Thanks, Wolf.
For the a number of years I have (admittedly at the urging of The Lovely & Charming Mrs. Cowboy) called her every Sunday; I almost said "talked to her", but the calls average 1.25 hours, and I may get 10 words in

; what can I say; that's Mom. I have, obviously, missed the last couple weeks, but today I got to talk to her (and I did do most of the talking this time) for about 5-10 minutes. She seems to finally seems to be making some progress, but my optimism is still decidedly guarded.
As to comfort, well - yesterday or day before they started her back on dilaudid, so I'm guessing not so much (but, based on my experience with that wonder of pharmacology, no doubt much better now).
Peter