Medications reduced

Mom seemed greatly improved today. This was the first time I’d seen her so since the aneurysm. She asked relevant questions about what had happened to her. This was an improvement over the questions and comments she wrote previously to all of us, some of which seemed out of context. She communicated frustration with being in the hospital & not being able to speak or eat. She communicated this in a much more expressive way than I had seen since the aneurysm. As a slight testament to her level of awareness, she asked Alicia and me to get her dinner from Noodles. We told her we did wish that she could have the same thing for dinner that we were having, but that she was already receiving plenty of nutrients through her feeding tube and as long as she had the trach tube, she would not be able to eat normal food. She asked how long she would be in the hospital; she wants to go home. I can imagine how she feels.

Mom is no longer receiving the stronger pain medications or sedative, and, as a result, is much clearer in her statements and questions (through writing). I am writing left-handed since Mom is asleep & holding my right (I am right-handed) & I don’t want to take my hand away. This must be how she feels when trying to write. She is going to continue receiving an anti-biotic. The nurses have been trying to get an update from Dr. King about replacing the trach with one which will allow some speech. The nurse Lisa said it would be OK to rotate the bed tomorrow so that Mom could look out the window at the sky. The cuff of the trach will be deflated tomorrow to allow breathing through the nose and mouth and see if she can still clear fluid from the lungs that way. If so, it will be a step toward respiratory recovery.