May 31 Sat. PICTURES 3:36 am

Here is some pictures of the party (our housewarming, although nobody brought gifts. The first picture is our food table out in the hall. The one helping herself is Shaleena. She likes her picture taken and laughs at everything. I put little palm trees on the table along with sunglasses and leis. The sign on our window says "Welcome to the Harbison's Hawaiian Hilton." We decided since we're pretending we might as well go far. The next picture is of our door. It has a huge picture of dolphins jumping and over on the left, you can barely see it, is a blow up pelican. I even put little decals on the windows. The pictures in Will's room didn't come out very well so I will try to borrow the nurses' copies. They took some for their scrapbooks. I had banners, a huge palm tree and streamer of hula girls and some more leis. Oh, and a giant, red, blow-up parrot. When I take pictures of Will tomorrow with Coach I will try to get a picture of that too.









The picture of Sumer bending over Will is when I was shaving him. I had to get a bunch of long hair that had grown close to his trach. He told me not to touch it because it could drop in his

trach-which it couldn't. I said okay. Sumer comes in and with her sweet voice says that Will has some long hair down by his neck and could she get it out for him. He said yes. Guys!!! Always a sucker for a pretty face over their mothers.

We are hoping for a warm day because we are going to try to get Will out for a wheelchair ride outside again. Carolyn said she would take him when Coach gets here. It will be nice for him. Then we are supposed to get another visit. Little Tyler Osborne (along with his parents, Megan and Curt) came up so I could hug him very tight. I haven't got to meet Tyler yet so I'm so excited. I have some great stories to tell him about his daddy when he was in school. I just wish Will could visit with them. But no kids are allowed. Company is so fun. I should have new pictures in the next day or two.

Will watched the big Celtics game last night with Coach. I am sure glad that they won. Now it's going to be like old, old times. Celtics and the Lakers. How fun---GO GREEN!

God bless

Friday May 30, 2008 1:20 am

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!!!!! For those of you who have children, I'm sorry. For those of you that are teachers, HURRAY!

Today was a great day. Long overdue for sure. He had his favorites working with him today. That helps getting him to do things. Will did a four hour t-trial first thing this morning. When he got off it about 1:00, he went for a walk down the hall. When he went through the double doors to the unit, he took a couple of steps. He looked so good that the nurses asked if he wanted to take a wheelchair ride outside. He said that would be okay. He had a great ride. He has a entourage when he goes anywhere, like a little parade. I think they enjoyed the time outside too. He needed some blood today so they gave him two more units. Then he took a good nap, got up and I got to finally shave him. He was waiting for his brother-in-law, Aaron, to shave him but it might be awhile and Sumer (one of his most favorite nurses) told him he was looking bad. So then he said I could shave him. I swear she could make him stand on his head if she wanted him too. (I don't know why she would ever have him do that.)
Then finally after 14 weeks, he got to take a shower. I know it felt so good for him. It still took many people to get this to happen but it was worth it.

Oh I forgot to mention that we had a pulmonologist (lung doctor) a few weeks ago. He just got a big important job in a big hospital in the east. He came in and said goodbye to Will. He told us that he was going to say something and it was not what he had to say because he's a doctor. What he said was that, in his experience, Will is one of the strongest person he's ever treated. He's never seen anyone that has fought so hard. He took Will's hand and said it was a privilege to get to know him. Well, needless to say, I had tears in my eyes. He doesn't know Will, or anything that Will had to go through all his life. So he based his opinion on just his experience with him in the ICU. That made Will feel real special. What a nice man. (I just wish I could remember his name.).

We had so much fun with out housewarming party today. I have some great pictures but I can't load them here at the hospital. I will load them tomorrow (today) as soon as I get back to the apt. There are some good pictures. I guess none of you could get up here for that. So stay tuned tomorrow night that there will be pics. The doctors and nurses, pt, rt and clerks all had a good time eating the food. It was fun planning it. I will go into detail tomorrow night. I keep thinking there was something big I had to let everyone know but I can't remember it right now.

Big difference in this time last week. Thank goodness they are pushing him so much. Coach Clark and Donna are coming up today, Friday, to spend some time with Will. He's looking forward to that. It will be good to let them have time alone.

Today will be as good, if not better, than yesterday.
God bless all

Thursday May 29, 2008 2:05 am

School is almost out for everyone. I can't believe it has gone by so fast. I'm sure the students aren't saying as much. Yesterday the weather started getting warmer and should stay warm for a few days.

Will had a pretty good day. He walked all the way to the door of the unit. Wow, he said that was the longest walk he ever took. He works so hard to do that, by the time he gets to sit back on his bed he's soaking wet like he's been in a triathlon. He also did a t-trial for four hours. and another for three hours. It takes a lot of concentration on his part to keep telling himself that he's breathing okay. Some of the best news was that our Carolyn was back from her time off. She got the doctors to order that his blood pressure only has to be taken every four hours. Since he's been in here, he's had to have it all the time. The last little bit of time he had to have it taken every hour. Now it's every four. He hates that thing so I'm so glad he got to change that. It's the little things that can get us through this. We still haven't got the final results of the biopsies from the bronch. So far nothing has grown out of them. So good news there. Sumer was his nurse tonight and I got a picture taken with her. I should put it on the blog tomorrow.

Also I am having my theme party for my housewarming. We are doing a party to welcome people to the Harbison's Hawaiian Hilton. We decided since we are pretending anyway we might as well pretend big. So I will have some pictures of this also to put up on the blog. It's so much fun to do this for our nurses and drs. I think they will enjoy it. So if any of you are in the area, drop by :)


I hope God's blessings are pouring out on all of you.

Wednesday May 28th, 2008 1:25 am

Tuesday was busy. Will started the day off with a 3 1/2 hour trial test. Did the best he has yet. Then he waited for his bronch. Dr. Cahill came in with her crew and did it about 2 this afternoon. Will did really well and we should know some findings by tomorrow. His blood gases came back and the the drs. said all the numbers looked great on those. The drs. let him have the afternoon off so he could rest. He took advantage of that. So things are starting to look up again.

Jesters came up to visit us from Hagerman tonight. Will slept through most of the visit because he was really tired from the procedure today. They left after a good visit and then they will come back before they leave for home in the morning. I wish I could bottle up all our love and send it back to all of you. I can't -so just pretend.

Our young man we have been praying for had company tonight. I went over and met his mom and siblings. I don't know why they weren't here before this, I didn't ask. I just told them that the nurses were taking good care of him and that I had people praying for him. They were very appreciative. So I am sending their thanks to you. He's doing a little better today. By the way, I told you that he look 18, well he just turned 25 his mom said. What do I know? Everybody looks young to me.

We haven't had our housewarming party yet because I haven't had time to get it all together. But we will soon. I think that will be a fun way to thank the nurses and drs. for their care. I will send pictures of that when we get it done.

God bless

Tuesday May 27th 2:43 am

It's been a busy day today. We started the morning off early. Will didn't have a great night just because his blood sugars were all out of whack. He started the evening in the 300's (normal is 90-120) and then by early morning he was what they call "bottomed out" which means it's too low to read. So they gave him glucose (sugar) and then he felt better. But he didn't feel good all night so he didn't sleep.

So Will got his breathing treatment early because we were going down to xray at 8:30. We couldn't start a trial test because then we would be interrupted by the xray. So we sat there and waited and waited. Hospital time again- they came at 10:15. Then when he got back he did another treatment and started a t=trial. He went for 3 1/2 hours. He wasn't having a great day, it seemed every time he turned around he was vomiting. So he couldn't sleep during the day. He did start to feel better towards night. Around midnight he did his walk down the hall. That takes everything out of him, but I'm so proud that he does it anyway. He's sleeping well right now.

Tomorrow they are going to do a bronch on him to check things out in his lungs. So I will let you all know what's happening with that. His xray showed some improvement from last week. Yea. I will ask Dr. Cahill when I see her how much has he improved and will let you all know about that too. I haven't heard anything about the young man next door in a while so I don't know how he's doing, but keep praying, please. Thank you

And before I forget to share, we moved across the hall in room #6. We did this because the drs. thought that we needed a change. Maybe they saw the look of insanity in my eyes. The room is exactly the same but we have a window. The view is the top of a building with a bunch of air conditioners on it but that's just fine. It means so much to be able to look out and see the sky again after 11 weeks in that same room. I told the nurses we should have a housewarming party, so maybe tomorrow I will go buy some treats and throw us a party. Everybody would like that.

God bless

Monday Memorial Day May 26, 2008 1:17 am

Monday morning already. Time is flying by. We are now on our thirteenth week in this wonderful hospital. It seems like yesterday. Now you know I'm not telling the truth. I am beginning to wonder if we ever lived anywhere else. Just kidding. How could I forget our beautiful home.

So as most of you can imagine, if you have spent any time in the hospital, that by now Will is getting a little stir crazy and having a lot of depression. Everybody is trying to find ways to help him out with this. He still can't seem to trust his lungs to work the way they should. After all the 'failed' tries, it's no wonder. So when he does these t-trials his head is really telling him that he might not be able to breathe. Sometimes it brings on an anxiety attack. These are terrible to go through for him.

I prayed and prayed last night that somehow he will be able to feel good about the trials and know that nothing bad will happen to him. This morning he was on the trial again and the doctors wanted him to go for 3 1/2 hours this time. After only about 15 minutes Will wanted off. He said he couldn't breathe. His face was turning red and he seemed like he was gasping. All his numbers were good though and the nurses told him the drs. wanted him to struggle through it and stay on the trial. I asked them to step outside so I could talk to Will alone. I got down and my knees next to his bed, held his hand and prayed for the peace and comfort only God can give. I said the prayer out loud so Will was praying with me. I asked that Will would only just give it over to God. We prayed for a few minutes and then said Amen. Within a few minutes his face was the right color, he was vomiting or gagging, and his heart rate returned to normal.

Now the reason I wanted to share this with you was when we finished the 3 1/2 hours, he had had no more problems and he was doing just fine. I again went down on my knees next to Will's bed and thanked the good Lord for helping Will through this, and I felt a need to share with people this story. It's not just for Will this works, it's for everyone out there. We all need to remember that all God wants is for us to lay all our troubles at his feet. It doesn't matter if it's big or small. We need to trust in our God to pick up these troubles (no matter what kind of troubles) and take them away.

Sometimes we find our emotional traumas to be more devastinging than our physical symptoms. God understands that, he can support us and all we need to do is relax and allow the presence of God to come over and surround us. How awesome is that??

In illness we may recognize for the first time how helpless we really are. Serious illness brings us face to face with long, dark nights when we are alone with our fears. When we reach the point that we finally know the darkness is passing, and we are aware that we are no longer alone but surrounded by God's presence--it is the most amazing feeling of peace. I have reached that point many times through this journey and so has Will. We trust and firmly believe God is with us in this room all the time, not just through the bad times. What a fantastic feeling and through trust and faith we can go through ANYTHING. But, and this is a big but, we need to give the glory to God. We need to make sure that we share our God's love for us and that's why I decided to do this sermon 101. Now the BIG lesson-serious illness or pain causes us to find value in things we have previously taken for granted (like our home, friends and family) ----including our faith. We come to realize that NOTHING is as important as our relationship with God. This illness has affected our life and there is no question in my mind that our family would not have the realtionship with our God without going down this road.

So now on to Will, if you're still reading this blog (which I hope you are). Normally I wouldn't have put all my personal revelations here but I was compelled to after watching again how much God is using Will to show people His love for us.
So Will had a great day, really. He was on two t-trials for over 3 1/2 hours. He walked further in the hall than he had before and he's now sleeping deeply. When he walked in the hall, the herd of doctors were still making their rounds. When Will passed them, they all applauded. Then the nurses followed Will back to his room, like a little parade, and clapped when he sat back down in his bed. Now that's encouragment of the first kind. They are wonderful people here and it's going to be sad to say goodbye. But hopefully we will be doing that soon. Tomorrow Will is going downstairs and getting a "big boy" xray. That's Dr. Cahill's term, not mine (She's such a character!) It's a regular xray where they get the front and sides of the lungs, instead of the ones that Will's been doing just laying in bed. This should tell us better how his lungs are looking. They have gotten about 3 liters of fluid off him in the last two days. They think they have another three to go. But it's coming off. He has legs again (where before he had tree trunks :0). He's off all antibiotics and things are looking better. We just need to work through this depression, and we will.

This is going to be a great week, I feel it. I hope that every one of you has a great week too.
God bless and thank you for your prayers. They are our strength.

P.S. The young man next to us is still alive. He seems to be doing better, thanks to all your prayers and the wonderful care he's given. But he still hasn't had any company. I hope his family is somewhere and they get the word to come here and be with him. He looks so young to be here in the adult wing. In the meantime, we will stand for him in our prayers. Thank you.

May 25, 2008 Sunday 2:27 am

40,000 hits on this blog!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! Thank you for caring.

I decided that I better get the blog done earlier than I did last night. I feel bad that some of you were worried when there was nothing on the blog when you got up in the morning. First of all, what are you all doing up that early on a Saturday morning??? That's just wrong. Second, I wouldn't ever want to worry people that are caring and praying for Will. I'm sorry.

So Will had an okay day even though it started rough. Hopefully we have that problem solved and we don't have to worry about that again. He did walk again today and had a couple of t-trials but they didn't go as long as they should. So we will have a better day on Sunday.

Will's grandma and grandpa came in and gave a few foot rubs and hand rubs. That always helped. Then they went back home to Boise about noon. Will was ready for a nap then anyway. Will had some more company that came in late tonight. Coach (aka Randy) came in with his sweet wife, Donna about ten tonight. They stayed and visited but they had to get home so they didn't stay over night. It was real good to see them. I will tell every body that it's been a while since I saw Will smile. Seriously, he doesn't think there's much to smile about right now. So when Randy was here, he was telling Will some stories and had him smiling. That's what friends are for. Thanks for picking up Will's spirits, Coach.

I wanted to let everyone know that the young man I asked for prayers for last night is still with us. He's in bad shape and they have been worried about him all day but our prayers are being heard. He didn't have a transplant but that's about all I know. I just want to go sit with him for awhile and let him know that he's not alone but they won't let me. So I'll do what I can and pray for him. Thank you for helping with that. God is a merciful God.

God bless

Sat. May 24 2008 7:20 am

Morning, I'm sorry I didn't have this blog done before now. It's been a little crazy this morning and that's what I get for not doing it about 2:00 when it was quiet.

Will's day wasn't as good as the day before. He was able to walk a couple of times to the nurses' desk but then he didn't have enough gas in him to do more on his t-trials. He did do a good one for over 3 hours in the morning but his other two tries weren't very successful. He will try again this morning. He was having trouble breathing this morning so they had to mess with him a bit. A couple of the doctors were in and checking all the things out. They don't know why he couldn't breathe but they messed with his vent and he's doing better now. They had to up his numbers but they will bring them down once this little "episode" quiets down. He is sleeping now. So that's got my heart started this morning.

Grandma and Grandpa Atwood came down yesterday afternoon. They stayed the night at the local hotel and are coming back to visit this morning. That means more foot massages for Will. This weekend is supposed to be rainy, I don't know what it's supposed to be back home but I hope all of you that are starting out for a three day weekend have fun playing in the rain or sun.

There is a young man, Moreno is his last name, in the room next to Will. He was brought in a few days ago and hasn't had company yet. He looks to be about 18 yrs old. I don't know his story or what's wrong. But they almost lost him a couple of times last night. I prayed for him and I prayed that he didn't have to die alone. That's one of the saddest things. He's still alive but barely. I'm asking all my praying buddies to pray for him, please. Pray for his healing and if he has family somewhere that they are able to be with him.

This just shows me how good God is to us. I know if Tom or I couldn't be here next to Will, he would have literally hundreds of people that would step in. How blessed we are. It's a good feeling and warms this old heart of mine. Thank you for loving us and praying for us.

Friday May 23, 2008 2:15 am

Will's day was about the same as yesterday. He stayed on his t-trial for about three hours, and he did this twice. He walked to the nurses' desk and he sat in a chair. He watched the Celtics lose. That might send him in a relapse, I hope not. Still-Go Green!!
They did start his Lasix drip up again because he's got a lot of fluid on his lungs again. This will drain it off. His blood sugar has been running high for a while so they started him on an insulin drip also. Other than that, pretty much the same. Slow and steady wins the race--I don't know who said that but it's true.

This is the start of a long weekend for all you employed people. Hope you have a very safe and enjoyable time. Sunday night I want to try to put up some more old pictures. Pray for the fluids to come off. Miss you all
God bless

May 22, 2008 Thursday 3:34 am

I was reminded that Hagerman's graduation was last night. I didn't make it. It's been a long time since I didn't make a grad night. For all of you graduating seniors, CONGRATULATIONS!

Will worked really hard today (your yesterday) He did two t-trials and he stayed off the vent for three hours each time. Then when his doctor (Dr. Cahill) came in to his room, she asked him if he would walk with her. He would do anything she asked of him. He respects her so much. So she bagged him and he walked to the nurses desk. That was the longest walk he has taken in a long, long time. He sat in the chair for that long too.

My two friends, Zelda and Monique came up to SLC for the afternoon. We ended up going to lunch and talking for almost two hours. Then we went to furniture store called IKEA (I think I spelled it right). It was a huge, gynormous store. I got whiplash just looking at all the stuff. It was fun just to be out with them. We had a great time. They didn't leave until 8:30. It was a break from the norm. We laughed and joked and shopped until we were ready to drop. Everybody needs that once in a while. Right, ladies??

Thank God (and I do every day) that I have a husband that can and does stay with Will when I'm not there. He's getting to be such a fixture around the hospital that the nurses are calling him Dr. Tom. He was told yesterday that he got to be charge nurse. That lasted about five minutes. He's not very good at it, but he is a good father. Imagine spending hours a day next to your son's bedside, and being a guy too. You know what I mean. Men are not usually "wired" to do that. Like Tom says, "You do what has to be done."

Will received a call from a good, good friend of ours, Katie Rose tonight. She had me put her on speaker phone and she let Will know that she was going to be a mommy in a few months. He was grinning ear to ear. Isn't that the best news. Congratulations Katie and Paul. You'll be great parents. Thanks for sharing that with us. You made Will's day, maybe his month.

God puts special people in your lives for a reason. I feel very blessed that I have so many "angels" that I call friends. I want you all to know that your love, support and prayers have filled my heart clear up to the top. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and sharing His word with us. We are better people because of you all.
God bless and thank you.

Wednesday May 21, 2008 1:58 am

Will has had a pretty good day today. He did a t-trial for 3 hours. He was supposed to do another one sometime today but it didn't get done because he slept most the afternoon and evening. The reason I think he slept was he did do exercises in bed, he stood up several times next to his bed and....he walked out in the hall!! It was kind of exciting. So it took everything out of him and so he's been asleep. He slept through the Celtics game but the first thing he did when he woke up was ask if they won. (Those of you that don't know-they did win).
So not a bad day at all. The weather hit a new high here but toward early evening a wind storm came through. It was hard to see across the street because of all the dust. I'm glad I didn't have to drive in it.

I'm expecting some company today. They are friends from my church who just wanted to come up and see us. They know they can't see Will right now, but that didn't matter. They just wanted to visit with us. How nice is that?


It's my dad's birthday, aka Will's grandpa. Will wants to make sure he wishes Grandpa a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you.

God bless all grandparents. They are special people.

May 20, 2008 Tuesday 2:40 am New Pictures

How about those legs??? Those shorts were the greatest. I wonder why they did away with them? :) The first picture (he's #11) was in fifth grade, I think. The next one was in eighth grade (he's on the far left) when Hagerman used to play Jackpot. The boys in the top picture were all from Hagerman. I don't think we fed our boys enough except for Tommy. Hes the one on the left of Will (same age as Will) Time flies so quickly. Will told me I could share them but if he hears laughter clear up here in SLC I'm in trouble. Don't forget you can double click on the picture and it is bigger.

The doctors are trying to get one of the new meds at the level it needs to be without him sleeping so much. It's still too high I think because all he wants to do is sleep. He did get up and walk to the door a couple of times today again. He sat in the chair, although not as long as yesterday and he only did one and a half hours on the t-trial. Hopefully tomorrow the new dose will kick in and he will be awake more to work on all of these things.

I want to wish my sweet niece a happy, happy birthday. Have a good day, Christi and we are thinking a lot about you. We will celebrate when we get back home. Will reminded me about your birthday but I remembered already. Love you lots.

Will's nurses are getting to know him so well. They have all his hand signals down and they communicate quite well. It's cute so I guess he doesn't need me anymore. I'm going to go eat worms.

Hope everyone has a great, great Tuesday. We will get Will working as soon as he wakes up.
God bless

Monday May 19, 2008 1:15 am

Today, Sunday, has been great for Will. He has had two really good nights of sleep and it shows. It's amazing how sleep deprivation can affect you. Today Will took two walks to the door, about 6 to 7 steps. It was so good to see him up again. Then, when the Celtics played he sat in a regular chair and watched the game while he was doing a t-trial test. That was a big step for him. Thank goodness that the Celtics won or we might not be able to get him into chair again. Celtics are on fire!!!
He did the test for 3 hours and sat in the chair for 3 hours and 20 minutes. So it was a very busy day, but it was very productive.
Our nephew came up right after the game and was visiting with Will. While he was here, Tom and I thought we would go have dinner together, yes, I said together. It was nice to go somewhere (Sizzlers) besides the cafeteria. Thanks, Danny.

I got a special gift today. I was saying in my blog yesterday how much I missed going to church and how much I miss my church family. My friend, Kim, called while the worship team was practicing before church. She asked if I wanted to hear them and of course I said yes. It was beautiful and then when the worship team found out I was on the phone, they sang me another song. Then everyone prayed for our family. We had our own private church service. What a special gift and it wasn't planned. God knew I needed contact from them and He supplied it. Once again, our God is amazing. He knows our needs even before we do. I did put them on speaker phone so Tom and Will got to listen also. Thank you for that.
I found some more old pictures I want to upload. I hope I can today.

God bless

May 18 Sunday 2:05 am

With a little encouragement from his sister, Will sat up in a hard chair (for the first time in weeks) and did a t-trial test. He stayed up in bed for 2 h 45 min. it's better than he did yesterday which is what we want-longer time than the day before. Angel just kept talking and talking, keeping him entertained. I took some pictures but they didn't turn out right so I didn't put them on this blog. Angel went home tonight instead of tomorrow. She needed a day at home to catch up after being sick a few days this week.
Will's still sleeping a lot but that will be taken care of once the new med levels out in his system.

It was very, very hot here--88 degrees. I heard from home that it was hot there too. Hope everyone is using sunscreen. :) I still haven't trusted the weather to put up my winter coat yet. There will probably be snow one more time, maybe????

Well I hope you all are going to enjoy your home church this morning. I miss mine a lot but still feel so close to everyone there because of the power of prayer. It lets you reach across miles and makes you feel like you're home. Thanks for that everyone.
God bless everyone and keep you safe.

May 17, 2008 Saturday 2:33 am

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Will was a little apprehensive being outside and away from all his machines for the first time in 12 weeks, as many of you can imagine. Now that he has done it and nothing bad happened, the next time will go a lot easier on him.

When he got back to his room after being outside, he had a problem with his breathing. All the doctors were with him at the time so they were able to help him but not right away. It did go on for some time and afterwards he was exhausted. He then slept with the help of some medicine for about 8 hours. He woke up a little bit ago and now he's back to sleep again. It really wore him out. The doctors aren't quite sure what happened but they are on top of things.

He's got Sumer for his nurse tonight so he's probably feeling happy even in his sleep. I hope to get a picture of them together before too long. Then you can put a face with the name. When you see these nurses, day in and day out, you get pretty close to them and know their stories. We have become family and we do love them and feel very blessed for having them in our lives. Not just the ones that we name in our blog, but the other ones also. They all care for Will so much and they treat us like VIPs.

So once again Will slept through the Celtic's loss. He also slept through the Jazz's loss. Most everybody in the ICU was watching the game. They were all sad when the Jazz lost. I was just hoping they were the ones that would take out the Lakers. Sorry Randy.

So we had a good beginning of the day and a rotten middle and now we have a very quiet ending of the day. Some days feel like a roller coaster ride. I think it will now be a quiet weekend so Will can recover from what happened today. I was hoping we can go outside again while Angel is here but I doubt that now. We will just be hanging in his room together.

We are trying some new medicine on Will today so pray that it will prevent the episode like this afternoon from happening again.
God bless

Beautiful Sunshine---Fresh Air Pictures as promised

As Martin Luther King once said, "Free at last... free at last....thank God Almighty, we're free at last!" This is what Will wanted to say as he rolled away. But, alas, we caught him and brought him back in. :) But we did get some serious sunshine for a few minutes. Doesn't he look good???
The sun did hurt his skin so we had to try to stay in the shade. It was a beautiful day in SLC.

I had to hold the camera so Tom is the one that is pushing him up that giant hill. He now has a bed next to Will's. Just teasing. And of course the nurse that was with us was Carolyn, aka Mama Bear. Notice the Celtics hat? Go green!
Will post more later this morning. It was a wonderful outing. Hopefully we will be able to go out again tomorrow with Angel but I don't know who his nurse is going to be.
God blessed us with a beautiful day.

Friday May 16, 2008 2:10 am

Can't believe it's Friday already and what a beautiful weekend it's going to be. I hope every one is going to be out enjoying the glorious weather.

Will is going to go out tomorrow morning and I hope I can upload a picture of him out there tomorrow afternoon. The nurse said we can even take him out in the bed with the vent and everything if we need to. Although we are hoping that he will be able to sit in a wheelchair because it will be so much easier. He is so looking forward to it. Can't even begin to tell you all what it's going to mean to him. It's been a long time coming.

He did a couple t-trials today and is doing better. He still gets tired afterwards. His ice chips are still tasting so good. The speech people are working with him to get his muscles built up. I guess you have to be able to speak through a valve on the trach before you are allowed to drink and eat. If you can speak then your muscles are strong enough to swallow. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it will happen soon.
Will is still getting emails from some of his girls and guys that he has coached over the years. He loves these. So if you haven't written him, please do so. You don't know how much they mean to him now. Remember you can write privately to him through my email address harbisonterri@hotmail.com if you don't want to put it on the blog. Don't forget to throw in a funny joke, memory or good time. Right now he's a little down and it would help greatly to be able to pass the time reading these. Thanks so much. Look for a picture later this afternoon. Angel is coming down tonight. He is looking forward to her visit. He gets really bored with just Tom and I to visit with. It will be good once he gets out of ICU and then he can have more visitors.
I pray for God's blessings to go out to all of you.

Thursday May 15, 2008 1:45 am

Will did work on his strengthening exercises today. He walked to the wall and back (that's seven or eight steps) He's able to pull himself up out of bed without much help. He's getting there. He just did his t-trial two times today. They wanted him to do three, but he was wiped out today. Some days are like that. We are still hoping to get him outside in the next couple of days. I know it will be a lot of work but it will be worth it if we can just get him in the sun for a few minutes. His doctor, Dr. Cahill will be out of town until Monday so she gave him some goals that he needs to meet before she gets back. Knowing Will, he will have them met before then.
He did listen to most of the Celtics game tonight. He was happy with their win. Go green!!
Not much else going on up here in SLC.

God bless

Wednesday May 14, 2008 1:35 am

Will's day was so much better than yesterday. Thank you for all the prayers. Once again they worked because we have faith in His word. It seems all Will's reactions to the meds are gone. He slept through the night and he got up this morning (which I guess really is yesterday morning) and wrote me that today was going to be a great day, and it was. He had a couple of t-tests. He stood up twice and his hasn't vomited all day. He sat up in the bed chair for almost 3 hours. He's getting some ice chips again. Life is good.

This weekend is looking so good. We really want to get him outside for the sunshine. So he has to work hard on the t-tests and get stronger in a couple days. It will happen. We are just going to work on his strengthening exercises today and the t-tests.

God bless and keep the Faith. Our God is an awesome God

May 13, 2008 Tuesday 12:54 am

Well, we are looking forward to the weekend. It is supposed to be 80-85 degrees and sunny. How wonderful to finally have spring. I hope the weather is going to be great where you are.

Will is doing better this evening. The doctors took him off lots of his itch meds, pain meds, and nausea meds and ice chips. Then they will get him back on track one med at a time. This way they will be able to see which one might have been the one that he had a reaction to. This hasn't been a good day for Will after no sleep in 48 hours. Then this afternoon he slept for a few hours and tonight he's sleeping pretty good. We are so happy. The itching seems to be letting up and no hallucinations at all. You can put up with a lot of stuff if you have sleep under your belt. So things will get better now. The thing he was most upset with is no ice chips. He was really enjoying them. Maybe tomorrow they will let him have some. He did a short t test today but he was too tired to do any more. The doctors said he can have a day off and then tomorrow get started again.

So no more allergic reactions and we are on the right road again, ready to turn the "corner." The drs. did said that after a few more t-tests, Will might be able to take his vent and jump in a wheel chair and go outside for a few minutes. We are really looking forward to that. It will be his first time outside in more that 11 weeks. But that won't be for a few more days probably. I will hope to have a picture of that day.

Take care and God bless

May 12, 2008 Monday 5:34 am

Here we are celebrating being mothers. It was a good day. We had just finished with our dinner and the restaurant where we ate gave us flowers. So we had them take a picture for us. I brought Tom up a dinner from there also.

Will didn't have that great of day though. He didn't sleep the night before because he seems to be having some reactions to some of the new medicines. So they are trying to figure out what is happening. Then he had a bad day today with vomiting and itching and restlessness. Tom had a rough day with him while I was home sleeping and visiting with my mother. Now tonight he hasn't slept again. He had a real bad reaction to a med that they gave him for the itching. He got a rash on his body and then he had 4 hours of hallucinations. Not fun at all. The nurse helped me hold him and keep him from hurting himself. She was sweet. Finally about 5 a.m. he seemed to be coming out of it. So we were able to sit back a little. Still he has a lot of vomiting and other things so maybe we can focus our prayers on that today.

Before the hallucinations started he did get up and stand for me twice. Then he took two steps up and two steps back. He said that was for me. How sweet was that!! It took all his reserve energy I'm afraid. He did the t tube testing again and he did two hours the first time and over two hours the next. That's what the doctor wanted to see. But the doctors will get this new wrinkle ironed out (not really a medical term) and then he can get some rest and start working again on the vent settings.

Hope everybody is having a great Monday. Thanks for the prayers and love.
We are giving them right back to you all.
God bless

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MAY 11 4:45 am

Here's my two reasons for celebrating being a mother. How lucky am I???

I wish for all mother's out there that you feel God's love every time you look into the face of your child. What a miracle! What a special, special gift from Him. Every day is Mother's Day to me. Okay, enough of that mushy stuff.

What a good day Will had yesterday. He sat up for 45 minutes on the edge of the bed. He stood up twice for about a minute each time. Then he sat up again later on in the day for 45 minutes.
But that's not all, he already has had two, yes two, t-trials with his trach. I'll explain what those are. They take Will off the vent and put a little t shaped tube at the tube coming from his throat. Then they put the humidified 02 on one end and he breathes on his own. They wanted him to try it for a few minutes and then do a full hour later on. BUT Will did a full hour the first time and later on 45 minutes. That was so good and he can't wait until he can tell his Dr. Cahill. She's going to be so surprised, no I take that back. Nothing Will does surprises her any more.

Will's cousins came and say him for an hour or so early this afternoon. He really enjoyed visiting with them. So after all that he slept all afternoon and evening. He even slept through his Celtics game. After the outcome of that game, I don't think that was a bad thing. Poor Celtics, they better get their act together. I'm glad he got some sleep then because he really hasn't been able to get any tonight. He's having a lot of trouble with his blood sugars and his blood pressure (not related). They are getting it under control now. His pain has been a little high tonight too. That's why it has taken me over an hour and half to finish writing this.

My mom and I are going to spend the afternoon together and I will take her out to dinner somewhere. Tom will stay with Will and keep him in line. I told him we will celebrate Mother's Day when he gets out of here. Angel is in Boise with Aaron's mom, Linda, today and I hope they have a great day together. I told Will all I wanted for Mother's Day is for him to walk a few steps. So he said he would.

We need to pray for all those mothers that lost their children in that horrible tornado last week. Such a terrible thing to happen. Thanks for all your support and love.
God bless you all and especially you mothers on this special day.

May 10 Saturday 5:19 am

The weekend---yea!! That's for all of you that work.

They let Will sleep yesterday (I think he slept all day) and today they are going to start making him work. He did wake up now and then to watch a little bit of the Jazz vs. Lakers game. So sorry, Randy. The nurses come into Will's room to watch the ending. For some reason they like the Jazz around here. A few times yesterday he would wake up and want to work his hands and arms so he would use the dumbbell. He still is so sore, but this too shall pass. He is starting to mouth some of his words. Just when we learned all his sign language, we now have to learn how to lip read. The trach is working well. He has already started to wean some of his numbers down on his vent. Just think, after all this blogging, you all will have such a great understanding of medical terms. Just kidding. Some of the medical terminology in this unit is very funny. One of the doctors told Will yesterday that he had a "slug" of medicine on board. I'm not quite sure how much is a slug??? Anybody know??? One of the favorites used by the nurses is "thingy" (that can mean anything from a pair of scissors to a blood pressure cuff). I told them they must have thrown the medical dictionary out the window. They think I'm funny. :)

For all you procrastinators----Don't forget it's Mother's Day tomorrow. Make you mother feel special. Spend some time with her-that's all any mother wants. My mom came up/down from Hagerman to spend the weekend with me. I will take her out to a nice dinner on Sunday. It should be a nice, warm weekend. Enjoy.
God bless

May 9, 2008 Friday 4:03 am

They are trying to keep him comfortable tonight. So they are giving him pain medication and his blood pressure is tolerating it very well. They probably won't be able to keep giving him as much tomorrow morning but at least he's okay now. They already started back on his tube feeds. I think they will probably let him rest and recuperate this weekend and then start working on Monday. I don't really know the schedule but I will ask when the drs. make their rounds this morning. I know I said it before, but I am really glad that I can see his face again.

This is going to be so good for him. Thanks again for your continued prayers. We love you all.
God bless

update on the trach 5/8/08 5:18 pm

So Will's surgery is finished and he's back in his room. He is in a lot of pain but they are going to get on top of it because Mama Bear (AKA nurse Carolyn) is on duty. She doesn't like seeing him in pain either. But still, in all this pain, he wrote out "put on Celtics game" I'm glad the pain hasn't taken away the important stuff in life.
The drs. said the trach is working well. I like being able to see his face again. His tongue keeps going in and out of his mouth. I think it's searching for the tube. The pain will be on board for at least a day or two, then it should get better. I hope so. They should be starting all his iv's again soon.
So that's over with. YEA!!
Thanks for the prayers and I will blog again at my regular time.
God bless

update may 8 1:38 pm

Still waiting to go down to surgery. I need to update you because Kim said so. We are on hospital time remember, so who knows when???? This is all going to be good. Love to you all
God bless

May 8, 2008 Thursday 1:36 am

The doctors have decided the best course of action for Will is for him to have a trach put in. It's a different way for the vent to do his breathing for him. This is where you put a hole in the throat and trachea and attach the vent through that. He won't have the tube through his mouth and it will be a lot more comfortable. They are doing this for several reasons. The number one is that it seems when Will gets off the vent he only has enough reserve energy to keep breathing on his own for a day or two. Then he can't continue and they have to intabate him again. This hasn't been working so we are going to try this. The reason this will work better is that with the trach he can go off the vent for a time, say an hour or two, and work his way up to going completely off for days. Then if the need arises, he can just put the vent back on. The hole stays open in his throat until such time they don't think he needs it and it can be taken out. Also, he can get up and move easier than with that tube down his mouth. He needs to move to get the fluid off. So this is going to be a good thing.

This should help Will with his mental status also. It's difficult to work so hard to get off the vent and then just have to be put back on right away. It can be very defeating. This way he can make some forward progress and keep going forward, instead of slipping back to square one all the time. Eventually, the doctors said he can talk with this in and eat and drink, but that it will be down the road a little bit. If it takes longer to get him off the vent, he could go back to the apt. with this also. But that's a long way down the road.

So today, about 11:00 am, they will be taking him down to surgery and putting that in. It should only take about an hour. It's a fairly easy surgery. He should be back in his room before too long. He will be sore for a few days but they can take care of that. The reason they didn't do this before is that anytime you have a wound, you open Will up to infection. With his immune system down, he can't afford that. So the doctors didn't decide this lightly. We prayed on it and thought this is the best way. Will is all for it also.

We would so appreciate prayers today to guide the doctors hands and for this to be the decision that will allow Will to turn the corner. I will post a blog later this afternoon to everyone know how this procedure went. God is watching out for Will. Thank you for your love and concern.

God bless

May 7, 2008 Wednesday 4:46 am

So Will had a somewhat quiet day. He had another unit of blood today which didn't seem to put too much energy into his step. I thought it would by now. But he did walk to the door. I think that might have been too much because he felt terrible the rest of the day. They are going to do some more blood work today and decide their next step. They did put him back on the Lasix tonight to see about the getting off some more fluid. The fluid seems to be our biggest enemy. I wish we could figure it out.

We tried to celebrate Nurses Day here in the unit. Tom and I made posters and put up balloons, we even took some to 2nd east, our old floor. My friend Keri sent these to me, thought I would share.


Nurses Sayings·
-LPN: means Loving Person Near.·
LPN: Low Paid Nurse.·
Nurses are I.V. Leaguers! ·
Nurses are the cure-all!·
Nurses call the SHOTS!·
Nurses give Intensive Care.·
Nurses have a lot of patients.·
Nursing is the gentle art of caring.·
Nursing is a work of Heart! ·
Nurses are Angels in comfortable shoes.·
RN means Real Nice!·
Nurses can really take the pressure!·
If love can´t cure it, nurses can.·
Being a nurse is not just a job, it´s an adventure.·
Nurses are the heartbeat of health care.·
Nurses hold the key to recovery.·
On a scale of 1-100, nurses are a 98.6!·
Blessed are the nurses, for they help us heal through love and care.·
Behind every good doctor is a great nurse!·
Always willing to comfort and share.-
Helping to ease every problem and care.

My favorite:
· Nurses are Angels in comfortable shoes.·

Dear Nurses, your loving care and gentle touch has made a difference. Thank you!

Please today in your prayers, thank the good Lord for our wonderful nurses. We are very blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives.

Hope your day goes well. The weather here has finally gone spring. YEA!

Don't forget Mother's Day this Sunday.

God bless

May 6, 2008 2:10 am Tuesday

Today is National Nurses Day. If you know a nurse, make sure you tell her/him how much you appreciate their dedication. As much as I have been around nurses, there aren't enough words to tell them how much their compassion means to their patients. We have been so lucky throughout Will's whole life with the nurses that have taken care of him. I feel that Will wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the nursing skills. That goes for when he was little and especially even now. Thank you just seems too small of words to tell them what they mean to people like us who spend so much time in hospitals. They are all a definite special breed of people.

THANK YOU, NURSES!!!

Today Will got his blood transfusion and he walked a few steps. He didn't do as much as he did yesterday but that could because his blood count was low. He should start getting more energy once he gets more blood on board. His kidneys are doing better and better. Thank you God. We don't want those shutting down on us.

Really, it was a very uneventful day here in the ICU. Things were kept kind of quiet. They probably will do the same tomorrow. Just strength exercising and blood transfusions. I will keep you posted.

Thanks for the words from home.

Bless you and we pray God keeps you all safe.

update Cinco de Mayo Monday 4:28 pm

The doctors came by and told us that Will is a little low on blood again so they are going to give him a unit of blood today, a unit tomorrow and then if he has a need, he will get another on Wednesday. He will try to get up and move around a little bit today, maybe walking to the door again. So some of the plans that they had for Will is being put on hold for a few days. I will let you know what's going on when I know. He is resting better now. The pain isn't so much now.

It is hot today, 81 degrees. I know, last week it snowed. Go figure!
Hope it is warm where you all are. Enjoy the sun.
God bless

Monday 5/5/08 2:16 am

It was a beautiful day in SLC today. I hope every body's weather was a nice as here. Will had a somewhat quiet day in ICU. He did get up and walk to the door and back. The doctors were quite happy with that. They are meeting tomorrow to set up a plan for Will and his recovery. A few things that they are bringing up should help out. I will let everyone know when I do. He is still on pressure control-meaning the machine is breathing for him.

We did get to visit with Roger and Susan Laughlin. What good friends to make the time to come see us. We all enjoyed the visit even though it had nothing to do with ice cream. Our visits usually come with banana splits. Well, maybe next time.
Angel and Aaron stayed with Will while we visited. Aaron finally got to shave Will. I think he lost ten pounds just by that. He was looking bushy.

We will let you know what's happening today after the drs. come in and let us know what they decided. I know it will be a good thing. People have been sending me pictures to my email. I really thank you. The next best thing than being there.

God bless and stay safe.

Sunday May 4 5:16 am

Sunday is one of the best days of the week. I hope everyone enjoys their day.

Will has just been recuperating from the big day of procedures. They have increased his tube feeds back to where they were. They had to stop his Lasix (the med that is drawing the fluid off)because his kidneys took a little "bump" and they want to be careful right now. He did sit up in his bed and stood once. And tonight he has sat up twice more. He wants to get stronger. Angel and Aaron have been staying with him today but Aaron hasn't been able to shave him yet because Will is just too tired. I think they are beginning to like Will's new bald look. Aaron even cut his own hair as short as Will's. I think they both look so good like that.

As I sit here thinking of what to write I just have to let everyone know how lucky we
are to be able to be in such a caring environment. There are so many people here who
have now become Will's friends. Their hard work and dedication and yes, sometimes tears, have helped Will get to where he is today. They are all willing to go the extra mile for him and for us, too. They are there for a hug when we aren't having a good day and a great big smile when we are. How many hospitals are like that? Will is lucky, he has his "home" hospital and this one up here in SLC that has been just a loving place. The whole family feels really blessed to be here.
We are going to have to get a big u-haul just to take everyone back home with us. Tom even gets free coffee from Starbucks (it's in the lobby) because he's such a frequent visitor.

Today we are hoping that Tom and I can hook up with our good friends, Roger and Susan Laughlin, and have breakfast. They are here in town for the weekend but we haven't been able to get together yet. Angel and Aaron will stay with Will. Then they will have to be on their way home. These weekends go by so fast.

Take care and God bless

Saturday May 3, 2008 4:11 am

Will is sleeping just like I predicted he would in my last blog. He does get pain meds every hour and that helps, the sedation he has received from yesterday's procedures has him sleeping very well. When the drs. come around this morning they will let us know what is going to happen over the next few days. I forgot to mention that Will did need a couple more units of blood yesterday. I need to keep track of that so when we get home I can get all that paid back and then some. I will have to start our own blood drive or something like that.

Many of you have emailed me and have shared that they have become organ donors since Will's transplant. That makes us so happy, and God forbid that it will ever be needed, but if it does happen what a wonderful gift of life. If you haven't already signed up or told family members you want to be a donor, do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions about it or concerns, just email me at harbisonterri@hotmail.com and I will try to answer them for you.

This came from our friend, Somer Love, off her blog spot. Thanks Somer for sharing the good news:

May Declared National Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation praised the U.S. Senate for officially recognizing May as National Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and encouraging public awareness and understanding of CF.
Introduced by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the legislation calls attention to cystic fibrosis, a fatal, genetic disease, and supports research to find a cure.
“We are thrilled to have the Senate’s support for our mission to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. We are making dramatic progress in the development of new therapies for the disease and in extending life expectancy,” said Robert J. Beall, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Foundation. “On behalf of all those affected by CF, we thank Senators Murray and Inhofe for their leadership and commitment to the cystic fibrosis community.”

Thank you everyone who wrote to their members of Congress!! It worked, together we all made a difference!!

God bless

update May 2 Friday 6:30 pm

Will has had a very busy day. He started the morning with a bronch but it was a little more involved than the normal one. The drs. wanted to see if he had a hole in between his two tubes but they didn't find anything. They took some more biopsies and we got to see his wonderful lungs on the insides. They do look good and Dr. Cahill was surprised that there wasn't more stuff down there. They had to sedate him pretty good for this procedure. And now on to the next procedure.

The next one was a few hours later. This was the procedure to get the new feeding tube replaced. This was a complicated matter and you would not believe all the machines they put in this little, little room. This took about 45 minutes and could have been painful but they sedated him heavily for this too. They had to take xrays to make sure everything was in place. It was.

Now on to the next procedure, and the last for the day. He had to go down to get a CT scan on his lungs. The last xray showed a lot of fluid pushing against his lungs. Then if they needed to, the drs. would insert a couple of drain tubes. This is not something they want to do because of infection concerns. How about this, just as I was finishing typing this part, the dr. came in and told me he ran down to look at the CT scan as they were doing it. It looked better than it did this morning so it doesn't look like they will have to put in chest tubes. YEA. This procedure was very painful so they really, really had to sedate him.

So as you can imagine Will has enough sedation to make an elephant sleep tonight. Will is going to be in his "happy place." I wonder where that is???? Speaking of that, Sumer was his nurse all day through all of this. He (and us) were very happy for that. Couldn't have happened at a better time. We trust her so much to protect Will from all the bad things out there. Nothing would get by her! So that's the day in a nutshell. I was sooooo relieved that he doesn't have to have any chest drain tubes in. It is so uncomfortable and painful. They don't like Will having too much paid meds so it would have made life pretty miserable. So thank you God for that blessing. The rest of the night should go quietly so I will not blog unless something "fun" happens.
Speaking of fun, Angel and Aaron will be here any minute. Can't wait to see them.
Thank you for all the prayers today. They are working.

God bless

May 2 Friday 2:55 am

Sweet family and friends,

Not again.
Let me just say that Will is resting comfortably right now. Will had a rough day today and tonight May 1st about 10:30 pm they needed to put the vent tube back down his throat. He wasn't able to maintain his breathing. I know how many of you that are so shocked and upset that we had to do this once more (fifth time). Tom and I were very upset. Why does this keep happening? Why don’t they have any answers on how to get the fluid off and stay off? We just don’t know and the doctors are trying everything they can think of to fix it. We do know that we are in very, very good hands. What’s more important is that God is working through Will. What miracles we have seen through all this. So tonight I was praying with my friend, Kim, and she prayed for God to help us to understand His will. Well, we probably won’t be able to do that right now, but something better came over me, a peaceful feeling. Instead of feeling discouraged about today, I said a prayer for the last two days thanking God for them.

My family calls me “Pollyanna” because I’m always trying to find the positive from any situation. Most the time it isn’t a compliment, I drive them nuts. This time I think they will like what I have figured out. It will make this so much easier to handle this new “bump.’ So this is it:
God knew how frustrated and tired Will is of all this the last three weeks since he had to be on the vent again. So God, being the merciful God that He is, decided to give Will a break. He gave Will two days of being off the vent. The first day was a good day to see lots of friends from the hospital staff and to just visit with us so we could remember his sweet voice. He got to talk to his sister and mess with her a little bit. The second day was a good day to spend some good time with his best friend, Coach, and his other best friend, Pepsi and talk to his sister again. These two days gave Will the reminder how good it will be when he finally gets off the vent for good. This will make him stronger to go on.

Doesn’t this make so much more sense? So instead of asking God why He had to put another “bump” in Will’s road to good health, I hope all of us can thank Him for giving Will those two days off the vent. God is so loving and He still continues to have his loving arms around Will. Tom and I both feel it.

I will fill everyone in on what happened today after we figure it all out and I get some sleep tonight. They do have Will on his sleepy med, pain med, and amnesia med because he’s hurting right now. This way, he won’t remember it. They are going to run a bunch of tests tonight and continue on through tomorrow. I promise to keep you all updated tomorrow as we get some answers.

As I close this blog tonight I am going to say a prayer for all those that read this today that you won’t be discouraged and you will find assurance of God’s love through all of this. He loves us all and especially Will. Have faith people, it won’t be long before we will be bringing him home to all of you. Please pray for the doctors that they can find out something that will break through these problems.

God bless all of you