March 30, 2009 Monday

We had a great Sunday visiting Billie, Matt, Sadie and Coby William in Boise. Friday was Coby's first birthday. Time is going by so fast, it seems like yesterday when we got the call that he was born. We were in Salt Lake and it seemed like forever before we got to meet our sweet Coby. We were able to see Christi and the her boys, Noah and Elliott also. They live very close to Billie's house. What a great family we have. The pictures aren't that great. But I share what I have. Angel and Aaron met us over there so everybody got to see Angel's little "bump."

Grandma and Grandpa Atwood came over and visited for a little while too. Good times.

Will has had some good, good days. He's feeling better than he has since he left the hospital on the 4th of January. He's acting more like his ol' self too. He's still a little wobbly but that will come back in time. It's only been a couple of weeks since his little set back.

Will has gone over to Coach's and to Brent's house to watch a lot of basketball the last few days. He does really well at their houses but I think they "force" him to eat what he's not suppose to be eating. It doesn't seem to be doing any harm though. Maybe he's gaining some of the weight back that he lost lately. We're very seriously looking for a pontoon boat to buy so we can do a lot of fishing this summer. The boat will be perfect for Will to fish off from and we can take our friends out on it too. You all are invited as soon as we find one, that is. But maybe not all at the same time.

The new pup is fitting in well with this crazy household. We are all in love with it and she likes us too. Tom seems to be her favorite though.

Hope everyone has a great week and we will blog again on Wednesday night.

GOD BLESS

March 27, 2009 Friday

whoopee, it's Friday again.

Will had dialysis today and did pretty good with it. Then he rested and went over to Coach's house to watch fifty ball games all at once (no, not really, it just seems like that many) Pam reminded me that I forgot to let you know who Will picked as his final four. They are:
Louisville, Memphis, Oklahoma, and Pittsburgh with Oklahoma winning it all. Mine are: Kansas, Connecticut, Duke and UNC with UNC winning it all.

So now you can see if I know more about the teams than Will. Ya, right.

Will has turned around so much that I will start blogging only twice a week, on Wednesday night and Sunday night. We will try that again. I want to start putting more pictures on the blog too. So everyone stay safe.

GOD BLESS

march 26, 2009 Thursday

Will had a good day today. He walked on the treadmill for ten minutes. That's double what he did on Monday. Tom and Will even came up to Bliss for dinner because I was working late in the classroom getting ready for conferences. We went to a little diner in town and I was just amazed that we were sitting there eating like "normal" people do. It was just a week ago that he wasn't in such good shape.

He goes to dialysis today and then he will come home and rest for a little bit. Then he's got a hot date with a television set, Coach, and March madness. There might even be a pizza involved somewhere. Things are looking so much better. Now I'm ready for the lousy weather to leave and spring to arrive.

I loved the comments about Roxie, thanks, and you're right Pam. Randy is a always a "different" story. You had me laughing pretty hard. I'm sure Lynette and Donna were too.

God Bless

Wed., March 25, 2009

Well, here is the newest addition to the Harbison's household.

She is so ugly that she's cute. The best thing in her favor is that she doesn't

shed and she adores Will. She sits on his lap all day and this is as big as she will get.

Her name is Roxie and she's one year old and very happy.

Let me know what you think of her, please. I will get better pictures later when she's smiling.

By the way, Will's cat just hates Roxie with a passion. Bella has already beat her up several times. But I'm sure she will get over it soon. Poor Roxie is scared to death of her, I don't think she has ever seen a cat before.
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Now back to Will, he had dialysis and they were surprised by how much weight Will has lost. They did manage to take off 2.7 liters. He's looking forward to Kevin, his physical therapist coming tomorrow and working him out. I hope it will start warming up tomorrow, maybe they can go outside. I will get pictures if they do that.

GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL SAFE

March 24, 2009, Tuesday

Will had a good day yesterday and he even walked on the treadmill a couple of times for five minutes each. Pretty darn good for just getting out of the hospital. His appetite is back and he needs to gain some more weight to get back to what it was before this hospitalization. Today is dialysis and we will get back into the routine again.

We were talking and we really miss the people from the hospital. We didn't get enough time with them all. Not that we wanted to stay any longer, just that we wanted them to know we miss them. Quite a few said they were going to come up our way and visit this summer. I better start cleaning now.

Will has gotten a new dog, maybe she's all of ours. She sure is cute and I will get a good picture of her and Will tomorrow. I didn't have time tonight after school because I had Bible study-which is so good, Angel went with me too.

It was so cold today and I had early recess duty. The kids were all huddled around me next to the side of the school. So I was telling them stories about when I was a kid--yup, the whole story of walking to school uphill in the snow, both ways LOL. They loved it but it doesn't take much to entertain a bunch of frozen "Popsicles." It should start warming up real soon.

Take care and GOD BLESS

Monday, March 23, 2009

Sunday was Will's first full day home. What did he do?? Well, most of you know Will's routine the day after he gets out of the hospital----he sleeps. He was just waking up when I got home from church at noon. I think he might have been a little sleepy.

Coach came over to see him. Grandma came over and made him a huge pot of potato soup and she had dinner with us. Angel and Aaron came over, they didn't stay long because Aaron is catching a cold so he couldn't even go into Will's room.

Will is itching like crazy from one of the meds, but he only has three more days to go on it so he's trying to get through it. He's also lost some weight in the hospital so we are going to have to get that back on him. He lost almost ten pounds (I think I found it). Today he is going to start exercising because yesterday was his day of rest. He earned it I think.

I will keep you updated and in a few more days I will go back to being just a couple times a week. Our good friends and neighbors, the Whites, are still in Arizona. They called a couple of days ago and they were on the lake water skiing-it was 102 degrees. Yesterday was a cold spell-only 86, poor babies, I just don't know how they can stand it. Brent and Stacee are still in Arizona too enjoying a prolonged spring break. We drove through snow night before last to get Will back home-something's not right here.

I'm back to work today and I did miss the kids, but I was thinking I might petition my boss to let me have another spring break. I think he will go for it LOL

God bless and have a great Monday.

March 22, 2009 Sunday

We are home!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got home about 10 p.m. tonight and it was a long day. We just unloaded the car and dumped it in the front room. We'll unpack tomorrow. We are all so happy to be home. Will said next time that he's taking his new bed with him. I just told him not to have a "next" time.

It took a long time to get Will out of the hospital but that is to be expected when dealing with so many different doctors. We also were on a floor that has never heard of the famous Will Harbison. So they weren't that impressed when we told them we wanted to go home asap. We got out of there about three this afternoon and then we stopped by Danny's house and he and AnnMarie made us a delicious dinner. It was fun just to relax and laugh a lot (mostly at Danny's expense).

The good thing about this stay was that we got to catch up on a lot of people whom we love so much. They are Will's caregivers that brought him to this point in his life. I'm talking doctors, nurses, aides, RT's, and Pt's, even our sweet clerks on the floors. I think they were really glad to see the new and improved Will. I bet they will never know how much we owe them. Someday they will all get rewarded for the special care they gave Will and us, his family. Thank you again and again.

Now we are back home and we will start working Will out to get him back to where he was before the pneumonia got him down. It won't take long. I have one day before I have to go back to work and I need to spend some time in my classroom because when I left Friday I figured I would have all week to get ready for parent teacher's conferences which are this week. Yikes. But really Will was so accommodating getting sick on spring break so I didn't have to worry about my class. Thanks, Will.

We praise God for all the blessings He has given us this last week. Without Him where would any of us be???

I pray that God pours out his blessings on all of you reading this blog. You all deserve it.

GOD BLESS

March 21, 2009

Below is a couple of pictures of Will and Tanya. She's the one that had the transplant right after Will. She got to go home today and we know she's going to be just great. Her biopsies came back showing nothing so that's good news but they still don't know what the mass is.
Isn't she cute????

This is a good shot because a sweet housekeeper took the picture so we all could be in the picture. The sweet lady in green is Tanya's grandmother and she's a funny lady. I enjoy visiting with them when we can and it's very rare that Will and Tanya can visit face to face. So good times.
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Will is going to be going home tomorrow, Saturday, after dialysis. He has to have a few blood tests done in the early morning just to check a few things out. So we should be home tomorrow night some time and it will be so good. Will should be able to see a few games on his big screen and he is so ready.

We went outside for a little bit today (it was a gorgeous first day of spring) and then Will wanted to do a few stairs. (Well, I don't know if he wanted to do them but Dr. Cahill said he needed to do them. She does run the show, ya know). So Will went to the second floor and walked up to the fifth floor. That was so great. I don't know the last time he was able to do that many stairs. We know that he's ready to go home.

So I will blog from home tomorrow night. YEA! Thank you, thank you for every body's prayers for Will's recovery. They worked once again and God is so awesome for giving us all of you great people to help us through these times.

GOD BLESS

March 20, Friday

Will is looking so much better, it's amazing how much he has turned around. The prayers, oh yea and the meds, are working wonders. He walked twice around the unit today. He had dialysis and they took off 3 liters and no cramping. He took a long shower and sat in the chair for a while.

And he watched a little basketball.....no, not just a little, a whole lot. This is where he really misses his big screen TV and Coach. But it won't be long and we will be home watching March Madness. Dr Cahill came in and I think she was still a little steamed that Will got so sick. So she's probably making Will stay here until he says he's sorry. :)

Everybody has been treating Will so good here. Just like ol' home week. His 02 has gone down to what it is at home and he's eating again. So maybe soon..........

Angel went home today, she was missing her honey a lot, and I think Aaron was missing her too. It is suppose to be very warm back home. I hope the spring weather has everyone outside enjoying life.

Still prayers are needed for our friend, Tanya. She hasn't heard anything from the biopsies yet.

GOD BLESS

March 19, 2009

Streptococcus or strep pneumonia is what has grown out in Will's blood cultures so now we wait to see if the antibiotics are sensitive on this type of pneumonia. I think it is because it's working really well. Once we have a good handle on this, then we can probably go on pill form and get home soon.

Dr. Cahill came by for one minute but she made a lasting impression again. I'm still laughing. She said when Will starts feeling better, she's going to slap him and said she has to leave because she has to go and visit people who are actually sick. She said she would see him tomorrow.

Will is feeling better and we did get to move out of ICU and move to the IMCU unit. (One step down from the ICU but still not "floor" status) This is where we were before also but we didn't have the same room. We have several of the same nurses. That makes Will feel so much better, having people he knows around him.

Angel helped Will get his picks(for the NCAA championship) all ready for the bracket. I did my own this year so we will see who is going to be left standing. I think I've got it this year. I will let you all know our picks tomorrow.

Will walked in the hall again tonight on the new floor. I had pictures to put on the blog but I forgot that I can't upload from the hospital. I will try something else later. Just go back and look at some of the pictures from a few months ago of him walking the halls. He looks the same but he's not using a walker. The weather is wonderful here. Maybe tomorrow we can get Will outside, I have to ask first.

If you want to go see pictures of our friend Tanya who had her transplant shortly after Will's, her blog site is on our home page. She still doesn't know what's going on and everyone is waiting for the results of the tests. We will continue to keep her in our prayers, please. We will go visit her again tomorrow and hopefully have some good news to share. We are on the same floor as Tanya, but she's not in the unit.

Angel will go home tomorrow afternoon. She was up here in Will's room doing Will's picks and she asked Will which team he wanted. The baby kicked for the first time! So Will is all excited that the baby, either boy or girl, is going to be crazy for basketball. He/she kicked several more times tonight. I can't feel it but Angel sure can. You poor, poor blogging family. All of you will probably be so sick of this "Grandma" sharing everything about our little baby, but that's freedom of the press, right?

So that's all the update for now. I will write more tomorrow night. Prayers are being answered-Thank you all.
GOD BLESS

March 18, 2009

Here's another night in ICU. Things haven't changed a bit--every hour someone needs to be in here. But they are taking very, very good care of Will. God has answered our prayers and the antibiotics are doing the trick. He is so much better than he was last night. His fevers are gone and his 02 needs have gone done. He's already on 60 % whereas last night he was at 100% needs. Praise God

Angel got to Salt Lake early afternoon and stayed with him and then Danny, his cousin that lives here who, by the way, just made Major--way to go Major Dan, came to visit. That was a lot said in one sentence, but I'm tired. I just am very, very proud of our little Major Dan. He stayed quite a few hours with Will. too. That always picks him up.It's a wonder we didn't get kicked out. Danny can get very loud when he's telling stories, I kept telling him that this is ICU, but he forgets. I went over to the hotel and slept for a couple of hours when Tom got up to Will's room this morning and I will do it again this morning.

Later in the afternoon, Angel and I went to Will's old CF wing and they have pregnant women that are having trouble on that wing also. Anyway, Jenalynn, one of our old nurses asked Angel is she wanted to hear the heartbeat. I was with her so of course, I told Jenalynn that Angel really wants to hear the heartbeat. I called Tom up in Will's room and he ran down to second floor and listened also. All I can say is AMAZING!!! We have a little baby in there whose heartbeat is very, very strong. I think I got a little emotional. What a miracle. Thank you, God.

Will had dialysis early this morning and they took off 5 liters. That helped with his breathing also. He hasn't got out of bed since yesterday so in the morning they are going to get him up and walk him around a little. He needs to stay on top of that. Dr. Cahill came by this afternoon and Will was asleep but she's coming back in the morning. Tauna, Dr. Cahill's transplant coordinator has come by several time both days to visit with Will.

Will is looking so much better that he probably will be transferred out of ICU today sometime, I hope. I still haven't talked to anyone to find out how long we will be here. I don't know if anyone really knows because we didn't know if the antibiotics would do the trick. But they are--again because of God's great mercy. I think Will is needing out of here today because Coach and Will had this "date" to watch the first of the March madness games on Thursday. So maybe Will can hurry it up and we can be home :)

Thanks for every one who has left comments (Pam, you're great about that) and emails wishing Will the best. He's feeling better tonight so I read them to him. We just have wonderful friends and family. Our good friend Tanya, the sweetie that had a transplant shortly after Will, is in the hospital also. She's been in with some kind of infection since last Wednesday so please, please pray for her and her recovery. We went to see her today and she's just as sweet as always.
Thanks for her prayers and the prayers you all are sending for Will's recovery. God hears them all. I will write more tomorrow.

GOD BLESS

Tuesday St. Patrick's Day

WEAR GREEN AND THEN THINK OF THE CELTICS--no that's not right--think of St. Patricks.

We came up to Salt Lake today, well yesterday, Monday, after having spent a terrible night with Will. His 02 was dropping and he was having such a hard time getting enough air. So we called and they told us to go to the ER and then get an ambulance to bring him up to here. Well, Will doesn't like ambulances (I think this is because he doesn't get to run the siren, maybe) so he had Tom and I bring him in the van. We made it okay, but I was probably going faster than the ambulance would have for sure.

We got here to the ER and then they brought up right back. Dr. Cahill has pull even in the ER; that lady has pull everywhere. They did a bunch of tests and found out that Will has pneumonia in both lungs. He was pretty sick so they admitted him into ICU. They did a lot more tests. They started him on four different antibiotics and they hope that does the trick. He wasn't able to breathe without a lot of effort so the docs put him on a bi-pap machine to help him bring in his air. This has helped so much.

It's weird because we got the same room that we had for all those months. The nurses haven't changed and they were all glad to see us although they would have rather not have had him so sick. He's not feeling well enough to visit with them tonight though. The docs think that after a few doses of these massive antibiotics that he will turn around. Angel will be coming up in the morning.

I will write the blog every night until we get out of here so to keep our sweet people informed of his progress. Please pray that the meds will work and nothing more needs to be done. Thank you for all your concern and
GOD BLESS

Sunday March 15, 2009

We took Will to the all-star basketball game to watch two of his "girls" that he coached play.
They were really glad to see him and it was fun to watch.

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Here is the pictures of my little girl's little "bump"
It's so amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember, the due date is August 14th. It seems so long to wait.

Will hasn't been feeling at all well today. We don't know what's going on but if there is still a fever tomorrow then we will call down to Salt Lake and see what we can be doing for this. We will be going down for a regular appt. on Tuesday night and we see all the docs on Wednesday. Will will have all his normal tests done and we will see how he is progressing. The weather is suppose to be very nice this week so I am looking forward to the trip. Angel is going with us so she can see all our friends. This is Angel's spring break also.

Will is going in tomorrow for a "quickie" dialysis treatment. This is where they just take him in for two hours and take off fluid. We are hoping that it will make a difference.

Well, the brackets are in and we are ready for March Madness.

We have some good friends that are moving to California on Wednesday. Curt (Will coached him in high school) and Meagan Osborne are off for new frontiers. Curt has a great job opportunity and he's going to take it. It will be a fabulous move for them but we are all going to be sad to see them go. We had a going-away potluck at church for them today but I wasn't able to make it because Will wasn't feeling well. I hope if they are reading this, that they understand how much this whole town will be missing them and we want nothing but the best. Our prayers and our love go out to you both, and little Tyler of course. Angel and Meagan are expecting babies around the same time. So we will pray for new beginnings for all of us.

GOD BLESS

March 12, 2009 Thursday

Well, pretty uneventful days since Sunday. Tuesday was dialysis and it was the most painful of all the other days. We don't know why this was so we are going to keep an eye on dialysis on Thursday to see how that goes. It took him all night to get over it. He worked out today with Kevin and they even got to go outside for a little walk. I think Will will get out more once the weather changes and we have some nice days. The only problem there is that because of some of the meds Will is on, he won't be able to go out in the sunshine.

Will wants to go to the all-star game for the girls and boys after dialysis. It's played in Twin Falls at 6:00 pm and a few of the Jerome kids made it so he wants to watch the games. They usually are a lot of fun. Will even got to coach an all-star team before the transplant.

Another important item about today----Tom and I have been married 37 years. We went out to dinner and we bought a new bed. It will be delivered tomorrow morning. We are so excited. We got it at the same place Will and my mom got their new mattresses. They are very happy with their purchase so I know we will be too.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, TOM

So for all you youngsters out there that are just getting started, it can be done, it's not easy all the time, but it can be done. Especially when you find the "right" person.


Oh, I was going to put on a picture of Angel's little "bump" but I couldn't get it just right so I will try later. You know us Grandmas; we have to get the pictures perfect. (two days until spring break)

More on Wednesday night. GOD BLESS

Monday March 9, 2009

Spring break is just one more week. The kids are so ready and I think the teachers are too.

Will had a quiet weekend. He went to dialysis on Saturday and they took four liters off. Then he came home and just rested. He listened to the boys state basketball game and the Jerome boys brought home a third place trophy. Deja vu because our girls did the same. So it was a great year for the Jerome Tigers. Way to go, Jerome.

Now on to March madness. For all you that don't have to breathe basketball like this household seems to do, March madness is a time when all the college basketball teams play to win the NCAA Championship. It gets wild and crazy with all the brackets and everything. We love it!

Sunday Will went over to Brent's house to watch Duke play. I guess it was a good game. The weather was okay today. It was a cold wind but the sun was out. I think it's just mother nature telling us that spring is almost here. I forgot that this weekend was the weekend to set our clocks back so I missed church. But, God and I had a talk and I told Him I was sorry and He forgave me (again). God is so good at that forgiving part, I wish we all were better at that. How nice the world would be, right? Anyway, I hope most of you got to church on time.

It felt really weird not blogging last night, but Miss Wallace said it best that it really shows how well Will is getting when I don't have new news all the time about his progress. I will blog again on Wednesday night for Thursday.

Take care and God bless

March 7, 2009

Just a week until spring break starts. whoopee

Will had the therapist come and it wasn't Kevin. Kevin was in Boise at meetings. Anyway, she worked Will just as hard so his legs are really sore tonight.

We watched the Jerome Boys basketball game up at state from our living room. It was broadcast on the internet and it was very exciting. They lost in overtime though, but the game got our hearts pumping. They will play for third place trophy tomorrow morning. Good luck, Tigers.

Will thought that would be a good idea for me to just blog a couple times a week. My trouble is that I hope that I can remember to do that since it won't be on my daily list of things to do. So I will try to blog on Sundays and Wednesdays. If anything happens exciting in the meantime, I will blog then too. I have heard of so many people who starts their day off with Will's news. It just blows me away how many faithful followers (now I sound like an evangelist) Will has. I hope the routine won't throw you off from reading about Will and commenting. He really likes it when people comment and start discussion.

I pray every night to bless all you wonderful people. I know God has heard my prayers, He is so awesome that way. I still pray so.........
GOD BLESS and more on Sunday.

March 6, 2009 Friday

Will had dialysis and they took about 4 liters off again. His blood pressure is staying up so we will probably keep him on the same medicine level. He stayed home tonight and listened to the Jerome boys' game from state. Jerome won, they are trying to make it into the finals. Go Jerome Tiger, we hope they go all the way.

I don't know, but it might be time to start doing the blog a couple of times a week instead of every night. Will's life is settling down and maybe we won't be having much to say every day. I will do that after I let you all know first. I will ask Will what he wants me to do and get back to you.

March Madness is coming up and that's a crazy time in this house. I think that's all we watch for several weeks. Everybody get your picks ready.

GOD BLESS

March 5, 2009 Thursday

We went to the doctor today--just the regular doctor because she wants to see him a couple of more times so she can get to know him. She was very shocked that he was looking so well. She just saw him a month ago but that's how much he has improved.

Kevin came and exercised his legs mainly today. He even did squats, he didn't go down very far but he did 20 of them. Then a lot of other ones also. So Kevin worked Will very hard and his legs are hurting. No pain, no gain, right?

Tomorrow is dialysis day so he will be busy but everything is looking better. His breathing is so much better than a few days ago.

The week is almost over. Then one more week and it will be spring break. We will be going to Salt Lake for a clinic check up on the 18th and I won't have to take a day off. I hope the weather is going to be nice. Today was crazy weather. We had a little sunny day yesterday so today my students thought spring was here and they came in flip flops and no coat. At lunch we couldn't go out to recess because it was snowing and blowing too hard. CRAZY! Now for the next few days it's supposed to snow.

I hope the weather is great where all of you are. GOD BLESS

Wed. March 4, 2009

Aw......................dialysis day. That's what Will is saying, I'm sure. They took off over 4 liters today. When he walked in to the building, he was on 7 liters of o2 (that's a lot) and he weighed over 11 pounds more than his "dry weight." That's saying all the fluid was just sitting on his lungs making it very hard to breath. He really was having a terrible time just walking. Then he started itching like crazy so they plugged him in and taaa-daaaa no more itching.

So on Wednesday, Kevin his physical therapist is coming and if it's a nice day, they will go outside to walk. Will is looking forward to that. Will has a doctor appt. in the afternoon with his "regular" doctor just so she can get to know him more.

Everything else is going fine. I wish we had a better handle on his blood sugars but that will probably come after he can get off more medicines.

Have a great Wednesday and GOD BLESS

March 3, 2009 Tuesday

Boy, I'm getting to dislike Mondays a lot. Will just feels so crummy on Mondays because he's needing dialysis. So today wasn't that great of a day for him. Tomorrow will be so much better, I know. Angel came over tonight to visit while Aaron was a a Bible study. That was fun for him.
So more tomorrow.

GOD BLESS



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUNT GLORIA!!! AND MANY, MANY MORE YEARS TO COME ALSO.

March 2, 2009 Monday

Monday and I don't know what happened to the weekend. Let me confess now that I didn't get my boxes, and boxes, of Christmas decorations put away. I kept finding excuses because it's so cold in the garage and warm in my house. I will put them away, or maybe I will keep them out and then I will be early for next year.

Will didn't do too much today either. He did get another visit from his cousin, Shannon and his family when they came back through from visiting his mom. Tia, Tom's sister, had a birthday yesterday and Shannon went to help his mom celebrate. Happy Birthday, Sis.

Angel and Aaron had a good first anniversary. They went out to dinner and then watched movies. How fun is that? Candace and Aaron's mom and step dad went home this afternoon. It was a great visit and we enjoyed visiting with them.

GOD BLESS

March 1, 2009 Sunday

Will went to dialysis with Coach, I hope they will still let Will in the doors next time but you never know with those two. The sun was shining today but, by crackly, it was cold.

Tonight, we went over to Angel and Aaron's house to have dinner with Aaron's mom and Steve, Candace, and Angel and Aaron. It was very good and it's so nice that they are all settled in and ready for company.

ABOVE: CANDACE AND WILL ARE WATCHING THE CAT IN THE HAT.

I THINK WILL WAS PAYING CLOSER ATTENTION TO THE MOVIE THAN CANDACE.

HERE IS THE DINING ROOM. YOU CAN TELL CANDACE LIKES HAVING HER PICTURE TAKEN.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ANGEL AND AARON

The first year is behind you.

We pray that your love just continues to grow and grow.

GOD BLESS TO ALL AND ESPECIALLY PEOPLE HAVING ANNIVERSARIES.

Sat. Feb. 28, 2009 Last day of February!

Will had a great day today, one of his best yet. He walked outside, down the lane and then he turned left and went to the main road in front of our house. He walked back to the beginning of our lane and then Tom picked him up on the four wheeler. Will drove it home, I can just imagine how funny that was. I think it is good that we live out of town. Safer that way. I will try to get a video of him doing this again. I didn't get to see it either. He also walked for 7 minutes on the treadmill. This is his best workout yet and the physical therapist couldn't even be here because he had a cold and didn't dare get by Will (good call).

Last year was crazy but something good happened also. Angel and Aaron got married on leap day (Feb. 29) so I asked them when they were going to celebrate their anniversary. They decided it was going to be on March 1st. So on Sunday they will celebrate their first year anniversary. They sure love their new house and Aaron's mom and Steve are visiting from Boise. They brought up Candace so everything worked well.

Coach is going to take Will to dialysis Saturday. They enjoy that time so they can talk about everything, everything really means basketball. Have a great weekend.

GOD BLESS

Friday Feb. 27, 2009

Friday already??? I think I'm really ready for the weekend. I need to get into my garage and put my 50 (maybe) boxes of Christmas stuff under the house. Then maybe I can use my garage again.

Will had dialysis again today and he could only get a liter off. His blood pressure has been going down too low again. We started backing off of the med that was keeping it higher because we thought he was doing better with that. Whoops. so we will get him back up there again.

Will wanted to go watch one of the Jerome Boys' games so we watched them take #1 spot--just like the girls. They will go to state in a couple of weeks. Good luck to them. We probably won't go up to watch them though.

Our friend, Aunt Sharron is doing so really well from surgery. If you want to go check out what's happening with her, just click on my friends' Whitehouse blog on the right of our home page. She still needs so many prayers for healing.

Will will have physical therapy tomorrow and his nurse will come out and check him out. Hope everyone is planning a great weekend. Sat. is supposed to be nice (please).

GOD BLESS

Feb. 26, 2009 Thursday

Will went to the vascular surgeon today to have his tunnel catheter (the tubes in his chest that used to be what the dialysis went through) taken out. He has one less hole in his body. YEA!!! The doctor told Will that it was one of the hardest catheters that he has ever pulled out. Leave it to Will to be a "difficult" patient even pulling out tubes. Now the dialysis is only using the fistula to "clean" his blood.

My cousin, Mark, came up to help his dad, my Uncle Bill, with his surgery. It was a surprise and I was sure glad to see him. It has been many years since I have seen him and Micheline, his wife. They live in the bay area in California. It was fun to catch up and I'm really glad they came up.

Will had his personal trainer, also known as his physical therapist, come to visit today. They took a walk outside to the mailbox and back. Then he rested for a few minutes and tried the treadmill for the first time. He did five minutes and then five more minutes on the bike. How's that for a workout?? Way to go, Will.

We have a good, good friend, Sharon, who is having surgery in the morning for breast cancer. It is more intense than they first thought. So we need your prayers, please, and keep her in your thoughts.

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009

Will is feeling so much better after dialysis. He hasn't been sick all day. Things like this just must happen because of all the toxins in your system and no way to leave your body. We did find out from the dialysis place that Will can go in on Mondays if he feels bad enough and have a "little" dialysis treatment to hold him over until Tuesday. That's good news for those Mondays when it's so bad. We do have to wait until Will has more muscle mass on his body before he can be considered for a kidney transplant but that can't come too soon.

We went out to dinner to celebrate Will's one year anniversary of his lungs. Will told Brent (Brent and Stacee went with us) that he's one year old today. That's a great way to look at it. Most newly arrived infants have to learn things in the first year and that's what Will has had to do with his new lungs and the body that he has to build back up. I told myself that I need to put the pictures of the new and old lungs on the blog so people can see what they looked like now that it's been over a year.

I wanted to give you a site that many of you can go on to and read about becoming a donor. I hope that all our readers have told their families if they have chosen to become donors, but if there are still people out there that haven't made up your mind, maybe this site will help.
http://www.donatelife.net/

I asked Will if he was sorry that he chose to have a transplant and he told me he has never regretted it for a minute. Even after all he's been through. I told him that the first 3-6 months he was on the "amnesia" medicine so he couldn't know what all went on. I still thank God that he can't remember lots of the "issues" that he has had.

My mom is feeling so much better tonight, she had a touch of a virus thing. My uncle's surgery went well and he's on the road to recovery. Coach has had an ear infection for a few days now so he wasn't up to going to dinner with us, men can be such babies, can't they ladies?? Pam and Lynette, what do you think?

And the big news---drum roll please----Angel is starting to get a little "tummy" on her. Oh, happy day!!!!!!!

Look at all our blessing that we have going on. We have to be the luckiest family in the world.

We thank God for it all.

Hope God pours out blessings on your family also.

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF WILL'S LUNGS

Now, if any of you want to take a trip back in time, go back to this time last year on this blog and see how Will started this whole journey. You have to keep going all the way down the page until the bottom and then hit "older posts." Last year at this time we were sitting in a large waiting room with family and friends and we were so excited about Will's new lungs. So today I went back and read some of the entries from that time. I couldn't quite get through them but I will someday soon. We hope to have a first year anniversary party sometime this spring, like a big open house, and everybody's invited. What a fun time that will be.

Now on a sadder not, I am praying tonight very hard (and I ask you to say a prayer also) because this is the first year anniversary of the death of some one's loved one whose special gift of life saved Will's. It has to be so hard on that family and my heart goes out to them. I hope someday to be able to put into words all the special feelings we have for this family. We were told that we have to wait for a year before we can send the donor's family a letter. The transplant team then gives it to them. Then it is up to the family if they want any contact at all. I hope someday (not now though) that they will want to meet Will.

Will has gotten sick this afternoon and we don't know what's going on. We will see if it gets better after dialysis tomorrow or we'll call the doctor to see what's what.

My Uncle Bill is having surgery Tuesday. So we need prayers for him, please.

All in all, a wonderful day to celebrate Will's life. God made a great person when he designed Will. Thank you God for allowing us to be part of this special life.

GOD BLESS and again thank you, thank you, and thank you for staying with us through all this.

Merry Christmas on Feb. 23, 2009

The Harbisons finally had their Christmas today.

It was a very impromptu day but sometimes those work out the best. We just decided at the last minute that today might be a good day to celebrate. We weren't able to have the whole family here but next year we will. Truthfully, it will be nice to get my boxes of Christmas stuff out of the garage and back under the house.

This is us trying to get the timing thing working on my camera, delayed button or something. It was hilarious everyone trying to get ready for a good shot and never knowing when it's taking a picture.

Here's just a few more pictures from today.

Above: Here is Sadie and Uncle Tom celebrating. I don't think they were in the right spirit.

(Spongebob Squarepants was on)

Above:

My mom and her grandsons, my nephews, Elliott and Noah

Above: My little Coby William opening his presents. He sure caught on quickly.

Will is going to go to Boise Monday. He has to go back and see the eye doctor with his new glasses. They want to know how they are doing and if there is a need for more correction.

He is doing so much more with his eye than I ever thought

WHAT A GREAT DAY! AND NEXT YEAR WE WILL HAVE A NEW BABY TO ADD TO THIS MESS. CAN'T WAIT.

GOD BLESS

PS: THIS MONDAY IN THE EVENING ONE YEAR AGO, WILL GOT HIS NEW LUNGS. WE HAVE CERTAINLY NEVER EXPECTED WHAT WE GOT BUT IT WAS A GOOD DAY TO CELEBRATE. Technically, we received them on the 24th because that's when the surgery was completed. We will talk more on this tomorrow night.

Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009

We made it up very, very early to get to dialysis by 8. Will really did it. But, I think he fell asleep in the chair even before they put in the first needle. Then he wasn't able to go the full 3 1/2 hours because he started cramping in his feet and legs so they stop right away. So we left quickly and went to my mom's house so we could hear the Jerome game on the radio. We were able to listen to the last part when the Jerome Lady Tigers took third place in State. We are very proud of them and we really wished we could have been there to celebrate with them.

Will finally was able to go down to look at Angel's house. He thought it was a great house for them. They really do have it fixed up so cute. Maybe we can get some pictures on the blog so you all can see.

Have a fantastic Sunday, I know we will and I will let Will sleep in for a few extra hours.

GOD BLESS

Sat. Feb. 21, 2009

Here's Will in the white shirt with black stripe on the arm. He's sitting right behind the girls' bench so he can listen to all that's going on.

Here's the girls in their huddle right before the second half. It was a really good crowd from Jerome. I was glad to see that.



Oh, the girls lost a heart breaker. 43-42. Just broke our hearts to see the girls so sad. They are a great bunch.





So we are back home now and will watch as much of the games as we can on the Internet at Idahosports.com if any of you all are interested in watching.


We had a great surprise. We went to the hospital in Boise where we spent so much time. We wanted to see if any of our old friends were working. Well, we came just as they were having their giant open house. So we got to see everyone. But, dummy me, I forgot my camera so if any of you that took pictures there could send me a copy, I will get it up on the blog. That would be a great picture. It was really great and they had a live musical group which they stopped playing to announce that Will was in the "house." They even made him say a few words. Any of you that know Will probably can understand that he wasn't too thrilled. Oh well, we did get to say thanks to a lot of people. It was great to hug everyone.


Will was very tired when he got home tonight but it is a good tired. We got to go to dinner with Curtis and Jen and Cali. We spent some good time with my dad and Cherie at their house waiting for the game.

We go to dialysis at 7 this morning. YUCK! but we did that in case the girls went on to the championship game and we wouldn't have wanted to miss that. Oh, great, it's after 2 in the morning and I have to get up in four hours. I better hit the sack.

GOD Bless

Feb. 20, 2009 Friday

We're up in Boise and doing great.

Jerome won the game and they play tomorrow night at 8 and then we will go home. WAY TO GO JEROME!!! We will probably spend the day visiting with family around town. We really want to get over to our "old" hospital and say a big "hello" to all of them.

I will try to write more tomorrow night after we get back home.

God Bless

Feb.19,2009 Thursday

Here is our sweet Katie Rose. She's been one of our "special" ones for so many years. We got another visit today after school (Thanks for sharing your girls, Grandma Susan) and we enjoyed being with her and her sweet Bella Rose. Will and Katie had a lot to catch up on. Coach even came over to visit with Katie and he had just left our house a few hours earlier.

Tom is doing what Tom is best at---spoiling kids. Look at Bella, she's loving it.

Here is Will's chance at spoiling Bella but he just can't get up and dance with her just yet so she didn't stay with Will for long. She likes to keep moving.

In this morning Will will be getting up at 6:00 a.m. (yes, a.m.) so he can be at dialysis by 7:45! We have to do that because we will be going to girl's state this afternoon as soon as I get out of school. He must really, really love those girls because getting up so early isn't like Will.

I did take Friday off just for fun. I love watching the games even it we don't know anybody playing. I hope the hotel we are staying at will have an Internet connection and I will let everyone know how the game went. We play at 6:15 against Mountain Home in Meridian. So keep good thoughts and GO JEROME TIGERS.

100,000 HITS TODAY!!!

WHAT AN UNBELIEVABLE NUMBER.

Thank you all for sharing in our journey.

Angel and Aaron are almost all the way moved out. They have stayed in their own house the last two nights. They are so excited to have their own things around them. This will be a positive move for them both.

Will had dialysis and it was needed very much.
They got off more than 4 liters. So he was pretty sore tonight but he will feel better tomorrow. He will have physical therapy in the morning.

Have a great Wednesday

God Bless

Feb. 17. 2009 Tues.

Here are some cute pictures of Bella Rose (and our Bella, the cat, is on Will's leg again) meeting Will for the first time. I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't get any pictures with Katie, Bella's mom. She's supposed to come back this week and then I will get another chance. Will had a really good visit, even though Mondays are not his good days.

He slept late today and then he had a haircut. That made him feel so much better. We are looking forward to watching the girls up at state this week. So we are back to work tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great week.

Some time on Tuesday we should hit a very, very, very big number on the blog. If you are the one that makes the counter go to 100,000 let us know. You won't win anything but you will get an "honorable mention" on this blog.

GOD BLESS

Mon. President's Day Feb. 16, 2009

Sunday was a good day for Will. He just took things easy and caught up on his rest. He had a friend, Jelinda, come over with her new baby. We all have a soft spot for babies.

I have been helping Angel and Aaron get their new house ready to move in to. They found a house in Hagerman to rent and they will be moving by the end of the month. This weekend we have had Candace, Aaron's daughter. She is so fun to have around.

God Bless

Feb 15, 2009 Saturday

Will went to dialysis with Tom today even though this was my normal day to take him. That's because I got to go to a baby shower of our good, good friend, Katie (Martin) Lardy. She now lives by Portland. It was so good to see her and meet our new little Bella Rose. She's going to be coming over this weekend to see Will too. Angel and I was able to see a lot of our friends that we haven't seen in awhile. Fun times.

I forgot to tell you all (what with the wonderful news I was able to share yesterday) that the nurse that has been working with Will told him that he's so ahead of where he should be in the road to recovery. What Allen (the nurse) said was that usually someone who has been in bed for over 10 months usually takes that long (10 months) to come back. Allen said that Will is about where you would expect him to be at about 8 months after getting out of the hospital (it's been six weeks). Will just keeps amazing us all, over and over.

We had such crazy weather today. It was snowing and blowing with the sun shining. I don't know what it was trying to do but I'm glad it's past.

GOD BLESS AND HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY. I know we will be saying extra prayers for all the special blessings that have come our way.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 2009

I LOVE DAYS THAT ARE CENTERED AROUND LOVE

Great news, some of our friends already know this but Angel and Aaron have told me that I can post it for all our friends. We are going to have a baby in the family come August 14th. (and I promise, it won't be spoiled at all-----I am such a liar sometimes) As you can all imagine, we are in heaven-well as close as you can get here on earth. We have Will home, a baby on the way, and Angel and Aaron will be staying in the area for awhile.

Below is an ultrasound picture. This baby already looks beautiful and smart, don't you think???? Well, people, this might be the baby of all babies.

Angel wasn't even through her first trimester when this was taken. We don't know what it will be and we probably won't know for at least four more weeks.

The little one is only about an inch long here, isn't that amazing!!

Oh, by the way, Will had a good day. Can I just say how happy this baby is making all of us.

Have a great Valentine's Day. Remember, if you can't be with your loved ones, you're not alone, the One that loves you the most is always with you.

GOD BLESS

Feb. 13, 2009 Friday

So the Jerome Lady Tigers are going to State in the #1 seed.
They played great and they beat Century (from Pocatello) by about 30 points.
So they play next Thursday in Boise at 6:00 or so. Will has already changed his dialysis time to the morning, at 7:45 am! I didn't even know Will knew there was a 7:45 in the morning. That's dedication to this team, for sure. That way he can get dialysis done and then go up to Boise, watch the game, spend the night, and watch Friday's game also. We will come home on Friday. Then, because we believe the girls will go all the way, Will is having early dialysis on Saturday also so he can go up in the afternoon and watch the championship game in the afternoon.

Will did so much better at the game tonight. His breathing is so much better. The girls all come up and told him thanks for coming. We saw some really good friends of ours-the Kelseys and I mean almost all of them. What fun catching up, they live too far away for us to get together often. Good times tonight.

Lady Tigers: GOOD LUCK AT STATE!!!!

Please note another important date: Tomorrow I will have something on this blog that you don't want to miss. Please stay tuned. I have to scan something into the computer and I can't do it tonight, I am just tired.

GOD BLESS

Feb. 12, 2009 Thursday

So sorry I didn't get this up until this morning, Just getting spacey in my old age (no commenting allowed on this, Randy).
Will had a good workout with his physical therapist. They have him walking mostly for endurance. Then after that he went outside and walked around the house once. The sun was out but it was cold.

Coach came over for a visit and they talked about all the upcoming games. Tonight we are going to Jerome to watch them play for placement at state. Will is going to try to figure out dialysis days so he can make it up to state to watch the girls. It's in Boise.

Have a good Thursday
God bless

Feb. 11, 2009 Wednesday

Oh, oh, it's getting closer to the lucky holiday where some guy in a diaper gets to shoot you or the one you love with an arrow--and it's all good. What a crazy culture we live with.

Will had dialysis and he was needing it again badly, just like every Tuesday. They took off four liters and he should be feeling good tomorrow. Right now he's just tired and cranky.

He is still recuperating from the busy, busy day we had yesterday.

So have a great Wednesday and God bless.

Feb. 10, 2009 Tuesday

Today was a good day. We spent the whole day on the eyes. We first went to Dr. Hansen and we really liked him. He has such good things to suggest and I think we did them all. Grandma and Grandpa Atwood met us there so they could hear what the good doc says. We got Will a pair of eye glasses. The reason being that before he lost his vision he had to wear glasses. So then what sight he has left in the right eye will need glasses. Which does make sense. This will help see more clearly. Then the monocular glasses that we ordered today will have the prescription in it also and that should let him see things farther away more clearly.

Now that I have totally confused you, let's just say his vision will improve with these glasses. We went to a one hour place and had the glasses before we left Boise. That turned out to be a good thing because he couldn't have the loan of the glasses he has been wearing because there are people that have been waiting for those for a while now. They usually loan them out for a few weeks, we have had them for three months now. That Will, he's a little con artist you know.

So he's now going to be wearing normal glasses and then he will have his binocular type glasses by the end of the month. We also got a contraption that will let Will read, do crosswords and just about anything else. It's like a projector that will put the image up on a screen and then Will can magnify up to as much as he needs. I will take a picture of it and explain how it works when we get it up and working. That's going to open up so many doors. I can't wait to see how it all is going to work. So it was a good day in Boise.

But it got better. We had to dash (seriously hurry) to make it back to Jerome in time for the big game. We did it just in time and Will sat behind the bench. That was fun because he could hear everything that was being said. So, back to the game. Jerome won!!!! and they are going to state!!!! It was a big night. Then when the team had to go out to the center of the floor to receive their trophy for winning their conference--they wanted Will to go out with them. So the pictures below are of that event. That was soooooooo sweet of those girls. Thank you, ladies.

You can see Will in his new glasses in these pictures

LOOKING GOOD, WILL AND

THE JEROME LADY TIGERS

Feb. 9, 2009 Monday

Here is a good picture of my mom and her dog and her grandson

Mom was able to go back to her home today. Praise the Lord that she is still able to live like she wants to. So many people don't get that option, and I know she's happy to be back in her cute house. She's doing so much better. Thank you all for the prayers for her recovery.

Tomorrow, or today, whichever way you look at it (Monday) we get to take Will to the vision specialist in Boise--finally. I know there will be things that he will be able to buy to help him use the vision he has left the best way possible. This doctor will be able to tell us that. Also maybe he can give Will a pair of glasses that will be like those binoculars that he wears to watch TV.

So we go to Boise then we hurry home because Will wants to go to the BIG game for his girls tonight at 7:00. They play for state tonight so good luck Lady Tigers. We are hoping that we can stop by our nice hospital in Boise for a quick chat with all our friends there. Remember, they haven't ever gotten to hear Will's voice the whole time we stayed with them.

Tomorrow I will let you know all the ideas we have gotten from this doctor. He should be able to let us know what computer Will can get because there are a lot out there that reads the screen for you. We just don't know which kind to get. Will's excited about all this, as you can imagine.

Please pray for our trip and that the doctor has some great ideas.

GOD BLESS

Sunday, Feb.. 8, 2009

Will had a good day. Coach took Will to dialysis today. I think they both really have such a great time just spending time together, they don't care what they are doing. He was tired but he's feeling better tonight. Tomorrow will be a good day. I still love the pictures from yesterday so if you didn't see them, go look now.


Now for my news---I got a surprise from my good friend Donna Clark. She invited me to the opening ceremonies of the World Special Olympics Winter Games in Boise, Idaho. It was the best time watching all the people. They are sooooo full of just love of life. They humbled me.

Above: Here is the lighting of the torch. It was a very moving moment.

Here are the teams from all over the country (I think 95 in all). They were all dancing, really rocking out to the music that was playing up on stage.

They were just so much fun to watch enjoy the life they have. How fantastic is that?

We should all volunteer some time to this wonderful cause.
I can't get over the fact that they are all so happy all the time.

I am so glad I got to go and I hope you all get to share some of the games that are televised on TV.

God Bless

Sat. Feb. 7, 2009

SUNNY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!!!

These pictures are for all of you ---nurses, physical therapists, aides, respiratory therapists and of course, the doctors.........this is where all your hard work got Will..............................

Below: Here is Kevin, Will's physical therapist, taking Will outside to get him to enjoy the day.

He's doing better at the stairs--the little dog, Tinker, belongs to my mom.

He walked all the way down to the mailbox and back. Here is Kevin checking the O2.

Will's feeling pretty proud of himself (as he should be).

Now this is what I miss by going back to the work. I wasn't here for this great day but Tom got all the pictures that showed what a great day this is.

We hope you all enjoy the sunshine that's in your life. God is so awesome. Have a good weekend.

GOD BLESS