Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the book so far. Here is a little summary up until the chapter “April 2004” or page 100:
Dr. Alice Howland is a Harvard psycholinguistics professor, and her husband John is a busy biologist. Their marriage faces challenges due to their demanding careers and frequent separations. They have three children: Anna, Tom, and Lydia, each pursuing their own paths. We find out Anna is currently in the process of trying to have a child with her husband, Tom is in medical school, and Lydia wants to be an actor (which is certainly causing problems to hers and Alice's relationship)
But we find that Alice's life takes a turn when she starts to experience memory lapses and forgets a word during a presentation. She was freaking out about it but then we started to see the pattern of her forgetting things continue. She attributes these issues to menopause but becomes increasingly concerned about a more serious underlying problem. After visiting her physician Alice learns that her symptoms aren't solely due to menopause and undergoes further testing.
Her cognitive decline continues, leading to a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease from a neurologist. The genetic counselor confirms a hereditary PS1 gene mutation in Alice. She was hesitant to share this information with her family and was trying to process it on her own. She eventually shares this information with her family, with Anna and Tom getting tested for the mutation. Anna is found to carry the gene, influencing her decision to have genetic testing on her embryos during in vitro fertilization. We leave off the chapter with Alice feeling some sort of jealousy or resentment against Anna for having control of her “children's” life.
Throughout this first third of the book we get to figure out family dynamics and foreshadow the impacts that this diagnosis will have on the family relationships, as each member grapples with the potential genetic inheritance of the disease. Below will be discussion questions about pages 1-100! Please feel free to leave your thoughts, opinions, and answers in the comments.
1. What were your opinions and thoughts on these chapters? Did anything strike out to you? Did the book bring up emotions that you did not expect?
2. Alice is seen as a strong independent gal before her diagnosis. She traveled alone all summer but now she is afraid to do so. She basically folds to her disease and relies on John. She is giving up her independence at the mercy of Alzheimers but she is just so busy with her lifestyle it doesnt leave room for her to be dealing with these symptoms. How do we think this is going to impact her confidence and mental health in the following years? She says she accepts that she has it but does she really?
3. From the current chapters, we first learn about Alice's life as a professor. Gradually, she discovers her unusual condition, seeks medical help, and ultimately receives a diagnosis. While reading, I was reminded of the Five Stages of Grief (Kübler-Ross,1969). However, what intrigued me was that this condition did not happen to Alice herself, but rather to her husband. When Alice informs him of her illness, he immediately denies it and takes action to prove the doctor wrong. It is often assumed that patients experience psychological shock when faced with a serious illness, but could it be that the psychological impact on the family is no less significant than that on the patient?
4. In the very beginning we see Alice starting to forget many things and honestly to me it happens pretty suddenly, but John ignores her worries and says she's needy or how Alices thinks it's just symptoms of menopause. Gender inequality is a big problem within the medical field where women's pain and feelings are always written off or perceived to not be anything. How do you think that has been represented in the book so far? And how do you think we can change that system as public health officials?
5. In the text, when Alice tells her children about her illness, her biggest concern seems to be that they might blame her for inheriting the disease gene. To some extent, I believe this stems from her aversion to her father. She has high expectations of being a perfect mother to her own children. But what I would like to discuss is how you would react or what actions you would take when you discover that your elders have such a genetic disease in your family?
Here is a little summary up until the chapter “April 2004” or page 100:
Dr. Alice Howland is a Harvard psycholinguistics professor, and her husband John is a busy biologist. Their marriage faces challenges due to their demanding careers and frequent separations. They have three children: Anna, Tom, and Lydia, each pursuing their own paths. We find out Anna is currently in the process of trying to have a child with her husband, Tom is in medical school, and Lydia wants to be an actor (which is certainly causing problems to hers and Alice's relationship)
But we find that Alice's life takes a turn when she starts to experience memory lapses and forgets a word during a presentation. She was freaking out about it but then we started to see the pattern of her forgetting things continue. She attributes these issues to menopause but becomes increasingly concerned about a more serious underlying problem. After visiting her physician Alice learns that her symptoms aren't solely due to menopause and undergoes further testing.
Her cognitive decline continues, leading to a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease from a neurologist. The genetic counselor confirms a hereditary PS1 gene mutation in Alice. She was hesitant to share this information with her family and was trying to process it on her own. She eventually shares this information with her family, with Anna and Tom getting tested for the mutation. Anna is found to carry the gene, influencing her decision to have genetic testing on her embryos during in vitro fertilization. We leave off the chapter with Alice feeling some sort of jealousy or resentment against Anna for having control of her “children's” life.
Throughout this first third of the book we get to figure out family dynamics and foreshadow the impacts that this diagnosis will have on the family relationships, as each member grapples with the potential genetic inheritance of the disease. Below will be discussion questions about pages 1-100! Please feel free to leave your thoughts, opinions, and answers in the comments.
1. What were your opinions and thoughts on these chapters? Did anything strike out to you? Did the book bring up emotions that you did not expect?
2. Alice is seen as a strong independent gal before her diagnosis. She traveled alone all summer but now she is afraid to do so. She basically folds to her disease and relies on John. She is giving up her independence at the mercy of Alzheimers but she is just so busy with her lifestyle it doesnt leave room for her to be dealing with these symptoms. How do we think this is going to impact her confidence and mental health in the following years? She says she accepts that she has it but does she really?
3. From the current chapters, we first learn about Alice's life as a professor. Gradually, she discovers her unusual condition, seeks medical help, and ultimately receives a diagnosis. While reading, I was reminded of the Five Stages of Grief (Kübler-Ross,1969). However, what intrigued me was that this condition did not happen to Alice herself, but rather to her husband. When Alice informs him of her illness, he immediately denies it and takes action to prove the doctor wrong. It is often assumed that patients experience psychological shock when faced with a serious illness, but could it be that the psychological impact on the family is no less significant than that on the patient?
4. In the very beginning we see Alice starting to forget many things and honestly to me it happens pretty suddenly, but John ignores her worries and says she's needy or how Alices thinks it's just symptoms of menopause. Gender inequality is a big problem within the medical field where women's pain and feelings are always written off or perceived to not be anything. How do you think that has been represented in the book so far? And how do you think we can change that system as public health officials?
5. In the text, when Alice tells her children about her illness, her biggest concern seems to be that they might blame her for inheriting the disease gene. To some extent, I believe this stems from her aversion to her father. She has high expectations of being a perfect mother to her own children. But what I would like to discuss is how you would react or what actions you would take when you discover that your elders have such a genetic disease in your family?