When one of my family members succumbed to cancer, they were on strong pain meds and was barely lucid toward the end. The hospice care was a gentle and dignified path to death. It didn’t take all that long before passing- a few weeks.
Her “homework” is being handled by her clerks, who by now can pretty much write opinions using the same wording she used in the past. Since we know POTUS knows how to do a deal, allowing the status quo may be a part of the leverage he is using in shutdown negotiations.