Today, Dad was weaker, less active, and nonresponsive to words or to the touch of a hand. His fever hovers around 101 to 102, and he has developed a heavy, rattling cough that seems to shake him at times. His nurse, Lisa, assures me that no medication they are giving him should make him nonresponsive, and that's important to know.
I had not realized how much the burden of Alzheimer's had aged and oppressed Dad until someone remarked that he didn't look very different now from the way he had in the past six months... and it's true. I pulled out a photo taken on Christmas Day, and Dad's physical frailty and the weight of his spiritual burdens were so evident in that weary, pained face. Dad seemed to age ten years in the past year alone...
We are still moving towards the decisions involving Dad's living will; the decline seems to make the ultimate decision more inevitable...
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