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September/October 2010
VOLUME 10 • NUMBER 3

The Power to Heal

o a physician, no experience feels as disorienting as a visit to a strange hospital as a family member of a patient. Despite my familiarity with the medical environment, I felt oddly intimidated as my wife Lori and I walked down the corridor after the long drive to Seattle. I was no longer in charge of anything, and I had no idea what to expect in the room down the hall. It occurred to me that if all doctors went through similar experiences more often, they might be more sympathetic to those under their care.

I had tried to prepare myself, but as soon as we opened the door to my father’s room, I realized I hadn’t prepared enough. He looked very sick and very old. A skilled surgeon had amputated his leg a few days earlier, but now he was battling his way through pneumonia, bleeding, and a litany of the other complications that routinely beset men his age who undergo major surgery. It was easy enough to tell myself that he was almost 90, but he was also the powerful figure who had led the way on so many outings and wilderness adventures over the years. As he’d grown older, I’d learned to tell myself that he was only mortal; but this was the first time I had ever had to confront the true meaning of that realization.

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