My Bert Has Alzheimer's : Caregiving is Living for Two

My Bert Has Alzheimer's is an intimate, detailed account of a wife's experience with her husband's dementia. As Paula de Ronde quickly learned, life for two people - patient and caregiver - is thrown into disarray with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. Ambushed by the disease, it is a journey into the unknown, but one that features an abundance of love, hope, and support.

There is no shying away from the horror of the disease, but its awfulness doesn't strip from the experience of the powerful companions that accompany those enduring it - namely, love, laughter, and community. Thrust into the caregiver role for her other half who used to be her equal and best buddy, making all kinds of decisions together, Paula now enters a new world of uncertainty and chaos. There is no roadmap. Instead she learns that the disease is as individual as each person who contracts it.

Here is a caregiver's poignant and revealing story of the mental, physical, and emotional stress of caring for the love of her life, her Bert, as he gives over to his neurological disease. The caregiver's life is far from easy. Yet fueled by love, which never wanes, each step of the way is handled with grace and the help of care partners.

Alzheimer's steals memories but also gives teaching moments. As the disease progresses Paula learns to be more tolerant, patient, compassionate and accepting of human frailties. Alzheimer's releases an inner strength. She meets each challenge, finds a solution to each issue that arises, then passes on her new-found knowledge to others. She learns the value of having a support group. Alzheimer's cements the old adage that laughter is the best medicine. Together she and her Bert become stronger than the disease.

With humour, compassion, wisdom, and deep feeling, she describes this slice of their conjoined lives. More than a record of the impact of a disease this is, at its essence, also a love story.