very little information about the disease, she set out on her own, learning as she went how to care for an Alzheimer's patient at home. Shanks tells exactly what it is like to live with Alzheimer's, and how to have a life in the process. She provides an overview of how the disease progresses, tells what to expect and suggests ways to cope. Hughes Shanks had spent 30 years working for the federal government and was the first African American hired by his Social Security Administration office in the 1950s. For his wife, the key became to remember his courage and pride and to continue to see her husband, no matter how diminished in capacity, as a human being in need of her love and care. Shanks is a remarkably strong woman, and her choice might not be right for everyone, but all can learn from her experience.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.