Not much new to report tonight.  Dad had another successful day off the ventilator.  No problems.  The only thing standing between him and the removal of the vent tube is his ability to follow commands.  This shows his neurological function level.  The pulmonologist believes it would be best to wait a couple more days before we try.  One thing we don't want to do is remove the tube and then put it back in right away.  Too many bad things can happen, plus we believe as a family that dad would not want to be on a ventilator long term.  The neurologist put dad on another drug a couple of days ago (Provigil) to help him wake up.  So far, any improvement in that regard is minimal.  We'll just need to take a wait and see approach.

Mom and I spent some time today talking to dad about what's going on, what our options are, and how we're trying hard to do what he'd want to if he could tell us.  We also talked about some good memories, we read from the bible (Colossians 1 and 2) , and prayed with him to help take his mind off the here and now.    He seems as comfortable as he can be, and doesn't indicate that he's in pain.


Will update more tomorrow.  Hold each other close.