Big step for Cindy today.  She has been breathing without the ventilater today.  They took a blood gas this afternoon to see how she is doing and found that her levels were OK but not perfect.  She was put back on the ventilator this evening.  There is no breathing assistance from the machine.  Tomorrow morning she will have the ventilator off again and have another blood test done to see if the breathing tube removed.

Ventilator on Standby

In other news, her jaundice has been decreasing.  Dr. Lane, her gastrologist, does not believe that the jaundice is caused by her gall bladder.  It is possible it is from the medication that was being used to improve her platelet count (which is now normal).