COPING WITH COMEDY AUTHOR TO SHARE INSIGHTS ON CARE.Byline: Sharon Cotal Staff Writer VALENCIA - The latest page-turner to hit the area isn't a mystery or a romance, but a book on elder care. Done in the style of Erma Bombeck Erma Louise Bombeck (February 21 1927 – April 22, 1996), born Erma Fiste, was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for a newspaper column that depicted suburban home life in the second half of the 20th century. , the book is written with humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was that keeps the reader riveted while the author informs and educates. ``It's the first book on elder care that people can't put down,'' said Jacqueline Marcell, author of ``Elder Rage, or Take My Father ... Please!: How to Survive Caring for Aging Parents.'' ``I've obviously hit a chord with this issue,'' she said. Marcell said she was completely unprepared when her elderly parents started displaying the beginning signs of dementia. Her frail mother was easier to care for, but the condition caused Marcell's father to be obstinate ob·sti·nate adj. 1. Stubbornly adhering to an attitude, opinion, or course of action. 2. Difficult to alleviate or cure. and sometimes downright mean, making him difficult to deal with, she said. ``I went through 40 caregivers - I couldn't find anyone who would put up with him,'' Marcell said. ``If I hadn't had a sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" sense of humour, humor, humour , I never would have made it.'' Marcell, who lives in Irvine, will share her experiences and sign copies of her book at 2 p.m. Sunday at Borders Books & Music, 24445 Town Center Drive in Valencia. She said she wrote the book with a humorous bent because that's her personality, but also because she wanted readers to be able to get through it and get the information they could use in a similar situation. Publishing and promoting the book herself, Marcell has sold 4,000 copies of ``Elder Rage'' in the three months since its release, she said. Through medication, tough love and the use of adult day care, Marcell has been able to make life more manageable, both for herself and her parents, she said. She considers it her mission in life to help others caring for aging parents. ``There are 76 million baby boomers See generation X. out there, and they're all in denial in denial Psychiatry To be in a state of denying the existence or effects of an ego defense mechanism. See Denial. until the problem finally hits them in the face - sometimes literally,'' Marcell said. ``If you delay diagnosis because you think their behavior is normal, then you miss out on getting your loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl early help to delay the process,'' she said. Copies of ``Elder Rage'' will be available at the book signing for $19.95, or can be ordered online at www.elderrage.com. |
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