North Carolina Surgery Narrative

The day of the surgery finally arrived. My husband and I were back in North Carolina after a two month stay with my daughter, but all our thoughts were centered in that New York hospital. Our optimism was perforated as fear started to creep in. The waiting had to be the worst of it, we thought.
After thirteen hours in the operating room, the surgery was a success. There were smiles and collective sighs of relief, both here and there. Our little girl was going to be all right. The reprieve lasted a day or two. Fevers, irregular heartbeat, a delay in coming out of the coma, taking her off the ventilator--putting her back on the ventilator, possible repercussion from six hours on the heart-lung machine and powerful medications. Our emotions