Yashoda - Tamil Short Film on AD

Yasodha - Synopsis The film follows a childless couple living in Chennai, of whom the wife, Kasthuri has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Just before the nation-wide lockdown was announced, the husband, Sridhar travels to his hometown to see his elderly mother; leaving Kasthuri in the care of the house help. Unable to return to Chennai due to the lockdown and not being able to reach Kasthuri or the house help, Sridhar starts to panic and fear for the health and safety of his wife. Upon the insistence of his cousin, who lives with his mother, Sridhar hesitantly calls his neighbour, Shiva, whom he does not feel fondly about. Despite the hostility between them, Shiva has a soft spot for Kasthuri as she reminds him of his late mother. Shiva informs him that he had just seen the house help leave shortly before. Both Sridhar and Shiva are worried and anxious, and Shiva decides to go check on Kasthuri. To Shiva’s dismay, Kasthuri is nowhere to be found inside her house. Where is Kasthuri? To know watch “Yasodha” short film written by Sripriya. Acting by Sripriya, Nasser, Nitya, Banu Prakash, Shiva Kumar & others.



 



This film has 2.45 Lakh views on Yutube and about 600 comments.

Book Review: Handling Alzheimer's with Courage

Book Review: Handling Alzheimer’s with Courage By Wg Cdr DP Sabharwal

Beautifully narrates the touching story of a caregiver husband who looked after his Alzheimer’s wife for eleven years.  Initial wrong diagnosis wasting away precious two years, slow and steady progression (decline) from bad to worse, daily struggle to manage the most difficult and non-cooperating patient, sheer exhaustion leading to mental dilemmas, waning patience and constant wondering what is in store next day – all are discussed thread bare in most vivid detail.

First chapter describes eight distinguishable stages of AD. The second chapter asks “why her?” for which there is no answer.  Aspects like: absence of a cure, uncertainty of period of suffering ahead, struggles to come to terms with reality are dealt with deftly.  Subsequent chapters deal with decline to death. Part B shows what he did and how he handled various situations. Giving medicine and food, physical caring – toileting, bathing, walking and all minute details of everyday happenings are mentioned.

The last chapter gives practical tips to the caregiver on:  the need to visit doctor regularly, allowing patient to participate in conversation, not even hinting at deteriorating status, being aware that patient’s senses are alive, remembering that patient’s acts are unintentional, taking doctor’s advice seriously. What to forget and what to remember etc. Never succumb to guilt feelings and never grudge bad moments, advises this author.

A copy of the book was given to all participants of Dementia 2018 – International Symposium on Dementia and 22^nd National Conference of ARDSI recently held in Bangalore. We have heard of ‘return-gifts’ being given in parties. What a better gift can I get after spending three intensely interesting and useful days of lectures, poster sessions, quizzes, slogans, entertainment, mingling with dignitaries etc – all connected with AD? This book is a veritable Bible for Dementia caregivers. It will encourage caregivers to face hardships bravely, armed with deeper understanding of dementia, nay, AD patients in particular.

Handling Alzheimer’s with courage by Wg Cdr DP Sabhariwal, Veteran. Publisher: Aero Academy Bengaluru Second Ed 2018 Rs 150/- Pages 112.  aerosaby@gmail.com

Book Review: Remember Me - You Me and Dementia: By Sailesh Mishra

Remember Me: You Me and Dementia: By Sailesh Mishra Published by Silver Innings, Mumbai Oct 2017 pp xii + 253 Price Rs 450/ - Available through Amazon

(Book Review by Dr P Vyasamoorthy)

This book by Sailesh Mishra, who has over a decade of experience in elder care, is a timely addition to  Indian literature on the topic. It has about 50 chapters. Three chapters (ch 1-3) explain basics of dementia and two more (Ch 8 &9) deal with differentiating dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Specific issues / problems like: memory loss, incontinence, hallucinations, depression, delusions, aggressive behaviour, wandering away, bed sores are dealt with in separate chapters.

Care giving activities like Washing, bathing, giving food, dressing, dental care, keeping patients occupied with hobbies, pastimes or games have again been dealt with chapters in their own right.

As many as seven poems are included indicating that poetic expression lends itself to cathartic emotiveness. Just giving one example, Sarala’s poem  “Dementia, the Demon” typifies an AD patient and depicts the frustrations of a caregiver.

Advice to caregivers on avoiding care giver stress is provided.  Role of community in care provision take up two chapters (Ch 47 & 49).  Chapters 44 & 25 answer the most frequently asked question: “I am becoming forgetful; am I slipping into AD?”

Chapter 26 “What if I have dementia?” will surely be comforting to many seniors

who are likely to be diagnosed for AD as it gives practical tips. “Living Alone” also falls into this category.

End Matter contains endorsements, acknowledgements, resources, and references. References lean heavily on the sub theme of non-pharma approach to dealing with   dementia.  Afterword by Prof Siva Raju adds credibility to the author.

One small advice when the book goes for revision: In the Table of Contents, some chapter headings are in bold and others are in normal font giving an incorrect impression that the chapters are grouped according to some sub topics.  If chapters are really grouped into sub themes it will be very useful.

On the whole the book is neatly produced, cover design is attractive and the pricing is just right for Indian market. It will be useful to students and teachers of gerontology and geriatrics, doctors, Managers of Care giving centers, Caregivers and trainers and to any library in Senior Citizens   Associations.   

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Pat yourself if you are polyglot

Pat yourself if you are a polyglot

A Polyglot is a person who is conversant with many languages. I had a senior citizen friend, late Sri Chincholi Sarvotthama Rao (80+), a retired Director of AP Forest Department. He boasted of knowing – hold your breath – sixteen languages. Some of those languages are tribal languages spoken by a few thousands of certain tribal communities. He managed to know just enough to mingle with them and avoid being a victim of cannibalization.

People learn several languages, as it was in the case of Mr Rao mentioned above, out of necessity of their job requirements. Sales and marketing guys, doctors in urban cities are good examples. One Dr Madhusudhana Rao, our family doctor of yester years, knew many languages. He managed to diagnose correctly and communicate effectively while dispensing medicines about its compliance.

My daughter, when she was three, was being interviewed by the school principal for admission; she told the principal: “Teacher, I know four languages, how many do you know?” She got admitted without further questions.

If you want to find out the mother tongue of a friend, just give him bunch of currency notes to count or a simple summation problem. He will use the mother tongue, mostly. You can bet and try.

A polyglot has many advantages.

·         Languages are a binding factor.  People gel with each other easily once they know you belong to them, from language angle. You can have a large circles of friends based on many languages you know.

·         If you are skillful in many languages, risk of suffering from dementia in old age is minimized. One reason why the spread of Alzheimer’s disease in India is far less when compared to the west is that most Indians know more than a couple of languages. It is because of diversity of our culture and our school education system.

·         When you are hiring a maid servant you should ensure that you and your spouse know one more language than the maid knows. For instance if the servant knows Telugu and Hindi, you and your spouse must know Telugu, Hindi and one more language that servant does not know. Then only you can converse with your spouse about / against the maid in question, among yourselves. If the servant is talking ill of you with her friends, then also my advice will be useful.

I know Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English. French and German – I have forgotten as quickly as I learnt them; I have retaining just enough skill to ascertain the language of an article and perhaps translate the title.  Sanskrit was my second language in School. I cannot avoid exposure to Hindi as Modi’s government is imposing it on everyone in devious ways.

When it comes to language skills, we talk in terms of Read, Write and Speak. Again in terms of fluency you may think of ‘working knowledge’, average and fully conversant (expert) etc. Where would you place yourself in such a grid?