This is a review of a new book “The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor” by Arthur Kleinman, MD, a psychiatrist and anthropologist at Harvard. It is about the “stressful, harrowing, depressing, and rewarding” aspects of caregiving for a spouse with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
Excerpt from this article:
In his new book, [the author] chronicles the harrowing decade he spent caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in her 50s. He describes the process of navigating a health-care system that seemed to offer plenty of clinical care but little compassionate care as she declined from a lively, witty Sinologist to a woman unable to see, dress herself or recognize loved ones. In moving detail, Kleinman tells the story of a husband trying to honor, in the best way he could, his wife’s ultimate wish: “I will not die without dignity.”
You can read the full article here:
Health
Perspective
Caregiving for a sick loved one can be stressful, harrowing, depressing — and rewarding
By Dhruv Khullar
September 30, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. PDT
Washington Post
Robin