The doctor reports that Dorothy is “pretty stable” since yesterday with a “tiny step forward” on the oxygen. They are making more aggressive efforts to pull fluid from her lungs in hopes of accelerating her oxygen situation. She remains at between 45% and 55% while on her belly, which is where she has been since about last Thursday.

They are planning to start weaning Dorothy off of the sedatives this afternoon, but because she so deeply under, she may not come up until tomorrow. As I mentioned yesterday, they are doing this in order to assess her mental status.

The doctor also said that she is going to try defer a decision on a tracheotomy until Sunday.

She also said that while this slow, steady progress can be discouraging, in her experience with COVID, this is actually a good thing. Other patients, she told me, move forward and then move backward, and these are the ones that have more long-term problems. So, while her lack of progress has at times been frustrating, it’s still relatively good news.