condition about the same

Mom may be showing ever-so-slight improvement in her condition; her need for the ventilator is still acute, but lessening. She still has a host of systemic problems, though, so don't read too much into the word "improvement." The docs still say that taking Mom down south at this juncture would be nearly impossible, given her condition. No bacterial culture results yet, so we don't know what type of pneumonia, etc., we're looking at.

Dad and David visited the ICU before Sean and I did. When I got there, I saw Mom looking about the same as she had yesterday. Her hands were colder than they had been last night, with the right hand slightly colder than the left. I noted this to Dr. Berlin when he came by, and he said this temperature difference might be indicative of a flow problem with one of the IV attachments in Mom's right arm.

There were chairs in Mom's berth today. After spending some time sitting against the wall, I pulled my chair over to her bedside and held her hand, hoping to warm it up with my own. Some nurses came in to check IV flow; they decided to roll Mom slightly to her left because she seemed to respond better to treatment while on her left side. They asked us to leave the room while they performed the roll, so we left, electing to go back to the hotel room to eat lunch.

Our thanks to the many people who have written in with offers of places to stay. A special note of thanks to my brother David's employer, Hager Sharp, for having sent us a lovely gift basket that arrived in front of Mom's ICU berth.

We'll be going back to see Mom again soon. More updates later.


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