Some more slow progress

My Dad removed his own tracheostomy the other night (ouch!) and the doctors decided to leave it out at this point. He is breathing, eating and speaking pretty well now on his own so there isn't any real reason to leave it in. Thank goodness because that's one less thing for him to tug and yank at.
He seems to be doing well when he receives his pain meds at regular intervals. When they're late however, things get rough. He becomes increasingly agitated and angry, sometimes even violent. He isn't comfortable or happy with his current living quarters and wants to go home. He still doesn't really grasp what's going on around him and why he can't go home. Unfortunately, it isn't likely that he'll be able to go home until he has a better cognative ability to grasp his situation. At this time, he's still very baffled and speaks nonsense most of the time.
On that note, I know many of you would like to call him and wish him a speedy recovery. Since he doesn't have the mental awareness to carry on any sort of conversation in person, much less over the phone, they don't have a telephone connected in his room. If they did, it would only sit there and ring, he would realize that it his phone ringing. In addition, unfortunately it is unlikely that he'd even know who he's speaking to. He really only seems to recognize his family at this point and sometimes still confuses Linda and my mom even though my mom hasn't visited him yet. He will even refer to me as though I'm not there when he is speaking directly to him.
I will make sure that I post as soon as he is mentally able to have visitors outside of his family. It may not be until he is at home.
Our pending family/physician meeting has been delayed for another couple of weeks because they feel that it is still too early to give us any real answers. So, for the time being, we continue to carry on business as usual and take turns sitting at his bedside and helping him sift through the madness.