ABC news!

This was another big day for Beverly. Lori Steele from WBRZ, the ABC TV affiliate in Baton Rouge, arrived around 10am with a cameraman and talked with Janie and Beverly for nearly an hour. Beverly's story was the "lead story" at the 6:00pm newscast. At least two "promotions" for the story aired between 5pm and 6pm. Alison and Janie were talking and didn't see them (no surprise!). Nurse Lana came in and told us she had just seen the promotion and Deedy saw it too but couldn't get our attention to tell us to look at the TV! We are so appreciative of WBRZ for telling the people of Baton Rouge about Beverly's accident. We are hoping to get a copy of the story and provide a link to it from Beverly website.

Also today Beverly stayed on "pressure support" on the ventilator from 8:45am until 9:40pm. This means that her breathing is definitely improving! Soon she will begin trying to breathe only with an oxygen collar over the trach, and without the ventilator entirely. Her lungs and diaphragm are finally beginning to get stronger.

And there's more good news: Beverly's brother, Leonard, will arrive tomorrow evening. He has been wanting to come since the accident and will be on his way first thing Friday morning. She's really looking forward to seeing Leonard.

The OU Medical Center is keeping in touch with the Respiratory Critical Care unit here at Our Lady of the Lake and reported this afternoon that they still do not have an available bed for her but expect one soon. With the success Beverly is having with her breathing, we hope it won't be long before she can get "graduate" from the OU Med Center and move into a spinal cord injury rehabilitation facility. At this time, The Jim Thorpe facility is Oklahoma City looks like the best option in Oklahoma. Is there anyone out there who has a connection with this facility and would be willing to give her an "introduction"?