Finding the Way Home ― A Compassionate Approach to Illness

Looking at illness from the inside out, Ms. Heiss reveals distinctions which are profoundly important to those who are ill. Finding the Way Home explores the difference between disease (a biological condition) and illness (the individual human experience of it); between curing (the alleviation of symptoms) and healing (the healthy integration of all life experience, including illness); and between pain (physical distress) and suffering (the loss of meaning, connection, and hope in the face of pain).
Grief is the natural and necessary response to loss, and the resilience of the human spirit in transcending grief is part of the healing process. Rather than offer formulaic solutions, Ms. Heiss affirms the need - and the right - of each individual to forge his or her own path.
Ms. Heiss recognizes that being ill and witnessing illness both create distress. Her caring analysis of relationships with loved ones, friends, caregivers, and health care providers conveys not only what happens to people but between them. Accounts of support group discussions give the reader the rare opportunity to hear ill people talk honestly and openly with one another.