Author Zippora Karz offers an insightful look at her struggle to manage diabetes as a solo ballerina in her memoir The Sugarless Plum: A Ballerina’s Triumph Over Diabetes. Ms. Karz’s love of dance started at an early age and with the encouragement of her family and ballet teacher, she was able to earn a place in the New York City Ballet company at the age of eighteen.
Ms. Karz’s dedication and diligent work ethic earned her many solos including the lead as the Sugar Plum Fairy in numerous productions of The Nutcracker. As the instructors and choreographers were beginning to notice her talent, the ballerina’s began experiencing increased thirst, dizziness, numbness in her limbs, significant weight loss and painful sores under her arms. At first, Ms. Karz wrote these ailments off as the consequences of an intense schedule of morning classes, hours of afternoon rehearsals and evening performances almost every night of the week. As her condition deteriorated, medical advice was finally sought and and an initial and inaccurate diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes was made. When the initial regimen of blood sugar monitoring and maintenance proved to be ineffective for the long term, the author turned to other sources of advice from a specialized diet from her grandmother to homeopathic remedies. Eventually, through the efforts of a trusted doctor, Ms. Karz was found to actually suffer from Type 1 diabetes which added the daunting task of insulin treatment.
Ms. Karz does a wonderful job of chronicling the conflict of managing diabetes and the physical and emotional requirements needed to be a ballerina for one of the most prestigious companies in the world. Her descriptions of life as a ballerina are so insightful. These were my favorite sections of the book. It was a glimpse behind the curtain and showed the extremes these dancers enter into for their moment on stage. The author is honest with her reactions to this disease from denial, defeat and finally acceptance. Anyone who lives with or is close to someone with diabetes will find this an enlightening and beautiful story. ]]>
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by Elizabeth Strout
Haha, sounds like something I would do. How do you like Disgrace? I have that one and can't wait to read it. ]]>
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Christine wrote: "Interested on your thoughts. The hype is huge for these books. I will have to rad it sometime. " |
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by Stephen King
One of my favorites ]]>