And how's Dad doing?

Was over at the hospital tonight, left Dad a note as he was zonked off in happyland. They are currently sedating him in the evenings.

Nurse told us that they changed the canula in his tracheotomy (the tube thing) and he is requiring less suction; it is yet to be determined if he is (a) simply starting to control his own secretions or secreting less, (b) a bright shiny new canula is all spiffy and making things better, or (c) some combination of the above. Social worker discovered from Mom he had his dentures there, and first session post-discovery with lipreader was apparently improved.

He is quite weak, and this concerns both Mom and I. Depression is an ongoing issue for him, so I've suggested to the relatives that keeping upbeat cards and letters coming is a *good* thing as Mom will read them to him and they seem to cheer him. He has his "talking computer" I built, but is not presently either up to, willing, or able to use it (weakness, remember?) ... it's hard to tell which.

Mom is doing reasonably well, though pushing herself quite hard - Tuesday was the first day she'd missed visiting the hospital since this all began back in mid-June. I'm very pleased that she is driving again and broadening her horizons, but somewhat concerned regarding potential exhaustion - which seldom ever increases ones effectiveness.