"I don't… I don't understand sir. Does that mean she's not done with the surgery?"
He nodded slowly, like he'd heard this kind of plea before. "No more surgery for now. The operation was technically a success, your mom has her new lungs. That's the good news."
My chest started aching. "And the bad news?"
"She's stable," he said, "but stability after a transplant is fragile. The first twenty-four hours after a transplant are the most dangerous. If she can maintain stable vitals, breathe without the ventilator's full support and her body accepts the lungs and doesn't reject them, then we can say she's in the clear. But until then, she's not out of danger."
"What danger?""
He glanced at his chart again before looking back at me. "There's a risk of infection… because her immune system is suppressed to prevent rejection, she can't fight bacteria the way most people can. If she stays stable for the next day, her chances of recovery go way up."
