The waiting is the hardest part.
Doctors said they'd try to put mom on a regular ventilator, but Thursday came and went, and so did Friday, and Saturday, and now today they tell us her X-rays are worse today than the last three days, so they are leaving her on this high-pressure ventilator. This is one of only about 15 hospitals in the country that even has one of those vents. They were originally designed for military use, then for other trauma victims who needed them just to stay alive. Fortunately for my mom, she's in a place that has them for cases like this.
She last spoke about 10 days ago. Her eyes haven't opened in a couple of days. If you sit in the room with her for hours at a time, it is as if she is in a coma. We were hopeful that today would be the day they changed vents, so they could back off the heavy sedation and allow her to wake up, but that's on hold indefinitely.
So much more I could say, but for now I'll leave it at another thanks to everyone and a hope that none of you have run out of prayers or good vibes.
Oh, and maybe another plug for the Take Care of Yourself thread, which seems more important to me than when I started it.