Midnight in Suburbia

Miscellaneous Information

Subject: Care giving an Alzheimer's suffer
Inspiration: Taking care of my mother
Thoughts: I have decided to attempt to use my experience as the caregiver to a person (my mother) suffering from Alzheimer's disease in a fiction novel.
Working Title: Midnight in Suburbia
Other Possible Titles: The Long Good-Bye
         Hidden Blessings
Character Names and genders: Daniella (female); protagonist
         Amity (female); antagonist
         Ethan (male); minor character #1
         Preston (male); minor character #2

Commitment Letter

Dear Prosperous Snow,

During the month of November I will best to complete the novel Midnight in Suburbia by November 30, 2013. I will let nothing, not even moving to a smaller place, stop me from writing at least 1,667 words a day. If I have problems accessing the internet because of the move or some unforeseen event, I will write the novel by hand. In addition, I will not play any solitary games in November.

I know that I can do this because I have the ability to do anything I set my mind to doing. I can do this because I am awesomely stubborn and can push forward through any difficulty. I am awesomely intelligent and can figure out a way around any barrier that gets in the way of writing at least 50,000 words during the month of November. I will complete this by by breaking the daily writing into fifteen or twenty minute intervals, the time I can sit in a chair and still get up easily because of the osteoarthritis in my knees. I will time myself by using the oven timer I that sits on my desk beside my computer.

At the end of November, when I have completed Midnight in Suburbia or written 50,000 words on the novel, I will reward myself by purchasing a pound of whole bean Kona coffee, a Marie Calendar's rhubarb pie, and a container of French vanilla ice cream. I will make a fresh carafe of coffee and drink it while eating pie and ice cream, as I watch one of my favorite television shows.

With Stubborn Determination,

Prosperous Snow

Market Definition

The target audience for Midnight in Suburbia are people over the age of thirty who have aging parents. Alzheimer's disease affects people from every strata of society, but the main caregivers are woman who have to chose between taking care of aging parents and parents-in-law at are affected by this disease. As life spans lengthen this disease begins affecting many people in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. Once the disease is diagnosed, which usually happens when the disease is in the moderate to sever category.

The target audience are those people who will be caring for the Alzheimer's patient. The choice is between caring for the aging parent or spouse or remaining in the workforce. The persons usually caring for the patient are woman in their prime earning years or those who are approaching the age to collect Social Security. This is the target audience for Midnight in Suburbia and many of these caregivers own their own homes and are working at careers when the loved one is diagnosed. This audience is rich, poor, or middle class because the disease, either directly or indirectly, affects everyone.

Object Description

Description of a set of False Teeth in a Tupperware Container

The Tupperware container was round and blue, with the type of lid that you push in the middle to seal. Inside the container was a set of false teeth cover by what, at first, appeared to be water. However, if you tasted it you would find it was a clear liquir, which had a strong alchoal scent. The liquire was Vodka and the vodka completely covered the false teeth.

When the teeth were taken out of the container the teeth themselves was clean of any type of stain. The upper plate of the teeth was pink and white. The section that went in the upper part of the mouth was pink and the teeth were white. The teeth were perfect, with one exception. The was a chip out of one of the front teeth. Anyone just glancing at the teeth would not realize that there was a chip in the tooth, but upon close examination it was detectable.

The lower plate fit into the lower jaw. The part that fit into the jaw was pink while the teeth were white. However, one of the teeth had what appeared to be a coffee stain. If you brushed the teeth with some type of denture cleaner, the stain would not come out. What cause the stain could not be determined, but everyone presumed it was coffee. The rest of the teeth were white and beautiful.

The dentures lay in the Tupperware container as if they fit there. Anyone could tell that the owner of the teeth was an intriguing person simply because of the chip in the upper plate and the stained tooth in the lower. I the container was dropped the lid would not come off, so the teeth inside were safe from getting lost. It could not be determined if the teeth would break if the container was dropped.

The owner of the teeth is a 90 year old woman, who took the teeth out every night to wash them. She brushed them with a denture cleansing cream and after brushing them put them in a cleansing solution to make sure that they were clean and ready to wear when she put tthem in her mouth each morning. The teeth was the only set of teeth this woman had, she did not see any sense in getting another set while this was was still functioning. The teeth had never been relined or repaired.

The contain had been the only thing the teeth were put in after they were wash. The woman used a separate glass to put the teeth in when she used the denture cleaner fizzy stuff to clean them with. If the teeth could talk they would have had an interesting story to tell. If anyone had been willing to listen.

Hook

Memory is everything to a human being. It contains our past and present and makes up our future. If a person loses his or her memory for even a short time it has devastating effects on the individual. When someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, that causes memory lose, then both the family and the individual are effected. Unfortunately, with Alzheimer's disease lose of memory is not the only issue confronted by the family or the caregiver. Alzheimer's results from changes in the brain and the patient's personality can be effected. Some of the other problems are paranoia and anger. A person often loses touch with reality and may not be able to distinguish the difference between a dream that occurs in the night and something that has happened during the day or in the past.

Daniella Coffey returns to her childhood home for a Thanksgiving visit. When she arrives she finds the fire department putting out a kitchen fire that started because the turkey was left in the oven too long. Her mother, Amity Coffey-Shupe, appears a bit confused about how the fire started, but Daniella does not think find that significant. After Daniella's half-brother, Ethan Shupe, arrives they decide that Daniella will return to Las Vegas with Amity while Ethan remains at their mother's house to oversee the repairs to the kitchen. After Daniella and Amity arrive in Las Vegas, Amity declines.

Daniella does not understand what is happening to her mother. Daniella eventually take her mother to a doctor who specialized in geriatric medicine. When the doctor diagnoses Amity with dementia, Daniella has to decide whether to retire from her business and care for her mother or place Amity in a senior care facility.

Query Letter

Dear Editor,

The novel Midnight in Suburbia is about a business woman in her early sixties that is faced with the choice of giving up her career to care for her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. The protagonist. Daniella Coffey, goes to Oklahoma to visit her mother, Amity Coffey-Shupe, for Thanksgiving. When she arrives at her mother's home, she finds the fire department putting out a kitchen fire. After some investigation, it is determined that the fire started in the oven with the turkey. Amity is confused and does not remember putting the turkey in the oven to cook before she went to visit a neighbor.

After discussing the situation with her brother, Ethan Shupe, who arrived after Daniella, it is decided that Daniella will take her mother back to Las Vegas until the house is repaired. Ethan volunteers to remain at the house until the repairs are completed and their mother can move back in. After arriving in Las Vegas, Daniella take her mother to her home. Once in Las Vegas, Amity's actions become more unusual and worrisome until Daniella is forced to take her mother to a doctor specializing in geriatric medicine. Once her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease Daniella has to decided whether to give up her career and take care of her mother or put Amity in an assisted living home that specializing in dementia.

Sincerely,
Prosperous Snow

Cultural Setting - Alzheimer's disease and the Family

The family taking care of an Alzheimer's sufferer are patients as well. The caregiver, which is usually a woman, has to take care of the mother, father, husband, etc. who suffers with this disease is burdened both financially and emotionally while caring for the sufferer. The caregiver may have to give up her career in order to care for the loved one who has this disease.

Alzheimer's is one of the more common forms of dementia. In the early stages the symptoms of the disease may not be recognized because one of the first symptoms is short-term memory lose, which is a common as a person ages. As the disease progresses, it effects the sufferer's emotions and personality. Eventually the sufferer loses control of all bodily functions such as bowels and bladder. The sufferer also has problems eating and may have to be spoon fed or have their food liquified in a blender. Eventually, the sufferer dies of complications of the disease.

The family is burden with medical expenses because things like adult diapers and disposable mattress pads are expensive. These are only some of the expenses the family of a sufferer faces and many of these expenses are not covered by health insurance. If the person is on Medicare or Medicaid some of these expenses may be covered, but in the case of Medicaid there is the possibility of a lien being put on the sufferer's house if that person owns a home.

The family can get help from a hospice when the person is in the later stages of the disease, but this cost. If the person has regular health insurance there is no coverage for this. The family has to decide if they want the patient to be put on life support or just given pain medication until the time of death. Unless the sufferer stated his or her wishes in a living will before being diagnosed there often is a dispute between family members as to the type of end of life care given.

One of the terms used for the death of a sufferer is transition. The person suffering from Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia transcends from life to death.

Thanatology1 is the scientific study of death.

Research Links

What is Alzheimer's? http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp
Alzheimer's disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer%27s_disease
Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet
Alzheimer's disease http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alzheimers-disease/DS00161
Alzheimer's disease http://www.medicinenet.com/alzheimers_disease_causes_stages_and_symptoms/article...
Alzheimer's disease http://nihseniorhealth.gov/alzheimersdisease/whatisalzheimersdisease/01.html
Alzheimer's disease stages http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/alzheimers-disease-stages
Alzheimer's disease http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/alzheimers-disease/overview.html...
Alzheimer's disease http://www.helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_disease_symptoms_stages.htm
Alzheimer's Care & Support http://www.exelonpatch.com/info/For_the_Caregiver/alzheimers-care.jsp?usertrack....
30 Quotes and Inspiration for Caregivers http://www.agingcare.com/Articles/caregivers-quotes-inspiration-141133.htm
Alzheimer's Caregiving: Alzheimer's Association blog http://blog.alz.org/
Baby Names, Unique Baby Names http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/baby-names/articles
Ranch Style Home Plans http://www.dreamhomesource.com/house-plans/dhs/styles/ranch-house-plans.html
Dream Dictionary: The Meanings of Dreams http://petrix.com/dreams/index.html
Alzheimer's Foundation of America http://alzfdn.org/
Horoscope http://www.horoscope.com/
Novel Outline Worksheets http://www.creative-writing-now.com/novel-outline.html
Fiction Writing: What's Your Point of View http://menwithpens.ca/fiction-writing-whats-your-point-of-view/
Numerology http://numerologylife.com/
Token Rock http://www.tokenrock.com/numerology/expression_number.php

Research Books

The 36-Hour Day: A family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life by Nancy L. Mace, M.A. and Peter V. Rabins, M.D., M.P.H. (4th Edition)

Footnotes
1  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatology