Nobody expects their parent to get dementia. Nobody is prepared for it. But for Merideth, her mother did get dementia and for the next three years she became her full time carer.
Caring for Somebody with Dementia describes the experiences of life with dementia over those three years.
For all that time Dementia sat himself between Merideth and her mother - or at least he tried to. Dementia was a spiteful fellow and had brought with it the more obvious symptoms - delusions, anxiety, depression, memory loss.
Caring for Somebody with Dementia details the causes of dementia, mechanisms for dealing with symptoms and offers advice on personal care, frailty and the practicalities of caring.
It also gives insight into the vital issue of how to maintain communication with somebody with dementia.
Caring for Somebody with Dementia is written with compassion, humour and love. As well as offering a wealth of practical information to others living or working with people with dementia the book puts a human face on the illness.
It shows that while dealing with delusions, personal care and other day-to-day challenges it is possible for the carer to maintain a genuine unity with the person they are looking after and that caring can be a rewarding even inspiring experience.
Merideth Sindel was born and raised in country New South Wales and now lives in Sydney. After school she studied Communications, specialising in Journalism. Later she studied Honours in Ancient History at University of New England, Armidale. She has written one novel, Erika, about a friend who was killed in a car accident.
