Floating in the Deep End: How Caregivers Can See Beyond Alzheimer’s

President Ronald Reagan announced his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in 1994, and, as his condition progressed, his daughter Patti Davis assumed caregiving responsibilities. After Reagan’s death in 2004, Davis wrote The Long Goodbye, a moving account of that time. Seeing a great need, she later reached out to UCLA to form and lead a support group for caregivers, called Beyond Alzheimer’s. In this new book, Davis writes about practical aspects of caregiving that she and other Beyond Alzheimer’s members have encountered: diagnosing AD and differentiating it from other kinds of dementia and other illnesses; the stages of AD; hiring and paying for outside caregivers and helping the cared-for person to accept them; being a caregiver oneself and getting needed respite from it. Her discussion of these issues takes into mind readers of diverse racial and economic backgrounds. Davis also addresses emotional situations that caregivers may encounter: mourning the loss of the loved one they remembered; dealing with other family members’ feelings and disagreements; loneliness; guilt; grief. Davis very eloquently describes feeling “as if I was floating in the deep end, tossed by waves, carried by currents, but not drowning.”