The hospital has assigned a liver specialist to monitor my mom's progress. He called me this morning to make several inquiries about her history, and I asked him for an update on her health.

"I have to be honest, it isn't a good story," was his reply.

After that, I pretty much blanked out.

My mom is deeply frightened and doesn't want to be left alone in the hospital, so my sister Denise is flying up tomorrow to lend moral support. (We both wanted her to get up here today, but Denise is due in court tomorrow to be awarded Power of Attorney for my sister Ann's estate.) Both she and I are shell-shocked and worried about the near future. All that we are praying for is for mom to get well enough to get back to her apartment, to live in peace for just a little while...to just feel a little bit of sustained happiness...something that she really has never had much of before.