Growing up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes » (Bargain)

MARY TYLER MOORE is a seven-time Emmy Award–winning actress, Tony Award recipient, Academy Award nominee, as well as a longtime activist and fund-raiser for diabetes research. Her previous autobiography was After All.

Excerpt from Growing Up Again:

Each person who has diabetes struggles to come to terms with it and experiences the basic challenges of the disease in a uniquely personal way. For me, it has been a trip through rebellion and denial to finally arriving at acknowledgment and commitment to solutions. It took years. And I still rankle at the restrictions, the have-tos, the may-nots, and the never-endingness of it. But the illness is what it is, and I thank God for the genius of medical researchers who have done so much to make diabetes a less cruel imposition while propelling us toward a cure.

I don’t think the story of my life with diabetes is a model for anyone else. There’s no template to follow that will determine the course of the disease and how it affects a person’s life; no one right way to manage diabetes. What I have put on paper is simply the tale of how, in the course of everyday living—dealing with the losses, the dead ends, and the triumphs that come in often seemingly random order—I’ve dodged, faced, and sometimes conquered the challenges of diabetes. I’m sharing my story because it is what I have to give, shedding some light on the follies and achievements that I’ve racked up in my daily confrontation with the disease.

But my journey is just a part of the picture. So I’ve talked with other people who have diabetes to give voice to their experiences, to provide a varied view of how to live and thrive. And I’ve sought out some of the wisest and most capable doctors and scientists who are waging war in the laboratory and conducting bench-to-bedside experiments that are producing new and exciting treatments to help the millions of people with diabetes manage—and ultimately vanquish—the disease.

Publishers Weekly

Her TV alter ego, Mary Richards, may have been perfect, but it's Moore's imperfections that make her the ideal author of this surprisingly frank memoir about living with diabetes. Diagnosed with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes at age 33 in 1969, Moore rebelled with anger and frustration at the restrictions of moderation the disease imposed and she ignored. Belatedly, she stopped drinking (after a trip to the Betty Ford Clinic in 1984) and quit her three-pack-a-day smoking habit in 1988, but she admits that she's no poster child for diabetes. With admirable honesty and sardonic humor, Moore exposes her failings with technology and inability to always stay on top of her disease, and reveals how diabetes has permanently affected her vision, balance and stamina. This helpful and illuminating guide is a winning mixture of personal stories with occasional visits to experts who take her step-by-step through surgical procedures or offer more detailed explanations of new technology and stem cell research. It's a credit to the book's bouncy tone that even the detailed appendix is readable. Since 1984, Moore has been the international chair of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which raises more than $200 million every year. (Apr.)

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Acknowledgments xiii

Preface xv

1 Sotto Voce 1

2 The Other Shoe Falls ... and Falls and Falls 3

3 A Walk on the Avenue 25

4 Testing, Testing 33

5 Step-by-Step 47

6 Foot First 53

7 Complications 61

8 Second Sight 69

9 Diabetes and Dignity 79

10 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can 87

11 The Other Element 101

12 Owning Diabetes 115

13 Searching and Researching 125

14 Pump It Up? 131

15 The Dance Goes On 141

16 It's a Jungle Out There 151

Appendixes

A Diabetes 101 159

B Good News, Bad News 165

C Diabetic Drills 167

D Know Your Numbers 169

E Testing, Testing 170

F Insulin Information 173

G Simplifying Complications 174

H Foot Care 178

I Glaucoma 179

J Diabetes and Depression 180

K Amazing Insights 181

L Stem Cells 184

M The Continuous Glucose Monitor/Artificial Pancreas 186

N Getting Control 189

O The Lowdown on Low Blood Sugar 191

P Carb Counting 194

Q The Skin You're In 195

Diabetes Resource Guide 197

Index 207