They say doctors are trained to stay calm under pressure.
We learn to calculate, diagnose, act with precision—even in chaos.
But what happens when the patient is no longer “just a case”?
What happens when it’s your own pet… or your spouse… your parent?
Advertisements & Promos
I’m a veterinarian.
I’ve done surgeries many would find terrifying. I’ve stitched wounds and saved lives. I’ve stood tall while others fell apart.
But when it’s my own dog on the table?
I fall apart, too.
And I’ve come to learn this isn’t just a vet thing.
Human doctors feel it, too.
Surgeons, cardiologists, ER specialists—seasoned experts—often step back when the patient is their own wife, husband, mother, or child.
Why?
Because love clouds clinical detachment.
Because knowing too much sometimes hurts more.
Because it’s not about knowledge. It’s about emotional gravity.
Advertisements & Promos
We freeze not out of fear of the procedure, but out of fear of loss.
Fear of regret.
Fear of blaming ourselves forever if something goes wrong.
When the line between professional and personal blurs, the heart screams louder than the hands can steady.
So we defer.
We entrust the ones we love to colleagues we respect.
We let go, not because we don’t care—but because we care too much.
And in that vulnerable moment, we’re reminded:
Advertisements & Promos
We are not just healers.
We are sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fur-parents.
We are human first.
And sometimes, loving deeply means having the humility to say:
“I can’t. Not this time.”
Because medicine may be science…
But healing?
Healing always comes from the heart.
Sharing this helps others understand what it really means to be a vet. Like and follow if you’re with us.
Dr. Geoff Carullo is a Fellow and the current President of the Philippine College of Canine Practitioners.
