At age 43, I was on top of the world, until a tingling on my scalp turned out to be from a brain tumor...
Living With Cognitive Impairment
At age 43, I was on top of the world, until a tingling on my scalp turned out to be from a brain tumor...
About Carol Prescott
Carol Prescott lives in North Kohala, a rural area on the northern end of Hawaii’s Big Island, where she shares a small farm with dogs, cats, sheep, chickens and several humans.
Originally from Southern California, Carol moved to Baltimore to attend university and then Virginia for graduate school, staying in the Mid-Atlantic region for 25 years before returning to California and then retiring to Hawaii. During her career as an academic psychologist, Carol conducted research on genetic and environmental involvement in psychological disorders and cognitive decline. She also served as associate editor for two scientific journals.
Since stopping academic work in 2021, Carol has been pleased to join several writers groups in Hawaii. Her creative writing spans fiction, memoir, essay and poetry. Credits include two pieces in the 2023 edition of the literary journal Latitudes published by the Hawaii Writers Guild.
Carol is inordinately proud of having her sonnet Green is the Color of My True Love’s Socks selected to be read on air for the 2000 Prairie Home Companion Valentine's Day sonnet contest.
Current Project - Nonfiction / Memoir
Living With Cognitive Impairment
At age 43, I was on top of the world: recently married to the love of my life, hired into the dream job I had worked toward for 20 years, living in a vibrant neighborhood in a multicultural city, and making new friends and professional connections. My expectations for my happy life were suddenly disrupted when persistent tingling on my scalp led to the discovery of a meningioma deep in my brain. The tumor was the size of a walnut and growing, pressing on my cranial nerves and crowding other brain structures. Two surgeries and 18 days in the ICU were just the beginning. The more difficult process was acknowledging and adjusting to my life with cognitive impairment.
Living With Cognitive Impairment describes living and coping with cognitive impairment due to dementia, brain tumor, head injury and other causes. The information will benefit individuals newly diagnosed with cognitive impairment, those worried about cognitive changes, those already diagnosed with dementia, and their family, caregivers, and friends.
This book is both informative and heartfelt. It communicates the human experience of living with cognitive impairment using seven different viewpoints. Part I, Clinician, includes chapters describing types of cognitive impairment and dementia, the process of evaluation and diagnosis, options for treatment, expected prognosis and what we know about prevention. Part II, Researcher, includes chapters on cognitive abilities and their measurement, brain organization and dementia, who is at risk for cognitive impairment, genetic contributions to cognitive impairment, and why research progress seems slow. Part III, Patient, describes assessment and diagnosis from the patient point of view, then deals with healthcare and insurance, financial planning, coping with cognitive impairment, changing sense of self, participating in research, enhancing quality of life, end-of-life planning, and medical aid in dying. Part IV, Primary Caregiver, includes chapters on home safety, fostering dignity, eating and drinking, communication, personal care, mental health, changes in the relationship with the person with cognitive impairment, and reducing caregiver burnout. Part V, Care Manager, takes the viewpoint of the person making the decisions about care. Chapters include creating a care team, care equipment, arranging the home to support cognition, in-home services, coping with limited mobility, managing healthcare and insurance, finances and considerations for residential care versus aging in place. Part VI, Family and Friends, provides information for people on the outside, including what changes may occur in the person with cognitive impairment, changes in the caregiver, and how best to help out. Part VII, Community Perspectives, deals with the big picture: the increasing prevalence of dementia, what this means for our healthcare system and communities, and stigma and acceptance.
Current Project - Fiction
Lena's Letters
This novel was inspired by my receiving a box of my grandmother Lena's sheet music published in 1914-1917. The story is fictional, but loosely based on my grandparents' move from Oklahoma to Los Angeles in the 1920s. The story is told from the perspective of four characters, with alternating focus across four historical eras.
Current Projects - Poetry/ Memoir
The Last Time We Danced, Your Wheelchair Broke My Toe
The Last Time We Danced, Your Wheelchair Broke My Toe
The Last Time We Danced, Your Wheelchair Broke My Toe
Poems and stories of love, loss and laughter
Gecko Tales
The Last Time We Danced, Your Wheelchair Broke My Toe
The Last Time We Danced, Your Wheelchair Broke My Toe
Stories of tenacity and inspiration
from the Big Island of Hawaii
Current Projects - Professional / Technical
Kevin Grimm and I are under contract to revise McArdle and Nesselroade, 2013, published by American Psychological Association Press.
Projects I might get back to
Coming of Age in the Reagan Years
The Writer's Guide to Mental Illness
The Writer's Guide to Mental Illness
In 1980, a naive 17 year-old moves from Orange County, California to attend college on the east coast.
The Writer's Guide to Mental Illness
The Writer's Guide to Mental Illness
The Writer's Guide to Mental Illness
This guide is a resource for both fiction and non-fiction writers. It provides up-to-date information about symptoms, treatments, and causes of psychiatric and psychological disorders, as well as descriptions of what really happens in psychotherapy and inside psychiatric hospitals and addiction treatment centers.
Hemingway's Suitcase
The Writer's Guide to Mental Illness
Hemingway's Suitcase
Since I first read A Moveable Feast, I have been intrigued by the story of the lost suitcase that contained writing from Hemingway's early years in Paris. My reimagining involves a conspiracy among Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, Zelda Fitagerald and an empowered Hadley, Hem's first wife.
Photo credit Rafael K. Streit on Unsplash