Monk's moments: Keep your feet on the ground

I must confess to having mixed feelings about patient support groups and medical charities. A few years ago, a close relative was diagnosed as having a chronic and progressive neurological disorder; naturally, he was distraught, and looked to me, the doctor in the family, for advice and support, and for answers to all the horrible, unanswerable questions. I felt equally at a loss as to what to do for the best, and somewhat guilty, in the way that doctors always do when it is their own who are involved.