Put That Knife Away: Alzheimer's, Marriage and My Transformation from Wife to Caregiver - Paperback

by Phyllis W. Palm Phd (Author)

Married at mid-life, the author lovingly describes a life of favorite pursuits, friends, music, theater, fine dining and foreign travel. Until disaster hits. Not only does Bob forget, his personality disintegrates, he becomes demanding, argumentative and paranoid.The author, a practicing psychologist, fights with her own denial, struggles to find a diagnosis and modifies their lifestyle to cope with her husband's drastic outbursts until she learns to fear for her own safety.Initially, when her husband complains, she believes he is shifting his focus from country life to city life. When he insists he's not "getting" a movie or a television show, she assumes a hearing problem. Fearful of losing this wonderful husband, she is unable to recognize that his brain is deteriorating. Until she can deny it no longer. He has Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, which you will discover as you travel with them on this poignantly told cross- country journey detailing the torment of this disease.

Author Biography

Dr. Palm, a full time caregiver for her husband since his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in 2006, holds licenses as a psychologist in New York and New Jersey. Her professional experience includes 25 years of private practice serving patients of all ages as well as teaching and supervising in hospital and clinic settings. A first grade teacher in the inner city of Newark, New Jersey and in suburban Florham Park, New Jersey she acquired a Master's degree in Psychology at Montclair State University, eventually participating in a school- based support team in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. After achieving the PhD in Educational Psychology at New York University in 1983 and receiving a post-doctoral certificate in child and adolescent psychotherapy from Adelphi University in 1990, Dr. Palm was employed by the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in Coney Island, New York as a supervising psychologist, while building her practice in Manhattan. The mother of three, she has two grandsons and is grandmother to her husband's four granddaughters.