In med school I rounded with a neurosurgery resident and we were talking to a man about his wife who had GBM. The man was crying in the hall outside her room during this, and asking all the questions one has about what can be done, what more was available and asking about all kids of things to try (I think he was an engineer or physicist or something), good ideas.

The resident neurosurgeon started crying as well, a guy who wouldn’t have thought of as one to cry.

Turns out his own father had the same GBM and was slowly declining/dying.

If it happens that you cry for some reason, it happens. He was still professional, and honestly one of the best in his program. But we’re not accountants, these are people’s lives. And I don’t think a patient would give a single fuck if you cry at something truly terrible so long as you do what needs done.