Title: Traveling With Alzheimer’s: Year Two
Authors: Brian Scott Edwards, MD, FNLA
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-7960-8598-3
Genre: Travel Biography
Pages: 168
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Like any terminal disease, people with Alzheimer’s are subject to all kinds of stigma and stereotypes. It can be difficult for an Alzheimer’s patient to not fall prey to these ungracious expectations. When author, doctor and Alzheimer’s patient, Brian Scott Edwards, was diagnosed, he was determined to accept his diagnosis without accepting the stereotype. In his first book, Edwards documents how his diagnosis was made. In his second book, Edwards is out to prove people with Alzheimer’s can live normal lives. Traveling With Alzheimer’s: Year Two chronicles the second year after his diagnosis, a year which he and his wife make the most of with worldly travels. In his book, Edwards discusses what it’s like to live with Alzheimer’s, the changes he made in order to function independently, and how important it is for patients relax and enjoy the time they have.
Edwards lives with an incredible amount of uncertainty. Alzheimer’s patients may live two years, or they may live twenty years, he explains. The disease progresses differently for everyone. Although there are ways to treat Alzheimer’s, there is no cure for it. Readers will find Traveling With Alzheimer’s to be optimistic without being unrealistic. Edwards details the different medications he tried, how he changed his exercise and eating habits, the different cognitive exercises he practiced, and of course, the many international trips he and his wife enjoyed.
After he was diagnosed, Edwards writes, he didn’t tell his close friends or extended family. He wanted them to act as a living barometer, so to speak, to notice his failing memory without their opinion being tainted by the knowledge of his disease. He also blogs and journals regularly. Over time, Edwards notices more spelling mistakes in his writing, but is still proud to write two books and consequently be invited to multiple author fairs. His life with Alzheimer’s progresses “one step backward, one step forward,” in his words. He is able to fly to Houston by himself, but one day gets lost driving to his local dentist’s office. He learns to set alarms and take notes. Edwards keeps a gracious sense of humor, as evidenced in a story about his morning ritual with his wife. When they wake up in the morning, his wife asks if he knows her name. He does. She asks if he knows his name. He names her ex-husband. “I hope not,” his wife replies.
“No one needs to be the John Wayne of Alzheimer’s,” Edwards writes. Although he himself has contributed to observational studies, Edwards maintains no one with Alzheimer’s should burden themselves with finding a cure. Already living under the stigma and fear of this disease, patients shouldn’t stress themselves with trying to escape it. Traveling with Alzheimer’s strikes a perfect chord between accepting the disease without becoming the disease.
Traveling With Alzheimer’s: Year Two is an account of Edwards travels, but the book itself is much more significant than that. Between itineraries and journal entries, there are book reviews and blog articles. His second year is not easy by any means, but Edwards stays up to date with the latest research, and is constantly working to learn something new and share it with others through his writing. Traveling With Alzheimer’s is a beacon of possibilities and an alternative to the self-sacrificing fallacy stereotype.
