Ruth Ann Lief

Geriatric Junkie: (1994-1999) Ruth Ann Lief

An autobiographical account of a once lively, gregarious woman's fatal encounter with a mystery disease, thought to be allied to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), which inexorably robs her of the ability to speak, to breathe, to keep her balance, to make her body do as she wishes, even to use her eyes for more than a few minutes at a time. Enlisting the medical community's help in her battle to stave off speechlessness, she soon finds herself fighting two battles. This book describes in detail one of old age's ultimate exercises in solitaryconfinement.