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    The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir
    Unavailable
    The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir
    Unavailable
    The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir
    Ebook281 pages5 hours

    The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir

    By Mike Scalise

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “A very funny [memoir] about the frailties of the flesh, the absurdities of modern medicine, and how to stay sane amid it all” (Dave Eggers).
     
    Raucous family memoir meets medical adventure in this “winning literary debut” that explores the public and private theaters of illness (The New York Times Book Review).
     
    After a pituitary tumor bursts in Mike Scalise’s brain (diagnosed by, of all people, a physician named Dr. Sunshine), it leaves him with a hole in head, and the hormone disorder acromegaly at age twenty-four. He also faces the exasperating challenge of navigating a new, alien world of illness maintenance among family, friends, and spouse. However, it’s his mother, who has a chronic heart condition and a flair for drama, who becomes a complicated model as she competes with her son for the status of “best sick person.”
     
    “Captur[ing] all the fright of a medical calamity and the humor and grace necessary to survive it (Kirkus Reviews), “Mike Scalise’s startling and slyly hilarious memoir is a heartfelt reminder of how astonishing, how terrifying, how absurd it is to be a body. An essential book for those who’ve lived through catastrophe, or only imagined it” (Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJan 9, 2017
    ISBN9781941411346
    Unavailable
    The Brand New Catastrophe: A Memoir

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    Reviews for The Brand New Catastrophe

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    • 4/5
      At age 24, Mike Scalise had a previous unknown pituitary tumor rupture in his brain. It left him with a hormone disorder called acromegaly and he had to learn to navigate a new and frustrating world of illness maintenance. Gigantism and acromegaly are actually one and the same, both forms being caused by an excess of insulin-like growth factor in the body. However, acromegaly occurs later in life and the excess growth factor is present after the fusion of cartilage plates in adulthood. This book was an up close and personal look at how Mike dealt with a rare brain tumor and the resulting hormonal devastation, which then required constant monitoring. He has a wry sense of humor and it was interesting to follow him through his hospitalizations, office visits, school, jobs, family and romance. The book spans a little over a decade in his life. I listened to this on audio, and, quite frankly, found Mike to be a bit too dry, too monotone, and it lost a 1/2 star for that. I think it would be better in print.FYI -- Perhaps the most famous person to live with this condition is the professional wrestler, André the Giant. And the tallest person ever in the Guiness Book of Records (at 8 foot 11") also had acromegaly: Robert Wadlow.