It’s been 10 days since Stanley’s liver transplant and two days since the surgery to close his abdomen. Today he was finally extubated and the bandage was removed from his incision, leaving just a layer of Steri-Strips covering the stitches. He’ll be on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) to keep his lungs open for another day or so, and then hopefully all that head gear will be removed so we can see his beautiful face again. He audibly cried for the first time in over a week, and I never thought I’d be so happy to hear it! The doctors think Monday is a realistic discharge date. I’ve learned not to hold my breath, but I’m really looking forward to bringing Stanley home. 

If you’re interested in listening to an in-depth discussion of Stanley’s diagnosis, treatment and transplant, you can download or stream episode 23 of Malaika Dower’s podcast, “How to Get Away With Parenting.” It was great to share my experience, and hopefully others can benefit from hearing about what we went through. 

I’m also performing at the storytelling show How to Build a Fire at Open Source Gallery in South Slope, Brooklyn, on Friday, July 29th, at 8:00 p.m. I’ll be talking about Stanley and the detour motherhood has taken for me. If you can’t be there in person, watch it online via Livestream!