Before I Lose My Own Mind
Book Resources
Part Two (Chapters 16-32)
Crazy Time – Serious Disease Progression
Chapter 16: Walt Runs Errands Straight into the Garage
Planning Ahead for Driving Problems The Alzheimer’s Association has helpful tips on “having the conversation,” “planning ahead,” and “signs of unsafe driving”.
Assessing Driving Skills The American Occupational Therapy Association provides a search engine for finding a local driving rehabilitation specialist to assess driving skills.
Laws on Dementia and Driving Dementia Care Central, an organization developed with funding from the National Institute on Aging, provides a list of state laws on dementia and driving and provides advice for caregivers.
Chapter Seventeen A New Primary Care Physician
Finding a Doctor You Like The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion offers quick tips on finding a doctor you like.
Building a Good Relationship With Your Healthcare Provider Scripps suggests helpful ways to build a good relationship with your healthcare providers.
Chapter Eighteen Travel Gets Iffy
Traveling and Dementia The ability to tolerate travel changes over time. Here are some safe traveling tips from the Alzheimer’s Association.
Chapter Nineteen Some People Keep Us Grounded. Some Disappear
Reducing Caregiver Frustration Family Caregiver Alliance suggests some ways to reduce caregiver frustration.
Managing Caregiver Resentment Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care offers some tips to manage caregiver resentment.
Asking for Help Asking for help as a caregiver isn’t easy—VANTAGE Aging gives some good guidance.
Chapter Twenty - Life (and Death) Going On Around Us
Parkinson’s Disease Dementia The Alzheimer’s Association discusses Parkinson’s disease dementia.
Chapter Twenty-One - The Slow but Steady Drip of Dementia Progression
Anticipatory Grieving VNS Health describes five steps for dealing with anticipatory grief.
Five Stages of Grief I found this overview of the five stages of grief from Hospice & Palliative Care of Chenango County to be very helpful.
Chapter Twenty-two - Dementia in the Time of COVID
COVID and Dementia The Alzheimer’s Association provides COVID facts related to dementia care from 2024. The section on page 53 on COVID-19 and dementia caregiving is particularly relevant.
COVID and Dementia In “The Long, Exhausting Reach of Dementia Care” by Jason Karlawish, published by STAT in 2021, the author compares the COVID-19 pandemic and dementia as diseases that harm both patients and the people close to them.
Chapter 23 - For Better and for Worse
Caregiver Stress For more information on caregiver stress and what to do about it, see this resource from the Office on Women’s Health: https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/caregiver-stress.
The Brain as Alzheimer’s Progresses To help you understand what happens to the brain as Alzheimer’s progresses, check out the Alzheimer’s Association’s overview.
Communicating with Someone with Dementia Alzheimer’s San Diego offers simple tips for communication with persons with dementia.
Chapter Twenty-Four - To Hire or not to Hire? And When?
Care Agencies and Options for Support For information about local care agencies and options for financial support, USAging offers an Eldercare Locator: https://www.usaging.org/eldercareloc
Chapter Twenty Five - Afraid of Dying, Afraid of Everything
Do Not Resuscitate Orders For information on a DNR order, see this helpful resource from MedlinePlus.
Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment For information on a POLST, visit National POLST.
Chapter Twenty-Six - Slow Drip to Steady Stream of Dementia
Incontinence and Caregiver Emotions Family Caregiver Alliance offers a discussion on the emotional issues associated with caring for someone with incontinence.
Handling Incontinence For tips on handling incontinence in your loved one, see this article on the Alzheimer’s Association website.
Perceptual Disturbances and Dementia Alzheimer’s Society lays out information on perceptual disturbances in dementia.
Chapter Twenty Seven - Near-Death Awareness
End of Life Stages For the stages of end of life, including awareness of nearing death, see Angela Morrow’s description on Verywell Health.
Chapter Twenty Eight - To Love and to Cherish
The Stress of Caregiving Family Caregiver Alliance offers a discussion of the normal, negative emotions about the stress of caregiving.
Managing Guilty Feelings Alzheimer’s Society provides important discourse on managing guilty feelings about your caregiving: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/blog/guilt-dementia-how-manage-guilty-feelings-carer.
Free Meditation Apps There are numerous free meditation apps online. One that I have particularly liked over the years is called Insight Timer.
My (free) Meditation Apps My website has free audio recordings of meditations I have created and used with patients.
Chapter Twenty Nine - The Last Trip
Personality Changes For more information and tips on behavior and personality changes with dementia, see this from the National Institute on Aging.
Challenging Behaviors For more about how dementia may cause challenging behaviors, and their description, see this helpful resource from Alzheimer’s Society.
Chapter Thirty - Calling in the Cavalry: Hospice
End-of-Life Care The National Institute on Aging gives clear explanations of palliative and hospice care at the end of life.
Hospice Care For more on hospice care, I found this WebMD article helpful.
Chapter Thirty One - Walt’s Last Days
Stopping Feeding For more information on eating and drinking at the end of life, see “When Does Hospice Care Stop Feeding a Patient?” from Lower Cape Fear LifeCare.
Eating Issues as Dementia Progresses Dementia Alliance of North Carolina discusses issues with eating as dementia progresses.
Grief Anticipatory grief as well as grief after loss comes in many forms. I appreciated this conversation on the topic from McLean.
Planning a Funeral AARP has information and suggestions on planning for a funeral.
Chapter Thirty Two - ’Til Death Do Us Part
End-of-Life and Dementia Alzheimer’s Society gives an overview of what the end of life may look like in someone with dementia.
Palliative Sedation For more information on palliative sedation, see the Compassion & Choices website.
Copyright 2025. all rights reserved
Beverly E. Thorn, Phd.
Email: bthorn@ua.edu