James stopped his first attempt in week four. He is clear that nothing alarming happened; what happened was a run of uncomfortable days with no obvious way to find out whether they were expected.
His next appointment was five weeks away. The question he had was, by his own description, too small to justify chasing one and too persistent to ignore, so he sat with it and then stopped.
If somebody had picked up a phone for ninety seconds, I do not think I would have stopped.
When he restarted a year later, he chose based on one factor: whether he could reach a person between appointments. He describes the second year as unremarkable, which he means as praise.
