Main description:

Agnes Juhasz, writing with great humanity and understanding, draws on many years of working with people with dementia to show how she has learned to communicate and work collaboratively with sufferers and find the essence of the person hiding behind the symptoms of the disease. Based around real-life stories she shows what she has found works and does not work, and candidly reveals her own emotions of frustration, irritation and - sometimes - amusement, and how she has learnt to cope with these. Her honesty in describing the highs and lows of being a carer is an inspiration to all those struggling to find the positive side of an illness we have all come to fear.

Contents:

Introduction; Tight-rope walking on my nerves; It is not going to work this way; Personal insults; Who has been fired from the factory; Small victories; Terrifying numbers; Survival techniques; Care home versus in-home care; The 'most not do' list; There is always someone behind dementia; All my respects to the cactuses; The secret language; 'I've got bloody dementia!'; Stigmas, myths, facts; Shattered minds; Self-assessment; Finale