Since the
first patient was diagnosed with a certain form of dementia by German physician
Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906, this dreaded disease that severely attacks and
deteriorates a person’s cognitive and intellectual capabilities, and forever
carries Dr. Alzheimer’s name, now affects over 35 million people around the
world.
On the
surface, many people know how Alzheimer’s Disease virtually destroy the patient
who is unfortunate to be diagnosed with it; however, the side of this disease
that is not so well known is how it indirectly affects the people who are part
of the patient’s life … the husbands, wives, sons and daughters, and relatives who have to deal with a
family member who are afflicted with the scourge of Alzheimer’s, especially
those who are thrust with the responsibility of being one of, or the sole,
caregiver. They are the uncounted casualties of this disease.
Montreal
novelist Eric Rill, whose two previous books were action thrillers, personally
witnessed how Alzheimer’s Disease affected both patient and family members, as
his father suffered through it for eight years. For his third novel, Rill
decided to forgo the thriller and make it more personal, and give the
uninitiated what the true, terrible face of Alzheimer’s is all about for
everyone involved. The end result is the sobering, compelling novel An Absent Mind.
The book
focuses on Saul Reimer, a retired Westmount businessman in his seventies who is
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s after an incident when he leaves his home one day
without wearing his grey flannel trousers. What follows is a 690-day chronicle
of how this diagnosis affects the entire Reimer family: Saul, his wife Monique
(who ends up being the primary caregiver), his daughter Florence, and his son
Joey (the perennial black sheep of the family, who is more concerned with his
questionable business ventures than the well being of his seriously ill
father).
What makes
the narrative so interesting is that the story of this painful odyssey is that
it’s told not from an objective narrator, but from the points-of-view of all
the members of the Reimer family. Allowing such a first-hand account narrative
style pervade the text gives the reader a harrowing account of how destructive
and degenerative this disease can be when it strikes someone, and the
psychological effects it has on each family member. You see how gradually the
patient’s cognitive abilities are destroyed as the disease progresses (as well
as their sense of paranoia and random aggressiveness grows); there is the
feeling of isolation and hopelessness as the caregiver watches the
deterioration of their loved one (especially as they become the accidental
victim of their random acts of aggressiveness and abuse); and there is the
double-edged sword of the involvement of the patient’s offspring, whether it be
a constant sense of devotion to make their parent’s final years as comfortable
as possible, or reluctance to make the effort of even paying a visit for an
hour or two, with the sense that it may or not be the last time they will see
their parent alive, and have the chance to resolve past issues or say goodbye
as an act of finality.
Perhaps the
most heartbreaking part of this book is the final third of it, when the painful
decision is made to send Saul to an extended care facility when the progression
of the disease has become too much to allow him to live at home and too much of
a strain for Monique to remain as a caregiver. This segment of the story has a
“snake pit” quality to it, as it reveals the ugly side of the final stages of
Alzheimer’s, when the dementia is far too advanced, and the sadness reaches to
a sense of pathos, as the family tries to brighten up each visit, as if it may
be the last one, and the stricken family member has no idea what is going on.
Rill has
done more than write a fact-based novel. Through the art of fiction, he has
given the reader who has just a basic knowledge about this disease a harrowing,
hard-hitting look at the true nature of Alzheimer’s Disease. Through the
struggles of Saul Reimer and his family, An
Absent Mind gives us a very cruel, yet very necessary, expose of how such a
progressive, degenerative cerebral
disease as Alzheimer’s affects everyone. It is both shocking and informative.
And hopefully, it will shock and inform enough people to push even harder to
find a cure that will eradicate the horrible devastation that is Alzheimer’s
Disease.
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