{"id":1659,"date":"2009-12-10T22:31:09","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T22:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jolene-test.com.bishopcompsol.com\/?p=1659"},"modified":"2009-12-10T22:31:09","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T22:31:09","slug":"still-alice-still-dorothy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/still-alice-still-dorothy\/","title":{"rendered":"Still Alice, Still Dorothy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-338.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1660\" title=\"shapeimage_1-33\" src=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-338-300x213.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-338-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-338-422x300.png 422w, https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/shapeimage_1-338.png 556w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Monday afternoon, I went to see Mom. When I arrived at my brother\u2019s house where she lives, she was wearing the same coral colored sweatshirt she\u2019s worn almost every day since we got rid of the ugly gray cardigan she insisted on wearing all the time. She greeted me and said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad you came a day early. You shouldn\u2019t be out in the storm that\u2019s coming tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked her where she wanted to go for lunch, and she said she was hungry for pancakes and sausage. \u201cIHOP or Village Inn?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t ask hard questions,\u201d she replied. \u201cYou decide. But afterwards, I need to get a new pocket calendar and Christmas cards. And it\u2019s a good thing you came a day early. You shouldn\u2019t be out in the storm tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When we finished eating, we went to Target. \u201cWhy are we here?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor Christmas cards and a pocket calendar,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight. And it\u2019s a good thing you came a day early. There\u2019s a storm coming tomorrow.\u201d After she picked out a calendar she asked, \u201cWhat else did I need?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChristmas cards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight, It\u2019s a good thing you came a day early. A big storm is coming tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We went back to my brother\u2019s and worked on her checkbook. While she recorded her automatic withdrawals and deposits, Mom said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad you came a day early. You shouldn\u2019t be out in the big storm that\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sigh.<\/p>\n<p>All Mom\u2019s idiosyncrasies can be hard to tolerate, even though my head knows she has early stage Alzheimer&#8217;s and can\u2019t help repeating herself. But recently, a wonderful novel, <em>Still Alice<\/em>, by Lisa Genova increased my understanding of what\u2019s happening to Mom in a way other literature about the disease hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>The story is told from the perspective of fifty-year-old Alice, a brilliant Harvard professor diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer\u2019s. Throughout the novel, readers experience Alice\u2019s mental decline and frustration with her. Though she fails steadily and rapidly in the course of the narrative, the essence of Alice remains and by the end of the book, she\u2019s still Alice, perhaps more Alice than she had ever been before.<\/p>\n<p>Reading the book affirmed who my mother is. Intelligent and determined as Alice, and failing more slowly, she is still Dorothy. As this disease strips away her memories and her reasoning ability, it is also revealing a vulnerable, loving and funny woman she never allowed me to see when she was well. She\u2019s still Dorothy, more Dorothy than she\u2019s been since childhood when adult inhibitions and expectations had not yet limited her Dorothyness.<\/p>\n<p>If someone you love has Alzheimer\u2019s, you need to read this book. It will increase your compassion and patience when your mother, father, or sibling is irrational or stubborn. Even if you don\u2019t know someone with the disease, you will find value in <em>Still Alice<\/em>. Genova\u2019s writing is well-crafted, and she has created a worthy, fragile and unforgettable heroine.<\/p>\n<p><em>Still Alice<\/em> is more than a good read. It\u2019s a reminder of the essence of personality, of the constancy of love, and the value of human life. I needed that reminder. Maybe you do, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday afternoon, I went to see Mom. When I arrived at my brother\u2019s house where she lives, she was wearing the same coral colored sweatshirt she\u2019s worn almost every day since we got rid of the ugly gray cardigan she insisted on wearing all the time. She greeted me and said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[59,725,818],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-alzheimers","tag-lisa-genova","tag-mom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Still Alice, Still Dorothy - Jolene Philo Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Still Alice, Still Dorothy - Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Monday afternoon, I went to see Mom. 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