Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the YMCA gym, I’m watching Grace at her Under Eight basketball practice. Her luminous hazel eyes flash surprise as a curly-haired teammate passes the ball to her under the backboard. Instead of taking the easy shot, Grace zips the ball back to her friend near the foul line. My little beauty must think she’s playing hot potato.

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I return my attention to the newspapers that have piled up at home since I started spending my days with doctors down in Palo Alto. A three-day old headline from The Wall Street Journal catches my eye, “Heart Surgeons Try Using the Power of Suggestion.” Since the docs have told me they plan to run a circular saw down my sternum, then cut my heart in two, I continue reading.

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The article says researchers believe messages sent to a patient under anesthesia can speed post-op recovery and reduce additional heart problems. The thump of the ball echoes as the scrum of girls clusters nears mid-court.

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I’m as New Age as a boy raised in Cincinnati can be, but I can’t imagine listening to a woman’s voice during surgery saying, “You can feel new strength flowing through you, through arteries that are wider and more open, more flexible with smoother surfaces than ever before.” And will I ever really think of the heart-lung machine as “my protective cushion of safety?”

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Grace, suited up in her carefully chosen Hello Kitty tee shirt and matching shorts, runs away from the basket. Unfortunately, she’s on offense.

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I’d rather listen to calming music rather than messages that could trigger a laughing fit. A diaphragm lifting belly laugh wouldn’t be helpful as they crack my chest into two pieces like chicken breasts on ice at Whole Foods. Music running through my headphones could shield me from any negativity I might otherwise encounter. A Columbia Presbyterian cardiac surgeon who is a positive messaging proponent says, “You never want a patient to hear, ‘This guy is a dead man’ while you’re operating.” I’d have to agree with that.

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The solidly built coach is showing the girls how to execute a set shot. The ball clanks off the rim.

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I think I’ll create an Operating Room Mix for my iPod – a healing compilation of Van Morrison, Shawn Colvin, and Aaron Copland could do the trick. As I count back from 100 , the anesthesia taking hold, Van will be singing, the caravan has all my friends. And they will stay with me until the end.

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-- From Music of the Open Heart, an unpublished manuscript