I asked whether the visit had been too tiring.

“No,” he said.

“I thought being a mentor meant showing people how much you could do.

Maybe it also means showing them when you need to stop.”

That evening he took the photograph of his surgical team from his desk and moved it to the living room shelf beside Sadie’s school picture.

He told me he didn’t want to hide either part of his life.

Work had given him purpose and friendships, and family had given him a home worth returning to.