Suzy had a pretty good day today. Nothing too startling, but some baby steps in the right direction.

Her blood ammonia level is now dropping, her kidney function looks okay, and she is breathing some on her own. The ventilator is set at 10 respirations per minute (I think it's per minute, anyway), so any numbers greater than that represent her own breathing. Most of the day it hovered around 12-14, but when we left this evening there was a long string of respirations in the 18-21 range.

On the not so happy side, her pneumonia is preventing the immediate treatment of her liver ailment, which can't be started until the infection subsides.

I feel a little more optimistic than I did yesterday, and a hell of a lot more optimistic than I did Tuesday night, when the feeling was, "if she lasts the week, it's a miracle." We don't know the ultimate outcome, but she is not crashing and burning in the way it seemed she might. One. Day. At. A. Time.

Fight, Suzanne, fight!