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Most of us think of doctors as the experts, the guides through a medical situation, whether it’s a scheduled surgery or an unexpected illness or injury. I know that the moments when I have

found myself in the hospital with a loved one, I have hung on every word and pronouncement from the doctors and placed my faith in their expertise. And yet, of course, doctors are people

too. They become ill, they lose loved ones, they experience the unknowable and the need for patience and hope. So, when doctors become the patients or even the caregivers, they can stand in

another’s shoes, to see the situation from the perspective of the other person. And there are always nuggets to be gleaned for all of us who find ourselves on the caregiving journey. RELY ON

TRUST Ken Zuckerman, M.D., nearly cried when he saw the sunrise the morning of June 4, 2022.  He was back in his San Francisco home after being discharged from his first-ever hospital

admission. He felt lucky to be alive after being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune bleeding disorder. “My heart was exploding with happiness,” says Zuckerman, 59, a pediatric anesthesiologist

at Children’s Hospital in Oakland and the medical director of PDI Surgical Center in Windsor, California. “Suddenly, I was looking at the world with new eyes, able to see the beauty in

everything. Routine objects and actions were accompanied with a profound sense of gratitude.” Ken Zuckerman with daughters Maya Wilson Ehrenthal and Alanis Wilson Ehrenthal. Photo courtesy

of Ken Zuckerman Zuckerman’s symptoms began suddenly on a Sunday evening. He experienced a growing headache, then nausea, followed by shortness of breath and a rash. At the doctor’s office

on Thursday morning, he learned his platelet count had dropped dramatically and his condition was life-threatening. He was immediately admitted to the emergency room. “As a physician, I knew

that what I was experiencing had multiple possible causes, and understood that if not evaluated and treated, there was a chance I could bleed to death,” says Zuckerman. It was in this first

moment of crisis that he began to experience the slow sense of dread and helplessness that families and caregivers can feel when a medical situation is out of their control. “Hours went by

in the emergency room,” recalls Zuckerman. “No one asked me if I wanted something to drink or if I needed to go to the bathroom. A sense of gloom set in, but eventually, someone ordered me a

platelet transfusion,” he says. There was more testing, CT scans, MRIs, all to evaluate the cause and possible effects of a profoundly low platelet count. “I was struck by how alone I felt.

... I took a deep breath and reminded myself that ... emergency departments [are] busy places, made up of many moving parts that don’t always fit together.