ABSTRACT
Illness and the associated fatigue, physical disability and time needed away from home and work for testing and treatment. The illness slows the pace of life and forces a person out of the routine of the life used to live. While the loss of that routine can be disturbing, it also offers opportunities for unhurried observation and time to examine the essential elements of life that bring happiness and meaning. Arthur Frank and Fitzhugh Mullan describe how illness changed their goals and their values: Critical illness offers the opportunity to be taken to the threshold of life, from which can be seen where a life could end. Dr. Harvey Mandell's diagnosis and treatment for melanoma refocused his ideas about what is important in life: Living a met free existence helps me to put a lot of thing into perspective. Physicians are sometimes surprised or annoyed by patients who continue to be preoccupied with their bodily symptoms well after recovery.
