Well it seems they have placed him in a medically induced coma in hopes of helping him beat this infection. Still no change as of last night other than that. He's hanging in there at least and the doctors are still trying to remain optimistic that he'll come out of this on top. Been spending most of my nights awake listening for the phone to ring, scared that it will and scared that I might miss the phone call if it does. My family has this thing about always dying after midnight and before 6 am EST. My other uncle was at 3 am EST, my paternal grandmother was at 2 am EST, my maternal grandmother was at 1:30 am EST, my paternal grandfather was at 4:25 am, not sure on the maternal grandfather he divorced my grandmother and fell out of touch, but willing to bet it was in the middle of the night.... of my 4 deceased great aunts all of them were in the middle of the night, my great uncles 3 of them were in the middle of the night. Heck even my great grandparents all died in the middle of the night.

No one in my family can seem to die around lunch time or dinner time. No they all have to pick the middle of the night, which basically means if my phone rings between midnight and 6 am I already know before I answer it that someone is dead, I am never called for any other reason at those times. It's just a matter of who... And with my uncle being in the hospital right now in rather critical condition, I find I just can't seem to sleep between midnight and 6 am. I pass the 6 am mark and I'm out like a light, like all the anxiety over waiting for the phone to ring is gone and I can sleep like a baby for now knowing he's going to be okay for the rest of the day, until midnight comes around... then it's back to staring down the phone.

I want so badly to go back up to NH and see him, though I know it really won't do any good and there's nothing I can do there that I can't do here, which is only pray for his recovery. And if I go up there I'll be a bit of an imposition on his husband, I mean don't get me wrong his husband is every bit my uncle and loves me dearly as I do him, but he's the sort who "HAS" to play the host. He can't just say he's going to the hospital so fend for myself on dinner, and he can't just make a simple meal either, it has to be the full course. Doesn't matter if I would be perfectly fine with a hospital hamburger, or could use the guest bath towel more than once, or can just leave my clothes in the bags... He is a host till the end just about right up to leaving a mint on your pillow every morning. So I can't go up there right now, because... well his husband needs to be with him more than his niece does and certainly more than I need a three course breakfast in the morning. And if I got a hotel room it would break both my uncles' hearts.

And so I need to survive 2 more hours of trying not to think about it, and then I'll know he's in the clear for at least another 18 hours, so I can sleep, play with the GBs and get ready for another night of insomnia. But I do hope that by the end of this week-middle of next week, we should have a better idea of how he's really doing. If he can make it to the middle of next week, he should be able to MAKE it. If not well....Then he won't. But if he does they should be pulling him out of the induced coma and start weaning him off the ventilator, providing everything goes as best as they can plan for. Then it really will come down a matter of if he can be weaned completely off the ventilator or if he'll need to stay on it. Which will bring up the next question which he'll be able to answer, is to pull the plug or keep going. At least if he pulls the plug he'll be the very first person in his family to pass away before midnight and after 6 am, for at least 3 generation. But it also will mean that all of family will get a chance to come and say good-bye to him if he so choses to pull the plug. (Almost said if he so choses, but honestly he might think he has a choice, but he really doesn't, his hospital room will be filled with family and friends non-stop till every single person has had a chance to say good-bye to him before anyone goes anywhere near a plug, I don't care it's simply unplugging a nightlight in his room.)