update on dad

after several e-mails and phone calls, here's what i know about dad: his body is strong. even though he has pneumonia and they are not giving him anything for it, he may still recover. he is getting medication for pain and that is a good thing. and not giving him treatment is also a good thing. 'no resuscitation' is also part of the plan, and he has a living will. his life is not to be extended by medical means but he's always kept himself so healthy, he may outlive us all.

during part of his hospital stay, he has been gone, sort of comatose. and yet, saturday he was awake, alert, and extremely talkative. for the most part his comments were unintelligible, but he wasn't aware of that and happily talked everyone's ear off. at one point uncle L was carrying granddaughter J (who's about three or four now, i think) and stood beside dad's bed. when dad realized someone was there, he turned to L, saw J, and said "Well, hi there cutie!" then he was distracted and turned away. it was a sweet moment.

apparently the doctor thought he'd probably die by yesterday and the nurse thought maybe by tuesday, but it's all a guessing game. he has to stay in the hospital (for the infamous insurance purposes) until tuesday, and after that will probably be moved to a hospice location. unless he's able to dance out of the hospital in which case it's back to an alzheimer's unit.

this is all so amazing. and i think he'd get a very big kick out of surprising everyone and keeping the experts guessing.