Dancing with Alzheimer's

    The inspiration for this book came from my experience working  for Mrs. Elizabeth Bromley (not her real name) .  For almost four years I witnessed with awe  and sadness how Alzheimer's disease robbed Mrs. Bromley of her identity and health.  

    This book, though, is not about tragedy and loss, it's about hope and love.  Although the story is true, some names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. 

Acknowledgements

Deep thanks to my friends and family for their help.

My children: Miriam, Messod and Setty Attias. My grandchildren: Setty Margarita Magana and Japhlet Bire Attias. My friends: Lola Walker and Sue Millard who proof read Dancing with Alzheimer’s many times. Special thanks to Barbara Harrington, who believed in me and donated hours of her precious time.  

My gratitude for all the help I received from my writers group, Pinellas Authors and Writers Organization (PINAWOR).

 Dedication

To my late sister Alma for her encouragement and feed back any time I needed it, and to my brother Eddy who parted without seen my book.

The back cover reads:

One woman finds her identity while caring for another who’s rapidly losing hers.

After leaving her wealthy, dictatorial husband, Lolita Rimblas is deeply in debt and searching   for a job for the first time in her life. When she is offered the position of companion to a former dancer   struggling with the first stages of Alzheimer’s, she apprehensively accepts. Her first weeks on the job are a chaotic nightmare, as she endures the insults, bizarre rituals and erratic and often embarrassing  behavior of the autocratic Mrs. Elizabeth “Betty” Bromley. Though Lolita initially takes offense at Betty’s behavior, she begins to learn more about the disease and the way in which it is ravaging her employer’s mind. As she inures herself to the daily onslaught, she develops methods for anticipating and preventing outbursts. She also learns to make the most of Betty’s limited moments of lucidity, instilling in the diseased woman’s mind a sense of love and safety that Alzheimer’s cannot erase. Their relationship proves to be therapeutic for Lolita as well; the similarities between Betty’s personality and Lolita’s husband’s cause the caretaker to reflect on her own past, enabling her to heal the emotional wounds of her troubled marriage. The author presents a vivid, loving portrait of the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s disease, conveyed by the force of Betty’s character. Those who are caring or have cared for someone with Alzheimer’s will recognize not only the peculiar behavior of the afflicted, but the intense, conflicting and often ugly emotions that the disease elicits from caretakers as well.

An emotional novel of lost love and painful memories.

—Kirkus Discoveries

 Kirkus Discoveries, VNU US Literary Group, 770 Broadway, New York , NY 10003 646-654-4686 fax 646-654-4706

discoveries@kirkusreviews.com

       Author Dolores Rimblas Attias was born in Cuba.  She came to live in the United States before Fidel Castro took over her homeland.  She now lives  with her family in Lakeville, Minnesota.

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To contact the author please email her at:

doloresattias@msn.com