Mirrored Lives: Aging Children and Elderly Parents - Rilegato

In the first book to deal with the geriatric decline connected to nonterminal illness in old age, Koch takes a sensitive but thorough look at the declining years of his father. The book is a narrative record of an elderly man unable to accept the physical realities of his state. Because it is told by the patient's caregiver--a son--it also chronicles the issues and mechanics of the aging child's role in caring for a parent. Koch defines aging as more than a series of physical symptoms and places the issues of caring and aging within the perspective of socially accepted values; independence, social function, family dynamics, and financial worth.