A Daughter's Nightmare

It's bad. It's just about as bad as it can be. I flew to Florida yesterday, and saw my mother last night for the first time. She's all bloated, and her face is distorted with the tape holding the tube in her mouth. But the worst is when she wakes up. And I'm hoping it's the drugs, but she looks absolutely miserable. That confused, angry/sad look that alzheimer's disease patients get. But she can't even talk to us because of being on the ventilator. She's having a really hard time. She can't seem to get off the ventilator. They lower her oxygen level for awhile, and then later (that day or even the next day) she get's into distress, and they have to raise it again. She's currently at 50 percent, and seems to have been level for a whole day. Tomorrow she is scheduled for a trachiotomy. I know that it sounds terrible, but I am very hopeful about it. I think if they can get her off the drugs for sedation because of the ventilator, that she might recover a little better. But that's a completely undeducated guess. I very well could be just a grasp for a little hope.