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Loading... Keeping Katherine: A Mother's Journey to Acceptance (edition 2007)by Susan Zimmermann (Author)
Work InformationKeeping Katherine: A Mother's Journey to Acceptance by Susan Zimmermann
None No current Talk conversations about this book.  Rascalstar | Jan 21, 2017 |  no reviews | add a review
Katherine was a beautiful, perfect baby for the first year of her life. Then, without warning, she changed forever. She started crossing her eyes. She cried at night for hours at a time and could not be soothed. She stopped saying words, stopped crawling, and began what would become a lifelong habit of wringing her hands. Hospital visits and consultations with doctors offered no answers to the mystery. Soon Katherine slipped away to a place her mother and father could never reach. In Keeping Katherine, Susan Zimmermann tells the story of her life with her daughter Katherine, who has Rett syndrome, a devastating neurological disorder. Writing with honesty and candor, Zimmermann chronicles her personal journey to accept the changed dynamic of her family; the strain of caring for a special needs child and the pressure it placed on her marriage, career, and relationship with her parents; the dilemma of whether Kat would be better cared for in a group home; and most important, the altered reality of her daughter’s future. A story of personal transformation that reminds us that it isn’t what happens to us that shapes our humanity, but how we react, Keeping Katherine shows the unconditional love that exists in families and the gifts the profoundly disabled can offer to those who try to understand them. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)649.152Technology Home and family management Parenting, Caregiving ParentingLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.5)
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Wikipedia in English
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At first, the parents thought Katherine's problem was their fault, giving her stream water on a camping trip. During the time they suspected that might be the origin, Susan, the mother, grew to hate Katherine. Any parent of a severely disabled child can attest to the profound daily challenges of caring for such a child. Even though I didn't like or agree with Susan's feelings and attitude during that time, I respect her courage in facing truths and writing with such honesty while preserving intimate details of Katherine's personal life as she grows older.
Susan's parents, Katherine's grandparents, totally ignored the child. While we can't force relationships, we can foster understanding -- that is if we understand ourselves, and it seems that was a long time coming in this family. However, Katherine's other grandparents and a number of other people loved her dearly as she was and gave her what all children need, love, attention and fun.
Many things about the book amazed me, both good and bad. If you read the book, consider that if Susan had parents who could ignore a disabled grandchild, what warmth and understanding might Susan have missed in her own growing up years? Susan sounds like an intelligent and reflective individual to me. She pushed herself to do some things that helped her form a loving relationship with Katherine. She managed to keep peace in her family, and the 3 younger siblings to Katherine love their disabled sister dearly.
There are families that handle severely disabled children differently, some better, some worse. This is one mother's story, one disabled child's story. I would have liked to know more about Katherine.
A child disabled from birth is a different thing in a family to one that is normal for a year and then slowly grinds to a halt, so to speak. (