Read this update from Andy when I got up during the night -

 Spoke to her overnight nurse Michael. Not much of a change in her condition. Continuing to get the morphine. Got some eye drops. He says she responds to touch but doesn’t really open her eyes.  I asked about giving her another dose of the Dilaudid. He said he was afraid it would depress her respiration too much (currently 10-12)and I told him I really wasn’t worried about that. (Not sure why he said that since he did know she was on “comfort care”).  Stay tuned...

and then there was this later one waiting when I got up this morning.

At Emily‘s suggestion I pressed the issue of whether mom was getting sufficient pain medication, first with the charge nurse and then with the overnight nurse administrator. I just got a return call from the charge nurse telling me that they have doubled the morphine (from 0.5 mg to 1.0 mg) and they also gave her a push of the Dilaudid medication. I have no way of knowing whether any of this is enough, but it is certainly an improvement over what she had been getting.

Though yesterday was technically the shortest day of the year, it was a very long day spent waiting for the inevitable phone call.  I find myself hoping Mom doesn't "wait" until Christmas to die, which would make things just that much harder for those in the family who celebrate the holiday.  I'm reminded of the M*A*S*H episode from season 9 (Death Takes a Holiday) where at solider dies at 11:30 pm, but BJ pushes the hands on the clock forward, saying, "No one dies on Christmas."

And now I wait to see what today brings.