I don’t know about you, but I’m hopeless at being a patient. It is, of course, something that every single one of us will experience eventually. After all, there is nothing about working in the medical profession that exempts us but it can be more than a little difficult changing hats and adjusting to being on the other side of the consultation. This has all been very much to the forefront of my mind over the past few weeks as I’ve recently undergone surgery. Nothing even remotely life threatening – though thank you for your concern. However, recuperating from surgery has been a very instructive reminder of what life can be like for our patients.