Prognosis for South Dakota's Senator Tim Johnson

I've been watching the situation with South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson (D) closely for personal as well as political reasons. Clearly, losing him would be bad for the Senate if he cannot fulfill his term - and no, I'm not just talking about the slim Democratic majority by any means.

My family suffers from a congenital brain defect much like what Johnson has that caused the brain hemorrhage earlier this month; my father, several uncles, and one of my brothers died of this on or before their 40th birthdays and I have the defect as well (although I don't believe a single Chase female has died of this).

What worries me here is that Johnson has been under sedation since December 13th, when he underwent surgery. It is quite unusual for anyone to be kept sedated that long; for this kind of condition, it's usually no more than a few days. At some point, I expect one of the GOP reprehensibles to suggest Hillary Clinton is having him force-fed drugs just so no doctor can tell for certain that he is too compromised to continue (which would be ironic considering that Strom Thurmond's brain hadn't registered a function for about the last 15 years of his time in the Senate).

I notice this AP piece say Johnson is being slowly weaned from sedation; hope this is true.

I continue to hope for the best. I can only imagine what his family and friends are going through.