I’ve always been fascinated by thinking. I’ve read dozens of books on how 
the brain works, on consciousness, on the various theories about imagination and intelligence. The brain is an incredibly complex bit of business. So it should come as no surprise this hyper-complex system breaks down once in a while. Keeper tells the story of a woman who’s body betrays her and what the effects of this betrayal is on those that have to take care of her.
No one knows what causes Alzheimer’s Disease. There are a few theories floating around, but there always seems to be one or two exceptions to the rule. Keeper author Andrea Gillies talks about these differing ideas and examines the lives of many famous victims of Alzheimer’s, such as Iris Murdock,Willem de Kooning, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Andrea drifts off in and out of academia as she puts the pieces of Alzheimer’s together in how they relate to her Mother-In-Law, Nancy.
Nancy is the subject of Andrea’s obsession. Nancy’s illness filters all aspects of Andrea’s life until nothing is left of her beyond being a Caregiver. And Nancy is not alone, her wheelchair bound husband Morris comes as part of the package. To my utter disbelief and often horror, Andrea continues to run a Bed and Breakfast business while Nancy declines further and further into madness and insists on putting her filthy hands on everything she encounters, including the food in the kitchen. Interestingly, when Andrea finally decides to stop having in lodgers, it is not for fear that Nancy will poison or attack them, it is because one of the guests stole a bunch of DVDs from her.
We never see Nancy as a normal person, never know her as anything but a confused and bewildered presence. Andrea does her best to care for Nancy, but in the end, her best isn’t good enough. This is hardly surprising, what is surprising is that anyone thinks the family members should work 24/7/365 to care for someone who isn’t quite human anymore. This is made all the worse when it is someone you know and love-because that someone is soon enough gone. The body remains as a cruel reminder of who they were, but the mind keeps shifts away.
We’ve all hear tales of nursing home abuse and putting a loved one into a home is one of the very last of the Great Shames. I don’t have children and when I tell people this, the response is often:who will take care of you when you get old? The very idea that I should have children so that I can be burden to them during my finial years is ridiculous. But this attitude is also one that Andrea has to deal with, Morris and Nancy don’t want to admit that they need any special care. Nancy doesn’t know what is going on and Morris doesn’t accept what is going on.
One of the ongoing struggles is trying to get Morris and Nancy onto a waiting list for a nursing home. Government officials of one sort or another come out and chat with Nancy, where she manages to put on her best behavior for the short time of their visits. No matter what state Nancy is in, they always says that there is no room on the waiting list. Finally, Andrea has reached the end of her rope and tells the officials that she can’t go on. At once, these magic words open all doors and Morris and Nancy are swept away to a nursing home.
I had a couple of elderly neighbors one time. The man was a doddering old fool, but the wife was nice enough. Then the wife got Alzheimer’s. It was clear that the man had no business trying to take care of her, he couldn’t even take care of himself. One winter day the wife wandered off and was later found dead in some nearby woods. Is she better off dead, or would she have been better off in a nursing home? Andrea puzzles over such ideas herself near the end of Keeper, where she has moments of wishing Nancy dead, so that at last it will all be over. Andrea, of course, chides herself for such thoughts, she could never really wish harm on Nancy.
Keeper
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