Mom update 2.
I'm writing this after taking a nap on the 30th of September. Mom asked me to go home and get some rest because I was nodding off in my chair when visiting her, and it seemed prudent to do so.
When I got to the hospital yesterday it was just in time for her to get prepped for another round of paracentesis. The night before they'd drained about six liters of fluid from her abdomen, and by the time I actually saw her yesterday they had drained another three liters. This might explain the difficulty breathing. The surgeons also installed a new chest drain, which means that we're going to be pumping fluid out every day or so like last time for an indefinite period of time.
Mom's intestines seem to have powered back up. By the time I left yesterday they seemed to be making up for lost time, which is actually a very good sign. This means that whatever they injected into her stomach yesterday irritated her intestines in just the right way that the blockage eased up a bit and made room for the contents to flow. Between that and the paracentesis, the distention is much, much less, as is the pain. She's still on IVs for everything though, by way of her new infusaport.
Yesterday afternoon, after I got back from lunch she was back in her room and I showed her how to use the iTunes app on her phone to download the Leonard Cohen albums she asked me to find. Much easier than finding a CD player, finding the CDs, finding headphones... plus, less stuff to keep track of in the hospital room.
We don't know what's next, but at least things are looking better.