I owe a great debt to the patients, friends, and colleagues whose stories grace these pages. Although these stories are based in fact, I have heavily disguised each person’s identity, life circumstances, and histories in order to protect their privacy. In most cases, I have created patient “composites,” or a combination of multiple different patients’ stories, histories, life circumstances, inner struggles and, occasionally, fictional elements to maintain the disguise. For those stories based on a specific patient, each patient has read his or her story, offered his or her thoughts and editorial feedback, approved the disguise when relevant, and provided oral and written consent for publication.