Dad has been in the hospital for more than a month. If last week I mentioned that he was out of the ICU, he was brought back in the middle of the wwek because he had difficulty breathing. Things we're looking up again and he was progressing fine when...apparently last night he became restless, managed to sit up in bed even with all the restraints and in the process removed the vital tubes attached to him (i.e. one attached to the ventilating machine and the other would be the feeding tube).

These tubes, of course, had to be re-inserted again. I don't think anyone among us can really imagine how it would feel to have a tube in the mouth going to the lungs or one inserted outside the nose that goes down to the stomach.

This is the third time this has happened and is the primary reason why he stays in the ICU.

The money involved is not even mentioned...hospital bills, medicines, the ongoing dialysis,etc. Some relatives have given financial assistance but that has already been severely depleted.

It just gets frustrating and I'm not even there. I'm tired of thinking about it, but I know it's nothing compared to what my mom goes thru.