"best day in a while"

Dad's describing yesterday as Mom's "best day in a while." He's not basing this on how verbal Mom was, but rather on her performance during her walk, her generally alert demeanor, and the vigor with which she attacked such tasks as mounting the deck stairs and climbing onto her bar stool. Like me, he was also happy to discover that Mom has regained some weight.

I'd agree that Mom had a very good day yesterday, clinically speaking. Whether it deserved to be called the "best day in a while," though, is a matter of some debate. My two major worries, right now, are (1) the risk Mom runs of getting infected by me or by someone else (Dad's had the occasional cough and sneeze, yet insists he's fine), and (2) that Mom's current lack of verbosity has something to do with the cancer spreading rearward, toward her language centers. This latter worry may be nothing: Mom is usually quiet for long periods, making it hard to judge how verbal she really is. She becomes more verbal when she has to talk on the phone with someone, so her silence might not have anything to do with the cancer.

Mom got out of bed late today; despite waking up sometime after 10AM (I saw her around 11AM, with her eyes open), she didn't get out of bed until sometime past 2PM. I don't know how well she slept, but I wonder whether she had a rough night. She and Dad are upstairs right now, talking with Pastor Jeri. I'm about to go up and join them.


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