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Overview
In the first book to deal with the geriatric decline connected to nonterminal illness in old age, Koch takes a sensitive but thorough look at the declining years of his father. The book is a narrative record of an elderly man unable to accept the physical realities of his state. Because it is told by the patient's caregiver--a son--it also chronicles the issues and mechanics of the aging child's role in caring for a parent. Koch defines aging as more than a series of physical symptoms and places the issues of caring and aging within the perspective of socially accepted values; independence, social function, family dynamics, and financial worth.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
In 1984, Koch, a Vancouver freelance journalist, went to Buffalo, N.Y., to care for his father, Norman, who was living alone in the family home there. A 74-year-old widower, Norman was convalescing from surgery on an arthritic hip and expected to resume an independent existence. But the patient's geriatric ills multiplied, changing him into a senile tyrant during the remaining five years of his life. The youngest of four brothers, the author tended his father with no appreciable help except from professional aides. He recalls the experience in this self-serving, bitterly resentful book about his brothers' failure to share the burden and about coldly impersonal doctors. (Dec.)Library Journal
Norm Koch's geriatric decline began with hip replacement surgery followed by complications from which he never fully recovered. His son Tom, a freelance journalist, assumed responsibility for organizing home care, arranging his father's finances, and nursing him through several critical illnesses until his death in 1989. This book is an honest, moving account of ``the frustration of a family whose central member's life is progressively diminished by physical and mental impairment.'' It chronicles the daily stresses of living with an aged, ill parent whose physical disabilities are heightened by loss of independence and self-esteem. The final chapter outlines a family plan for dealing with prolonged illness in an elderly relative. Beautifully written, this is one of the best first-person accounts of family caregiving. Highly recommended for both children and parents.-- Karen McNally Bensing, Benjamin Rose Inst. Lib., ClevelandBook Details
Published
October 19, 1990
Publisher
New York : Praeger, 1990.
Pages
240
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780275936716