Good But Not Great

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post which was rather bleak sounding, we have been very busy a very tired.  My mother woke up after they removed the ventilator and she started breathing on her own. She spoke a few words that day and has been improving since.  I would like to thank everybody for their kind thoughs and prayers.  It's been slow going and we cannot presently evaluate the status of her cancer.  Getting her back to where she was before the crisis is the primary concern.  The nurse who took care of her most nights during the begining told me that a patient who needed as much support as she did, do not typically wake up after the vent is removed.  We are extra grateful after learning that and I thank God everyday for her continuing recovery.  Her breathing is much improved from before the hospital, she is taking deeper breaths and is down to 4 liters/hr where as previously she was taking 10 at home.  I stay up with her at night because she has what is called ICU delerium, which is as I understand a combo of sleep depervation and the meds left over from the sedation.  This makes her a little foggy, especailly at night and it is hard for her to ocmmunicate what she wants.  Also, she is very weak from her sedation and has not yet mastered the call button.  We are gruardly optimistic about her recovery.  She seems to do a little better everyday.  Physical therapy had her sitting up at the edge of the bed today which is her second day of PT.  She still has trouble swollowing and is allowed only a few things, the rest being supplmented by a feeding tube to get her strength back.  Her oncologist  visits every day that she can which is frequent and we are very grateful for her.  I was going to write more but I don't think i'm making a lot of sense, as I am also sleep deprived.  Thank you all again.  We know my  mothers condidtion is very serious but we always hope for the best.  If you can't believe in a woman who wakes up and breathes when all the doctors say she won't and one of the first things she says is 'do or die' what can you believe in.  I apologize for my many spelling a punctuation errors, I fixed as many as I could and now I am going to sleep.  Thankyou again.