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CHAPTER 92

Author: ZELIA
last update publish date: 2026-06-18 06:33:11
THE DAYS BEFORE SURGERY

The next four days were the longest and shortest of my life.

Long because every hour felt like eternity. Waiting. Watching. Monitoring Chance's every breath. Every heartbeat. Every, every sign that he was still fighting. Still holding on. Still, still giving us more time.

Short because I knew. Knew Thursday was coming. Knew surgery was inevitable. Knew these might be, might be the only days we got. The only time I'd hold my son before, before everything changed. Before ri
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    THE NEWS THAT CHANGES PLANSDay ten, Chance was feeding well, Growing, Gaining weight. Twelve ounces heavier than birth. Still tiny, five pounds fourteen ounces, but growing. Thriving. Proving that, that he could do this. Could be a baby. Could, could live."We're thinking about discharge," Dr. Chen said during rounds. Casually. Like he wasn't, wasn't saying the most important words I'd heard since "he's alive.""Discharge? Home? We can take him home?""Not yet. But soon. If he continues improving. If he maintains his weight gain. If he shows us he can, can handle being a regular baby. Then yes. In a week. Maybe two. You could take him home."Home. Chance coming home. Our son in our house instead of the hospital. In his nursery instead of the NICU. With us instead of, instead of nurses and monitors and medical equipment. Home. Actually home."But his heart," I said. "The shunt. It's temporary. He'll need the full repair eventually. How can we, how can we take him home when he's not fu

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  • HE SOLD MY HEART AT AUCTION    CHAPTER 96

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    THE RECOVERY THAT TESTS THEMThe first week after surgery was harder than surgery itself.Chance struggled. Struggled to breathe without ventilator. Struggled to maintain stable blood pressure. Struggled to, to recover from what they'd done to save him. To heal from trauma. To, to be okay despite everything."This is normal," the PICU doctors kept saying. "Post-surgical complications. Expected. Manageable. He's, he's doing well considering. Considering how small he is. How early. How, how risky surgery was. He's doing well."But it didn't feel like doing well. Felt like, like barely surviving. Like hanging on by threads. Like, like every day we weren't sure if he'd make it through. If complications would arise. If, if infection would set in. If his heart would fail despite repair. If, if everything they'd done would be undone by recovery. By his body rejecting intervention. By, by anything and everything that could go wrong.I lived at the hospital. Slept in a chair next to his bed. H

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