Losing Lou-Ann

By Clinton A. Erb

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962723266
• ISBN13: 9780962723261
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Holistic Education Pr
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

My mom was diagnosed with Pick's Disease.....

Just a few months before losing my dad to the ravages of diabetes, I learned I would lose my mom to a much less familiar form of dementia called Pick's Disease (plus she was diagnosed with the more familiar Alzheimer's). I must have bought a dozen books about dementia, but the one titled "Losing Lou-Ann" was specifically about Pick's Disease, or Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). Written by her husband, Clinton A. Erb, it is a loving, heart-wrenching and sometimes humorous account of his wife's rapid decline in a very short period of time. It provided me the information I needed about what to do and questions to ask, as well as a 'heads up' about what I might expect to experience with my mom's decline. I am so thankful for Mr. Erb's literary efforts! This is invaluable reading for anyone faced with this insidious disease. Thank you, Mr. Erb, and God bless you!!

Losing Lou-Ann is a very powerful book

Losing Lou-Anne is a very powerful love story, and it serves as both a personal/medical history as well as literature. It reminds me of Solzenitzn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, in which the reader is often forced to ask: "Just how much more can these people take?", and yet like Ivan, the author of Losing Lou-Ann persevered, continually struggling to uphold the dignity of his sick wife, who was condemned to serve out the slow death sentence of this awful dimentia called Pick's disease. The author, Clint Erb, wrote that life became simple once his wife's disease was diagnosed, and yet it was far from simple to find the strength to battle over seven years to preserve the fundamental human dignity and respect for his wife whose individuality was continually under assault by this insidious brain disease. Erb has achieved a remarkable literary feat in clearly conveying throughout the book the power of Lou-Ann's personality and his own courage and love for her as the disease slowly and piece by piece took away everything. Losing Lou-Ann is an inspiration to the rest of us who face obstacles and challenges on a much more reasonable scale. The example set by the author in his undying love for his wife has a much more universal appeal than just to families dealing with a specific disease.

Beautiful Tear Jerker

I read this book because the love of my life has been diagnosed with Pick's disease and I wanted to know what I faced. What a beautiful love story. I only hope I am as good at doing what I must do as the author was. It is painfully obvious to any who reads this book that Pick's disease takes two lives, the one with it and the care giver. I was fortunate in finding a magnificant nursing home for my love early in her diagnosis and can rest easy knowing she is well cared for. While all Pick's patients are different, the general tone is the same for all. No cure, no treatment and certain death. I urge anyone with a loved one diagnosed with Pick's to read this book as well as care givers in the healing professions.

Losing Lou-Ann

Losing Lou-Ann is a biography of a Pick's disease patient from diagnosis to death, seven years later. The author is Lou-Ann's husband, Clint Erb, a professor at the University of Vermont. The book appears to be based primarily upon the author's diary written during his wife's illness, though some medical records are cited. Losing Lou-Ann provides a description of the course of Pick's disease for a specific victim and the emotional, financial, and other effects upon Lou-Ann's husband, children, parents, in-laws, church, and community. The various responses-admirable, indifferent, or hurtful-are described. I purchased and read this book because my wife was recently diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a degenerative brain disease category that includes Pick's disease. I wanted to learn what might lay ahead in more detail than provided by medical synopses. Losing Lou-Ann provides such a view, sad as it is. The disease-related events reported in the book seem completely true, judging from early experiences with my wife. Losing Lou-Ann does not allude to one aspect of Pick's disease, possibly genetic influences. This omission is surprising since during Lou-Ann's illness her daughter married. It seems reasonable that hereditary linkages would have been discussed at that time and thus be included in the book. Doubtlessly, less was known then than now, but scholars have recently reported an apparent autosomal-dominant inheritance pattern for familial frontotemporal dementia. This book is also a love story. Lou-Ann's husband Clint visited her almost every day, sometimes more than once, for the years when she lived in a nursing home. When Lou-Ann could not feed herself, Clint regularly feed her dinner. When she was incontinent, he changed her diapers. And always Clint longed to have Lou-Ann's head upon his shoulder as in years past.This is a book about a terrible disease and a great love.

A moving account

This book delves into the world of living with a person suffering from a terminal illness. Lou-Ann declines from being a bright 43 year old woman into having the mind of a three year old in only one year. She is finally diagnosed with Pick's Disease, an illness silimar to Alzheimer's. Her husband, Clint, sticks with her, visiting her every day at the nursing home she is finally forced to go to. Their story of a strong love and the life that is lead by the family of a Pick's patient is moving, funny, and wonderful. It should be read by everyone!