dave mucci. he's an e.r. >> reporter: dr. dave mucci thought he'd seen it all working as an emergency room physician for nearly 40 years but nothing could prepare him for the horrors of the covid-19 pandemic. >> let me go back to march 2020. >> yeah. >> what do you remember most? >> the fear. the terrible fear. we would have patients come in and three hours later they'd be on a ventilator. three hours after that they'd pass away. >> reporter: for dr. mucci the impact of the pandemic took an emotional toll. >> a patient would come in. they would be put in an isolation room, a mask would be put on them. you lose that personal touch. it's stripped away our humanity. emergency room physicians are supposed to be strong. the patients, the family members, they turn to us to give them strength. there's that interaction that was gone. >> reporter: there was also the anxiety of bringing the infectious disease home to his family. so for six months dr. mucci self-quarantined and found solace in putting pen to paper. >> w