one week ago my 88 year old mother underwent surgery to relieve pressure on the brain from a subdural hematoma caused by a fall. ct scan looked good after surgery. For the past week she has been moving around as if to get comfortable and in the past two days would open her eyes for brief minutes of time. Although she does not yet respond to simple commands, yesterday she did appear to shake her head in answer to a question and leave her eyes open for about 30 minutes. (of course this gave us hope) Today she is totally unresponsive. Even when she is prodded on her breast bone she does not move at all nor does she move when her feet are tickled as she has been doing until today. Today is the first day that her children all returned to work and she has been alone all day in the hospital without extra stimulation and comfort from our voices. Is this just the roller coaster ride we should expect on the recovery road given her age or is this a bad sign?