"On one, I want you to do one thing: Look up. On two, do two things: Slowly close your eyes and take a deep breath. On three, do three things: Breathe out, relax your eyes, and let your body float. Imagine you are floating in a bath, a lake, a hot tub, or just floating in space. Each breath is getting deeper and easier..."
The patient is 80 years old. She is lying under the bright lights of an operating room at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where radiologist Elvira Lang is about to thread a catheter through her arteries. The tiny tube will work its way to one of the woman’s kidneys, where it will block the organ’s blood supply. A surgeon is scheduled to remove the kidney the next day. Embolizing the kidney will help keep the operation simple, safe, and tidy. But the woman is running ...
