Status quo, more or less

There have been only minor changes in Mom's condition over the last 72 hours. She remains unconcious, with the only facial expressions occuring if someone tries to move her suddenly: it's amazing, but she apparently still feels pain even in her current condition. In order to minimize such pain, the nurses give her a little extra dose of pain medication (referred to as a "bolus") about 10 minutes before moving her. That seems to do the trick.

There is also evidence that her body is gradually shutting down. Her digestive tract has ceased to function, and there's less bloodflow to her extremities (which is probably her body's attempt to keep her primary organs functional despite her low blood supply). Her skin is showing signs of necrosis as well, especially on her back.

And, as you might expect, the tumor is continuing to spread. There is now evidence of it on the roof of her mouth (of all places!). Fortunately, she doesn't seem to notice.

Mom had a couple unexpected -- but very welcome -- visitors yesterday. Steve Dixon, long time friend of the family and my fellow band member, stopped by for a while. We were very happy to see him, and we suspect that Mom was happy he stopped by too. Thanks, Steve.

And Mom's nephew Jeff came by as well. It was nice to chat with our cousin for a while, and I'm sure Mom got a kick out of the comparison that we were doing between our grandparents, our parents and ourselves. Some family traits can really give you a chuckle.

As always, feel free to stop by. We figure that if Mom reacts to pain, she likely has other capabilities as well, including the ability to hear what's going on around her. With that in mind, we try to provide her with as much amusing conversation as possible.