Living with, and writing about, Alzheimer\u27s disease

Bercaw, Nancy Stearns

English

UVM ScholarWorks

Writing about Alzheimer’s _____________________  It’s as easy as one, two, three (years) if your father kept his father’s brain in a jar.  _______  This is the story of the book.     N E U R O L O G Y ,  A L Z H E I M E R ' S ,  M R I ,  R E P U B L I C A N  P A R T Y ,  M A D  C O W  D I S E A S E ,  A N G K O R  W A T ,  C O L D  W A R ,  K R U G E R R A N D S ,  P H I L I P P I N E S ,  V I R G I N I A ,  B O O K S ,  L O V E  &  D E A T H ,  B E R C A W S ,  S N A K E S ,  G U N S ,  T H E  F A R M ,  R I V E R S ,  S O U T H E R N  G E N T L E M A N   How to preserve the contents of my father’s head?  The trajectory of an idea.  Beau’s MRI: Atrophy consistent with A.D.  Manila 1938 Clark Air Base 1965 What to do with our family history?  Stewing about the P.I. while in Singapore.  Nature vs. Nurture    Where do I fit into the story? Coming back home.  Bercaws vs. Alzheimer’s   Seven Days, June 2010 The New York Times, January 2011 Stage One Long before people develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s, the disease is beginning its invisible assault.  Stage Two People hurtling toward an Alzheimer’s diagnosis sometimes show mild cognitive impairment. They still function normally to the outside world, but family and friends might notice very slight changes. Stage Three An Alzheimer’s diagnosis is made when the patient’s memory, thinking and behavioral symptoms show marked decline, thereby rendering them unable to function in the world.        WRITING THE BOOK  2010-2012  “We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.” —Joyce Carol Oates  Bringing all the pieces together.  Excerpt from first section/stage.   “We taunted the python with a live chicken. I danced that chicken in front of the snake’s eyes like the snake charmers I had seen in India. I pretended the chicken was the pendulum of a clock and I tried to hypnotize the python with it. The snake’s muscles relaxed and someone grabbed the boy.”   “Weren’t you scared?”   “Bercaws and Filipinos aren’t cowards.”   “Are Filipinos scared of Bercaws?” I am afraid of my father—not certain which one that made me. I wonder if Beau’s father—whom he called Berc—had the same effect on my dad. Berc lives in the Veterans’ Hospital in Roanoke because he forgot everything, including his family and himself.    “Everyone’s afraid of Bercaws,” my dad says from the driver’s seat, laughing uproariously. I can see his big blue eyes squinting and watering in the rear-view mirror.  Excerpt from second section/stage.    When I feel better, I walk down Asin Road, where the famed Baguio furniture makers congregate to sell their wares. This is where my father had an enormous desk constructed out of the indigenous kamagong wood. The desk was made to my father’s specifications. It accommodated his great height and held his piles of journals, files, paperwork, reflex hammers and prescription pads.    And his father’s brain in a jar at the center of it all.    Excerpt from third section/stage.   “I’d sure appreciate it if you’d take me home,” he says flatly, and then turns away.   I stare at the wind chime and swallow hard. He didn’t actually ask me to take him home, which he knows I can’t do. He made a statement that requires no action, but yet made his feelings known.    I fantasize about taking him home: maybe to the farm in Virginia. I could try to buy it back from the Barbers. He’d know exactly where he was there.    Or to Clark Air Base in the Philippines. We could get an apartment and go see the South Seas. He could die where he saved people from dying, instead of dying with patients. Alzheimer’s taunting him to the bitter end.   BIAJ Blog, Spring 2011 Populating the blog with stories from the book. Generating a following while agent tries to sell manuscript.            Ask.       Discover.   Dear Bob,    Newt just let me know that he thinks the intro is fantastic and he’s pleased to be associated with it. He also thanked you, Nancy, for your kind note.    I made a few (what I believe are) very minor tweaks to a couple sentences to be in line with what Newt is saying about Alz in his other communications on the trail. Bob, if you prefer the way you had it, my sense is that Newt would be fine with your original version.    Nancy, my thanks to you for what I’m sure will be an important contribution to raising awareness and stirring this country to action.   Robert Egge  Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy for the Alzheimer’s Association  Help from higher ups because the publishing trade only wants books written by Tori Spelling.   Create.     Brain in a Jar is an American-gothic tale of love, grief, genetics, obsession, adventure, fear and courage. The Bercaws might break your heart, but they’ll also remind you why Alzheimer’s disease must take center stage in politics, medicine and art.          Bob Kerrey and Newt Gingrich      June 2012 Wait. See. Keep Busy.   New York Times article on families in Colombia.   Eric M. Reiman, MD Executive Director, Banner  Alzheimer's Institute Co-Director, Alzheimer's  Prevention Initiative   Approached by UF for Fund The End. Or is it? March 15, 2012 Simon and Schuster says no.  “This memoir’s extraordinarily well-written and felt. She’s a real writer. That said, a colleague of mine at the Free Press (a sister imprint to S&S, as you know) has just signed up a book with an overly similar set-up.” April 2, 2012 Dr. Beauregard Lee Bercaw dies.  Fellowship created in his name at the Brain Institute, UF Medical School.  Summer 2012 What’s next? Will Brain in a Jar get published?  Will the Fellowship be funded? Will I get AD like my DAD and grandfather? Sounds like another book.  Mermaid in a Bottle?         No (Grey) Matter What  Brain in a Jar is a lasting account of my life with Beau Bercaw and Alzheimer’s Disease.   Nothing can take that away.   

Brain in a Jar: Writing about Alzheimer\u27s Disease

https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&amp;context=conference_day

Brain in a Jar: Writing about Alzheimer\u27s Disease

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