This particular day, more than most, I was working without a net. Each maneuver intensified my awareness of the potential for disaster. Repeatedly, I pressed forward, making sporadic progress, until I was forced to back off once again. With each moment of self-doubt, I would pause, regain my focus, and force my hands to return to the procedure, although my mind was beginning to doubt whether I should indeed continue.

As I worked, the din of the operating room dropped away. I twisted my body—leaning hard into the table—and deliberately extended my right index finger more deeply into the surgical wound. I focused on the unseen surface of the mass where my finger was probing and dissecting, hoping for better exposure. Each . . . [Full Text of this Article]