Status
Publication
Description
"Alexandra Butler--daughter of the Pulitzer-Price winning gerontologist Robert Butler and noted social worker and psychotherapist Myrna Lewis--writes of how she cared for her mother during her mother's sudden, brief, and terminal struggle with brain cancer. This memoir examines the strains of caregiving on both the caregiver and the one cared for. Alexandra was 24 when her mother was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, and spent the following months as her mother's primary caregiver, putting her own life on hold during that time. In addition to tracing the course of her mother's tragic illness, Alexandra also examines how the illness affected herself and everyone in her family. Ironically, both Myrna Lewis and Robert Butler were noted gerontologists who championed the concepts of healthy aging--they co-authored the classic work Love and Sex After 60, for example--yet both found their life's themes sorely tested by Lewis's condition. Butler in particular could not handle the illness and left much of the care to Alexandra. Thus the work also examines what happens when a social worker such as Lewis tragically transitions from professional to client"--… (more)