Goodbye, My Love - Paperback

by Christine Calhoun (Author)

There are multitude of books for caregivers of individuals with dementia that offer advice in finding available resources, a support group, strategies to deal with stress, how to take care of oneself, dealing with difficult family members, knowing when to place a loved one in memory care, or making hard financial decisions. However, there are fewer books that discuss the rigors of caring daily for someone with dementia and the toll it takes on both the caregiver and the person afflicted with the disease.

Christine and her husband, Paul, enjoyed a good marriage with its vicissitudes as most people experience in their marriages. It was the second marriage for both. Then in 2018, Paul was diagnosed with MCI, Mild Cognitive Impairment, which is in many cases the precursor to developing Alzheimer's. That dreaded news arrived in August of 2020 when Paul was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, and life was never the same for both.

In November after the diagnosis, Christine started to chronicle her observations/thoughts about the journey she and her husband were on as a means of catharsis. The observations in the book are raw and emotional. She does not sugarcoat anything.

This book is a compilation of those journal entries.