How do I keep a patient committed when surgery is months away? You stay in their life so doubt can't move in. A patient might say yes but not be able to start for a couple months, a teacher waiting for summer, someone with travel booked. That gap is dangerous, because a lot can happen in two months and cold feet are real. Sometimes a person writes a large check and gets nothing immediately, and the whole thing curdles into a negative in their head. My job is to keep it positive and exciting. So I send personal notes telling them [...]