Friday's update

Boy this has been a busy week for the blog. Haven't seen this much action in a long time.

Ann, the kidney transplant coordinator, called at 8:00 this morning and said, "We're not saying no but we're not saying yes either."
I asked her what that meant and she said that the panel (to decide on the transplant) was very worried that Will is such a high-risk surgical candidate. They want to do a special blood test for antibodies, they are looking for special antigens that might make matching donors tougher.

So they will take his blood at dialysis next Monday or Tuesday and then send it back to SLC and in a couple of weeks they will let Will know. So, now we wait. Doesn't this all sound familiar????? So we aren't sure of anything still.

Will just keeps on doing what he does. He has a wedding to go to on Saturday morning before dialysis. Coach Clark's son, Tyson, is marrying a great girl, Hannah. Then sometime this weekend, we want to get the boat out.

Please continue praying that the doctors will allow Will to have his transplant. He is absolutely sure that the risk is worth it. So I should have some pictures up on Sunday night of the weekend.

Angel's due date, Aug. 14, is s l o w l y getting closer. I asked my boss if I could have the first couple of weeks off from school so I can play at being a Grandma---he's still laughing. Little does he know that I wasn't teasing. She's due just two days before I have to go back to school. I think it's only fair. They give maternity leave, they give paternity leave also, so it's only fair that they give grandmaternity leave too. Maybe I will write my congressman.

In the meantime--God bless and thanks for the prayers. We know God has the perfect plan for Will. So we "LET GO AND LET GOD!"

Wednesday

We are home from the big city. We had to have Will at the University by 8:00 (he wasn't a happy camper) and we went from there. We saw the head nurse for kidney transplant. She was nice but she's not like our Tauni or Kelly. Then we went in to a small room and they see us in there. First it was Dr. Raphael, he was our kidney dr. in the hospital so we know him very well. He really likes us and we really like him. Then we saw the social worker to make sure Will has all the help to get by after surgery and that he really wants the surgery. She had to ask all those silly questions.
We met the head kidney doc and he explained that there are a lot of factors to decide with Will's case so they will meet with all the team and discuss the pros and cons.

So Will told the doctors how much he wants this to happen. Then they had a list of tests to be done. After the doctor looked them all over, he found out that Will had had all of them just recently so he didn't have to do any tests today. That worked out really well. If they decide that Will can have the transplant, then they will order a couple more but he can do those up here in Twin Falls or Boise. We will post the next step when we know it.

Then we got to leave by noon. We stopped at a couple of stores on the way home and ate a good meal at Applebee's. Will was hungry after all that. The doctors did tell us that we don't have to wait two weeks to find out because the blood work that takes time, was already done a few weeks ago.. They will be able to tell us by Friday. I don't know if that's good or bad. But I will post a blog when we find out, for sure. Please pray for Will.

Our little baby Kayli didn't come while we were gone to SLC because she listened to Grandma and besides she still has a few weeks. We wait for God's timing in all of this, right?

GOD BLESS

Monday update from SLC

So Will got up very, very early for him. We were at the kidney office by 9:00 this morning. We went into the conference room with four other families wanting transplants. We had a slide presentation of all the stuff that goes on for transplant. We had a good idea already because we have been researching for a few weeks. After a couple of hours, we visited with the financial planner for half an hour, then we visited with dietitian to explain the diet needed after transplant. That took another 30 minutes. Then we visited with the pharmacist for transplant patients. We were old friends so she didn't need that much time with us. Will was a little tired so he left about 10:30, went back to the hotel and took a nap. I stayed and got all the information for him. I think Will planned that to happen that way. After a break from noon to one, we went back to meet with the actual surgeon. They did a check up and asked a whole bunch of questions. I think they were a little nervous around Will, I wonder why that is?

Then we came back for a rest to the hotel. We went to Sizzler and Will ate two baked potatoes and a plate of shrimp soaked in butter. Where does he put it? He decided he wanted to go to the movies. He wanted to see if he would be able to see the movie with his vision. Well, we sat in the front (my neck is still stiff) and he was able to watch "The Night at the Museum" There just isn't anything he can't do.


So tomorrow we have to be back to the hospital for tests by 8:00 am. They just don't know how upset this makes Will. He doesn't think the world should start until 10ish or so. So we meet with another dr. and Will will get about five tests done. He will talk with the social worker and somebody else, I forget who. But they did tell us that we probably won't know if he's accepted into the program for about two weeks. I don't know why........... We are going to pop in and visit with Dr. Cahill, Tauni and Kelly after all the tests are done. They just want to see how Will's doing, it's not an official visit. Then we are going home.

So that's our day and our planned tomorrow. Thanks for the continued prayers for our traveling and tests.

GOD BLESS

Monday night

Will had a great weekend. He had a 20th year reunion of his football team in Hagerman (Go Pirates!) that took State in 1989. Will was one of the managers and that year he wasn't doing so well. They had their rally cry "Win for Willie" for that whole season. Coach Clark (Will's best friend in the front row middle of the picture below) was the head coach that year and with him was Coach Udy on the right (front) and Coach Elliott (on the left). Most of the team showed up and they watched the game film from that special day. They shared all the memories (good and the bad) and isn't that what it's all about. Some of the people had to come from far away and some still live locally. It was so great to just sit back and watch these "kids" just get together like they haven't ever been apart. They will always have this bond. This bunch of "boys" is something special. I know everyone had one great time getting together. Coach Clark got it all put together and he even got shirts for everyone. Thanks for making it happen, Coach.

Below: I already said who were the coaches in the front row.
Back row: Tommy, Michael C., Allen, Chris, Butch, Mike, Jason with Will in front, Brody, Kurt, and behind him (the really tall one) is John. John and Will were almost inseparable in high school. Some guys brought their wives, who were soon forgotten.

Below: This is another picture of Coach Udy with his oldest son, Justin, who was about 5 yrs. old when we went to State. I remember the little guy running all over that field all the time. Now he's playing college football in Eastern Oregon. We use to babysit Coach Udy's kids a lot so Angel ran down just to say hi. She didn't stay to watch the game film or eat. I did though, lol.

Below: just another shot of some of the guys swapping stories. They were so funny.

Below: Now they are sitting around watching the game film and seeing things they hadn't seen before. Some plays are etched in their minds forever, like Jason's four yard kickoff.

Below: Here is Will with two of the cheerleaders from those "good ol' days," Mary and Angela.

The highlight for me was one of the football players, Brody Engles, wrote a very, very, good poem about the road to State and it was titled "A Win for Willie" Wow-very powerful. Now I know all of you ex-Hagerman teachers are probably saying "not Brody" because he really wasn't known for his writing skills, unless you call graffiti -writing. But he did a wonderful job, no, not just wonderful---marvelous. Maybe I will put it on here sometime this week. It's a little long but I think you all might enjoy reading it.

I just remember the time when Will was very, very sick in the hospital when the boys won the game to allow them to go to State. Four of the guys came up with pizza for Will. They didn't know how bad he was and he wasn't waking up hardly at all about then. The boys came in, turned on all the lights, sat there and talked to Will about the game even though Will wasn't awake, and then they got ready to leave. One of them went back to the bed and said in a very loud voice that they wanted Will to wake up because they weren't going to State if Will wasn't going. For some reason Will woke up the next morning and started to turn around. The doctor couldn't figure out why. About five days later we took him to State. His doctors and nurses still talk about that night. When they went out to accept the State trophy, they had their little manager, Willie, go out and get it. Then, they put him on their shoulders and carried him around. I know---A box of Kleenex time. Now, I'm glad we didn't have to test the boys on whether they would or wouldn't have gone to the game, but this is one special bunch of guys and I really think what they did that night was pure magic. I wonder if they ever knew what was accomplished that night? I just love them all so much.

Now, twenty years later, and many other hospital stays in the meantime, he still uses that mind-over-matter attitude of his, and we are starting his process for a kidney transplant.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, he goes to a class all morning. Then he meets with the team and has some tests. Wednesday he will meet with the surgeon that might do the surgery and they do other tests. He meets with some other people and other tests but I'm not sure what ones yet. But I will blog tomorrow night (Tuesday) and fill you all in. We are very excited that he is getting started. I pretty sure that we won't know if he gets accepted into the transplant program for a few days. Please say your prayers for him.

I told Angel that baby Kayli (that's the name they have picked out right now) better stay right where she is at least until I get back home. She's not due for a two more weeks, but you never know.

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and the walk down memory lane with Will. God bless and sweet dreams.

Sunday, July 26

We have been crazy the last few days. Lots of people visiting and we have some pictures. But I don't have time tonight to get them up. I have to get ready for Salt Lake. We are leaving tomorrow when we go to dialysis. Because of the busy weekend, I haven't got much done. So I will put them up on the blog from salt lake. We have many appts. and I will keep you up on all of them. It should be a really interesting week. I will be blogging most nights.

Please keep praying for all the testing to allow Will's new kidney. It will be such a good thing and change his life dramatically, if that's is God's plan. We have complete trust in our Lord's plan for Will. No matter what, we know who really is in charge.

GOD BLESS

update

Our God is an AWESOME GOD!!!!

I know this to be true for all the wonderful miracles He has shown us in Salt Lake, but He has once again shown his love and mercy. My friend, who I asked all of you to pray for last night and this morning, has shocked and surprised us all. She had exploratory surgery and has come out of it with no worries. What a miracle. Things weren't looking so good, and I asked all of you to pray for her. The doctors looked all over and they found nothing cancerous. What a wonderful blessing. I want to thank each and every one of you that prayed for her to get through this. They didn't hold up much hope, but our God is so good and He knows how this lady is needed by her family. Now we will be celebrating a long life for her.

Please go into our blog on the homepage on the right hand side and go to Curt and Megan's blogspot. It will show you a picture of a most beautiful baby. They are sure missed here in Hagerman but I think they are having a wonderful life in California. CONGRATULATIONS BABY RIANNE AND WELCOME TO THIS CRAZY WORLD. she's ALMOST A WHOLE DAY OLD.

GOD BLESS

Midweek update 7/22/09

Now I did promise you all some pictures of our crazy wedding trip. First to Salt Lake and then on to Boise all in one day. Will and Angel didn't have any trouble with the drive. The heat did bother both of them and I got a great picture of them cooling off at the hotel-both of them with their shirts up over their bellies laying on the couch. Trust me-I won't be putting that one on the blog. They would both shoot me, but it was funny.


Before I start on about the weddings, let me tell you some good news. Remember how I wrote that we wouldn't be able to start the big tests done in Salt Lake until the middle of August. Well, after Dr. Cahill saw how Will has improved just by doing the dialysis four times a week, she knows Will would be so much better when he gets the new kidney. So she did her little magic and we have an appt. for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. I don't know how she does it, but people listen to her. I will put more on what's going to happen on Sunday when I do the regular blog.

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Now the first set of pics are from the Boise wedding of our niece, Christ and Ryan Wilcox. It was in their backyard and it was beautiful. The wedding was at 7:00 pm. . The only downer was the heat, it hit a new record of 105! It didn't stop the "love" flowing though. I got to visit with a lot of my family that I haven't seen in a while. Everyone was having a fantastic time.

Christi and Ryan Wilcox

They make such a beautiful couple.

So in love.

Above: Will is with Christi (the bride)

and an old friend of theirs, Ashley. Will hasn't seen her in years.

Below: Just Christi and Will, they have always had a special bond. They are only a month apart and have grown up together.

Below: This is the happy family. The boys, Noah and Elliott, and the newlyweds. Ryan is going to be a great step dad. The boys love him already.

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This is the first wedding on Saturday morning(I got the pics mixed up).

Danny and AnnMarie Kenison

Don't they make a sweet looking family.

They are both so, so happy and you can see it in their faces.

Above: the newlyweds with Anne's two kids, Jaycee and Tucker

Danny loves them so much already.

He's going to make a great step-daddy.

They got married in a beautiful park. It was very casual except for the

wedding party. They did take the tux and dresses off as soon as the special ceremony was over. Everything was beautiful and then they had ribs for everyone. Will was in heaven.



below: Here is where they are toasting (notice everyone is in the shade)

so "toasting" is a good word. They brought Will up with them because they

were telling how they met (through Will at the hospital, but you all probably have heard the story by now) and

through the terrible times-good things can happen. It was

verrrrry moving-maybe I cried a little bit but then so did everyone else.

AnneMarie is in red and then her parents and Danny's parents and Will and then last but not least-Danny on the right. Isn't he cute??? Big ol' tough major in the Air Force and he's got tears in his eyes. Big softy.

Below: Angel and Will admiring our newest great nephew-Cooper.

He belongs to our niece, Brenda (Danny's sister).

Below: They are still trying to get Danny's emotions under control.
Will doesn't care because look who's getting all the love!
I think AnneMarie loves Will the best.

Below: Did we mention how hot it was? At 11:00 am-96 degrees.

Little sister is trying to keep Will out of the sun.

So there are some great pictures and I hope you enjoyed all of them.

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I would like to ask special prayers for a friend of ours (I won't put her name on here because I didn't ask her first, God knows who you're praying for.. ) She's going through some terrible medical problems and we just need to pray for God's special healing for her today (Thursday) as she goes in for surgery. She needs all of us praying today. Thank you so much.

God's Love is all around and I hope you all feel it as strongly as I do.

GOD BLESS.

super trip

THE GOOD NEWS YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR:

What a nasty person I am, making you all wait until Sunday. Will told me to do it though. He didn't want to put anything on it until Sunday about the clinic visit because he wanted to let a few people know in person. It was such great news.

AND HERE IT IS.......

(I feel like a suspense writer because this is how

they do it. They get you hooked, anticipating the ending.)

We went to the Salt Lake clinic on Friday afternoon after having done dialysis Friday morning. Will had an xray, labs, and a PFT (pulmonary function test-the test that tells you how well the lungs are working).

Then we went to see Dr. Cahill. Will was the last thing on her "to do" list that day. None of the nurses were around or anything so Dr. Cahill had to even do nursing duty. She can do it all..

We knew that Will's PFT's would be better this time. His last one two months ago was a FEV1 (that's just one of the results that test shows, but it's the one the doctors look at first) of 24 %. So we knew Will would be blowing better. We were hoping for a few percentage points, Will really wanted a 30% and I thought that was pushing it a little. WELL (now the drum roll please.......(I really wish I had a sound for a drum roll. This is a perfect place to use it) back to the drum roll.......) Will blew a 38%. YES, THAT'S RIGHT!!!!!! 38%!

We are thinking that might be the highest he has blown in over ten years, maybe more. We are trying to find the records to compare. So the dialysis four times a week is really working. His xrays were looking much better too. That also shows how much Will can improve if he got his kidney. Dr. Cahill is calling the kidney transplant team on Monday to "get the ball rolling a little quicker." Will was really strutting his stuff after that. He's even talking about buying himself a huge present to celebrate. No, not a big screen TV, he already has one of those. I will let you know when he decides..another suspense for you all. So Dr. Cahill was really, really pleased, and we all know-when Dr. Cahill is happy, everybody is happy. So we all left feeling really well.

The weekend was a lot about traveling but it was also about family. Here is a great picture of part of our family Sunday afternoon at Olive Garden.

below: Here is a picture of our little Brianna not really sure about

getting into the pool with "Uncle Will last week."

(For all you medical people reading this-Will is in the shady part of the little pool. So he is staying out of the sun. He's okay) It was harder getting Will into the pool than Brianna.

We have many pictures from our travels this weekend but I want to put them on tomorrow or the next day. If I did it now, it would take away from the "good news" and it would take a long while getting them all to download. The two weddings were wonderful although both of them were very, very hot. We wouldn't have missed it for the world. More on them next time.

Miracles are still happening in Will's life and we appreciate all the prayers that were sent to our Heavenly Father for Will. Thank you for the love also.

GOD BLESS

Friday good news

Will'S GOT GREAT NEWS FROM SALT LAKE........

BUT.....I'M GOING TO WAIT UNTIL

SUNDAY TO TELL EVERYONE

(no it's not the baby, trust me, I will be screaming

that from the mountain tops, still another 3 weeks to wait)

But, back to the good news....

Come back on Sunday, we will be going to the two weddings

on Saturday. Will's up to it for sure.

Lots of pictures and GOOD NEWS

CAN'T WAIT....

GOD BLESS

July 12th middle of the summer

Wow, summer is going so quickly.

On Saturday Angel and I went to two different showers. The first was Angel's baby shower given by Aaron's mom and two sister-in -laws. It was held in Boise and a lot of work went into it. They even had a chocolate fountain because they knew how much Angel liked chocolate. It was so sweet (not pun intended) of them and, of course, she got a lot of baby stuff, including diapers, which she needed.

Here is some family from Boise:

left to right; Billie ( Angel's cousin) Aunt Karen, Christi, (Angel's cousin), Maegan (Angel's cousin)

Angel, Aunt Gloria and me, the proud Grandma.

Here are the little ones that came to share Angel's shower with her.

l to r: Ash (she helped so much with the shower), Candace, Sadie, and Coby.


Here's the four cousins hamming it up for the camera. They couldn't get their hands around Angel anymore. They thought that was funny. (Angel didn't)

The next shower that we went to was the shower for the bride-to-be, Christi. She is my niece and I am very proud of her. She is being married next Saturday. We met at a dinner club in downtown Boise and had some good fun. Yes, she is sporting a pink nightie over her clothes. We made her wear her gifts if she could. She is going to make a beautiful bride.

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Sorry there are no pictures of Will this week.

He had a wonderful visit with a good friend of his, Katie Rose and her husband, Paul and her little 7 month old baby, Bella. I forgot my camera, I have got to get that thing tied around my neck, I think.

I thought at the beginning of the summer that by the middle of the summer we would be almost ready for a kidney transplant. Boy was I off, although it is now closer than it was a week ago. Will did pass his echo stress test (he told me he studied really hard for that). This is how our week will go: Next Thursday we will go up to Salt Lake after dialysis. Then Friday at 8:30, he will do dialysis in Ogdon and then go on to the U of U and do a PFT (lung function test). After that is done we will go see Dr. Cahill. She wants to see how he is doing having four dialysis treatments a week-if they are helping him. Will informed me that he doesn't care if his PFT's are just 1%--he is NOT going into the hospital this time. Since he's gotten out of the hospital in January, he has had to go into the hospital after clinics everytime.

There is a reason for that, WEDDINGS. On Saturday, in Salt Lake, Will's cousin, Danny is marrying the most wonderful person, AnneMarie. You should all remember the story about how they met when Will was so sick in SICU and AnneMarie was Will's respiratory therapist. How romantic. So they really need Will to be there. They will get married at 11:00 am. We will be there for that fun, for sure.

Then about noon, we will have to leave because Will's other cousin, Christi, is getting married in Boise at 7:00. We will be able to make it in time, it's about a five hour trip. It will be a long day for Will but he should be okay. He can sleep all the way. Angel and Aaron are going with us too. That's the one we will be worried about. The doctor told her that she will be able to travel just as long as she gets out of the car every hour and walks around. We will do that for sure.

We have made an appt. for Will to see the kidney transplant team on the 11th and 12th of August (that's the earliest they have). Then they will run a bunch of tests and he will meet the surgeon and everybody else. They want him for "classes" for four hours on what to expect from transplants. We are going to ask if he can skip out on those. He pretty much knows all the ins and outs of it by now, I think.

We will be needing traveling prayers for our trip and if you could pray for Angel to make it just fine, that would be appreciated. We are all looking forward to this week. I love weddings.

GOD BLESS

Sunday the day after the Fourth

It's Sunday and it's summer, what a great day we have had. But first I forgot to tell you all what Will did for the Fourth. Now you have to remember last year we were in the hospital still and the nurses let Will get out of bed and they took him to a room with a lot of windows. We were hoping that he could see some of the many fireworks over Salt Lake. He couldn't see anything and it was very depressing. But now this Fourth he went out on his boat a little bit before dark and we set off our own fireworks out onto the river. He was really loving it. It was a full moon and what a great couple of hours we had. Angel, Aaron and Candace went with us along with our neighbors, Victoria and Jax. We are so blessed to live in the beautiful valley that we do.



But I did forget to let everyone know what we found out about Will's test last week. Well, we found out nothing yet(go figure). I think everyone probably took the whole week off for the Fourth of July holiday. Couldn't find anyone who had answers. But first thing Monday morning I will be calling everyone all over again and try to get somewhere. We need to get a move on with this transplant so Will doesn't have to have his whole life going around dialysis and his renal diet (not a good thing). So if I find something out, I will blog asap.








So back to our great weekend.
We had Shannon (Will's cousin from Mountain Home) come over for a few hours. He brought two of his three kids. Jack and Amiah. They were so darn cute. I didn't get a picture though. They really kept us entertained. Then we had the Andrus' clan come over. They were raised with Will and Angel as best friends. Now their children are my best friends. Below is the dinner we had--adults were inside and the kids were out on the patio. Then a unfriendly bee came and brought a lot of tears so I decided I needed to sit with them outside, to protect them of course. I think I had a better time than those boring adults did inside the air conditioned house. Aren't they so wonderful???

Here is Will with all the little ones. Great picture.

Below is the picture of all of them that came to dinner. We did have a full house and I loved it. Will had a great time visiting with them all. Angel's tummy is getting big huh??? Soon, maybe five weeks left.

I hope everyone had as great a holiday weekend as we did. Tomorrow is dialysis and so the week begins. We have a real good friends named Megan and Curt who are expecting any day now. They just moved to California and we miss them lots. Please pray for the family and the exciting new addition, it's a girl also. We love you guys.

Please also pray for the "speediness" of the doctors and techs so Will can get his new kidney.

Thank you all and GOD BLESS. Our God is so good to us.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism"

Erma Bombeck

GOD BLESS AMERICA

WE HOPE EVERYONE HAS A HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Will has had a wonderful day. Curtis, Jenn and Cali came over from Boise for the afternoon. It was great to see them again. Cali is just so darn cute. She was doing gymnastic moves for Uncle Will.

Then he rested for a few hours and went over to the Clark's to have an old-fashioned BBQ. There were many friends and the food---It was so good and I think Will gained ten pounds (which he could use). I probably did too, but that's a whole other story.

He has dialysis and then we will probably just stay close to home for the fourth. We will put some pictures up on Sunday night. Be safe and be happy on this long weekend.

When you have time go to this website (I hope I did it right-if it doesn't work, I will try again) and watch the video. It has our two good, good friends that have had transplants. If you have followed Will's blog, you will remember Tanya and Sarah. They did a good job.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/sharedp=8c1b2c8fa53596b905ef78&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Sunday, a week has gone by already.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TOM

(ON SATURDAY)!!!!

We had a great party for Tom on his birthday. Above is his two brothers and his sister. One brother, Albert, was born on his birthday six years apart. He was visiting the Grand Canyon on their birthday. But even though we missed him, Tom still had a great birthday.

Angel had a baby shower on Saturday also. I know---two big parties in one day. Are we crazy or what???

Angel got some great gifts for the baby and we had a terrrrrrific time with our friends. We haven't seen some of them in a long while.

Will is going in for his big echo stress test tomorrow, Monday. Please pray for the results that we need to continue with the transplant process. We won't know what the results will be for a few days. When I know, I will post it. Will hasn't felt that great and we haven't been out on the boat. Soon. He is trying to walk a little more every day.

I know many of you want the blog more. I just don't have that much to write about (Thank the good Lord for that). Will goes to dialysis Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and that takes up the whole day. Then the off days he tries to get out a little and do some exercise. Dr Cahill would be so proud. I just can't imagine what his life will be like when he gets the new kidney. Pray, Pray, Pray.

GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU.

THANKS FOR STAYING "TUNED IN" FOR WILL

Happy Father's Day Sunday

"Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad." -- Anne Geddes

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

The picture above is my father, Will, and Will's dad (AKA Tom)
How's that for Father's Day picture.
We were trying to get the boat out.

Above: We tried to go fishing again but it just didn't work out. We hit bad weather but this time we got the boat all the way in the water. We went ahead and took the boat down the river a ways but it was just too windy and cold. So we headed back. Maybe next time we can get a worm wet. Sorry Grandma and Grandpa. My dad and Cherie came from Boise so we could celebrate Father's Day together. Even though we didn't get to fish we still had a great day.

Above: We went to an old fashioned wiener roast on Saturday night. We even had s'mores. It was a lot of fun. Will is sitting visiting with Coach. I don't think they know anyone else is around.

On Wednesday we did get the boat out for a few hours in the evening. This is what I caught. What a pretty fish, maybe I should have led off this blog with this picture. That's one nice looking fish, at least two feet or so, right? We went out with Aaron and Angel, Joe and Carrie Chizum and Will and I. Tom didn't get to go because he was still recuperating from hernia surgery. He is doing so much better but he has to be careful for a while yet.


Will started doing dialysis four times a week and maybe that's going to help. He is feeling pretty good today. He loves going out on the boat. Maybe this week we can go out more. Maybe I will let him catch the biggest one. I have a couple more pictures I want to put on here. Maybe tomorrow I can do that.

I thank God for fathers everywhere. They are a very special breed of people. I was lucky, I had one great father and two very special step-fathers. My step dads are gone now but I feel very blessed that I still have my dad. Another blessing I want to thank God for is Him allowing me to pick Tom to be the father of my two children. I never, ever could have gotten a better dad for them.

So a great big THANK YOU to our heavenly Father for all his blessings and I hope all of you had a great Father's Day.
God Bless and tell someone you love them. It makes the world a better place.

Monday, June 15, 2009

So, so sorry that I was late getting this up today. Last night when I got ready to do the blog, it was down for maintenance. Then I wanted to get it done when I got up but then dialysis called and wanted him in early. So this was just a wild day. But I did get a couple of good pictures. Please forgive.

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a great week. We have been doing some paper work for Will's transplant but it is going so slow. I know, I know, I should be use to that by now, right? So he's already done the dental thing and now he waits until 29th to do the echo stress test. That's the test where they check with the cardiologist to see if his heart is good enough for surgery. They don't make him go on the treadmill, they just use some medicine that speeds the heart up to stimulate the heart at exercise pace. Will was excited that he doesn't have to try to walk on a treadmill quickly.

We tried so hard to get out on the boat Sunday afternoon. We literally had the boat backed up into the dock and then a storm came rushing in. We were so bummed. I pouted the whole way home and I kept saying it was going to quit soon-didn't happen. So maybe this week some time. This crazy Idaho weather.

We have been having a little bit of difficulty with getting him into dialysis four times a week but I think people are now on the same page. So everything is going forward. Just please pray that this is going to help Will to stay out of the hospital for awhile.

Will is getting really excited about his little niece's arrival. Here is how Angel passes her time now that she's not teaching this summer.......LOL

(Thanks Billie)

The picture below is Angel trying to give her brother a shot. She HATES doing that but she does try. She is going to take Will into dialysis tomorrow so she has to know how. She wants to make Will give his own shots. That would be a disaster with his tremors but she still would rather have him do it. But she did really well. (If you didn't notice, that's my little grand baby sticking out like that, healthy size isn't she?).

I went up to Boise to see some of my family and go to a beautiful wedding of a friend of ours. I hadn't seen my dad and Cherie in a long time and my little niece, Sadie's birthday is this week. She turns four. I will try to get a picture on here for family to see. I just wish Will and Tom could have came but they had to go to dialysis. So my big goal is to get the boat out and do some fishing.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

OUR WEEK IN SALT LAKE CITY

So now I'll tell you all about the week. We went down to Salt Lake on Monday because we were told to change the date for the vascular surgeon. He was going to be busy on Wednesday so could we come down on Tuesday for the venagram. We said sure because we thought that would give us more days to shop around for the "stuff" that we need for our boat. Well they wanted us in there by 8:30. We were there on time. Then they came out to the waiting room and said "the room is broken" (I promise that was their exact words). They are trying to fix it and we should just wait a little bit. Here is Will waiting............................................

and waiting.....................................

(by the way, he's asleep)...............

Then finally he got in a little after 1:00 in the afternoon. Will doesn't "do" waiting well anymore. But the drs. found that he needed the balloon in his vein again so it's a good thing we had the procedure that day. Then Will had to wait for three hours while they made sure that he was clotting okay.

Then Will and his parents (that's us) went back to the hotel and just relaxed (Will wasn't supposed to do too much anyway). We went to clinic the next morning. Will had x-rays, blood work and then his PFT (pulmonary function test). Then it was on to meet with Dr. Cahill. She came in and said "d*** Will, you're drowning your lungs." Well, needless to say Dr. Cahill wanted Will to go into the hospital and get his lungs dry. Again, Will was not happy----if you all remember, this is the exact thing that happened last month when Will went to clinic.

Here is Will in his bed, he's not talking to anyone right now.

So Will had dialysis for three days straight and then Dr. Cahill said we could go home on Friday night if the x-ray looked better. It showed a little improvement and they decided that maybe Will need to go to dialysis four days a week now. So we came home last night. Will told Tauni that if Dr. Cahill wants to see him in the near future-she will have to come to our boat to visit. The one good thing this trip is that he got a "button" on his feeding tube site. This is flush to the skin so it is so much nicer for Will not to have all those tubes sticking out from his stomach. Will still had to go to dialysis again today and afterwards he felt exhausted and he's really hurting. Tomorrow he will be able to just sit back and relax.

We did get to visit a lot of our friends from the hospital and we saw Sarah (remember she is our good friend that had her transplant a couple of months before Will.) She looks maaarvelous.I really do miss all of them and wish we could have seen them all,(we love you guys so much) we weren't there all that long this time (yippee).

We did get referred to the kidney transplant people and we have started the paperwork. We will keep you updated on that as we go along. I know some people think that Will would never go after another transplant but he's all for it. It will change his life for the the good. No more dialysis, no more crazy diet and no more fluid restriction. Good times ahead.

WE NEED TO REMEMBER--THE TASK AHEAD OF US IS NEVER AS GREAT AS THE POWER BEHIND US. Can I hear AMEN!

GOD BLESS and have a great Sunday.

Saturday June 7, 2009

We are home from Salt Lake. Will had to go into the hospital for a few days. That wasn't very nice but I will get back on line and blog about it tomorrow after dialysis. We just got home and it's very late and we have had a few very late nights so I'm going to bed and we will sleep in a little in the morning. So Will is doing okay especially since we are home now. I'll get back on tomorrow (oh, it's today already) and let you all know.
Good night and God bless

Sunday May 31, 2009

This was my last week for the school year. So the summer is upon us. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will has been waiting patiently because I told him he had to wait to go out on the boat. Thanks Will. But we do have to get through this next week in Salt Lake. Doctor week dontcha know.

Will has to go to the vascular surgeon on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to have a procedure done. It's the one he has had once before. The dr. goes through the vein in the groin and up towards the heart. If this vein isn't wide enough he will put in another balloon (he did one before) and blow the balloon up (in the vein, not the heart). I'm sure the description I gave is as close to the textbook as you can get (NOT).

Then after that, Will will go to dialysis somewhere. They haven't set that up yet. I know, time's running out but you know how doctors work, especially if you have been following this blog for a while. After that, we plan to go to the hotel and rest. I'm sure Will will need that by then. Danny and AnnMarie will be visiting sometime that night.

Wednesday he has to go in the morning for his PFT (his breathing test to see how good his lungs are working)., then go for some blood work and x-rays and finally he goes to see the big guns-the whole transplant team including Dr. Cahill. Then we know he will be tired, so we are going to stay one more night in SLC.

We have an appt. for dialysis at 6:30 in the morning. I'm not sure that we will get Will there on time. I think I will just roll him out of bed and into the car. He sleeps most of the time in dialysis anyway. Then we will go out and visit Danny and AnnMarie. It should be a good day after that. We should be home by Thursday night some time.

I hope I will have some pictures of some of our friends to put on the blog. We plan to take some of the time that we will have waiting for Will and visit our buddies in the hospital. Please pray for Will's tests and his procedure. We hope that maybe we can start visiting about Will's kidney transplant. That we really need prayers for also.

We will let you know how his time in SLC goes as soon as we get home. If anything goes on before that, we will let you all know.

Hope that all of you are planning a great summer vacation. Our vacation is going to be spent at home (remember it's been a long time since we have had time to just "be" and we live in the most wonderful valley in the world. We will have fun.

GOD BLESS

Sunday evening May 24, 2009

Happy Memorial Day

Above and below: Here is Will visiting some good friends of ours who came home to visit their mother (my good friend, Kathy Henslee). Their family has really changed over the time we were gone to SLC. Look at all babies!

We were next door neighbors for over 20 years and the kids grew up together. This is one of the Henslee girls, and she and Will are holding her triplets. Melissa's nieces and nephews are in the picture too (but that's not even half of them). It was a fun visit and Will loved being around all the kids.

Below:
Hagerman holds a Fossil Days during the Memorial Weekend with a big parade (that Will missed because he had to go to dialysis). Then they have a big thing in the park with vendor booths and carnival rides and live music. We use to love going to this every year (yes, they have wonderful food like elephant ears and corn dogs) and Will didn't think he wanted to go. He really hasn't gone much out in the public except those few basketball games. But he went and because he has to stay out of the sun, the pictures are kind of dark, so sorry.

Below:
Will found a nice shaded booth and sat awhile to visit with friends. Above is Butch whose daughter had a heart/lung transplant years ago and was friends with Will. Sadly to say she isn't with us any longer but she made a great impression on Will. Her perseverance and her wonderful outlook on life really changed Will's attitude about transplants.

Below:
Here is Will with one of his favorite people, Marge Sligar. Marge hadn't seen Will in almost two years. She use to own a big swimming pool in the Hagerman Valley and opened it up to Will on the off hours so he could swim when he was a kid. That helped him so much. She also helped run CF swim-a-thons to help raise money to find a cure. Her heart is bigger than all of Idaho and she really loves Will. She use to sneak into his hospital room at night on her way home and give him licorice. I think the nurses knew, they just looked the other way. The world needs more people like her, for sure. We love her and her family so much.

As you can see, Will has had a very busy weekend with everyone home for the holiday. He got to see a few old friends that he hasn't seen in quite a while. We didn't get out in the boat (maybe tomorrow) because everyone was on the river this weekend. He likes to drive the boat so we shouldn't have too many boats out there, right???

My dad turned 79 this week and they were throwing him a big party in Elko. We wanted to go but we couldn't get into dialysis any earlier because it was booked up. But Dad, if you are reading this, we really tried and I know you had a great time. Happy, happy birthday and I'm glad I get to be your daughter. We will celebrate when you get back to Boise. I love you

One of Will's closest cousins, Christi, had her birthday the day before my dad's. We didn't get to talk to her on her birthday but she knows that we thought about her all through the day. She's also getting married this summer.

I have one more week of school (Angel has two more weeks lol). Then "here comes summer" and fishing, fishing, fishing (with a little housecleaning in there somewhere). I hope all of you are getting ready for fun in the sun. Next week, on the third, we will be heading back down to SLC for Will's clinics. Hopefully we will get good reports all around. Please pray for that, thanks.

I might blog tomorrow night if we get more company. I know everyone likes pictures on here.

I pray for you all and hope God gives you all the blessings you need.

Sunday May 17, 2009

ANOTHER PARTY AT OUR HOUSE

(Pictures below)

This was a party for Will's cousin Shannon, his Uncle Jack and Will who all have birthdays a few weeks from each other. So they celebrate together. It was an unbelievable beautiful day, the sun was out and there was hardly any wind. We had lots of people with lots of gooooood food.

Will's week was pretty much the same. He went to dialysis and had to evaluate his dry weight again. We think he might be losing weight but it might be muscle mass building. It is so hard to figure out. I know his blood sugar is more stable and he's needing less insulin.

Because of the change in weight, I don't think the dialysis people are taking enough off so Will is having a little more trouble breathing. This should be fixed this week we hope. But we did miss a good friend's wedding on Saturday. Will was really looking forward to going, but after dialysis he wasn't up to it at all. Andy, if you are reading this, we really did want to come.

I haven't had much time this week to blog and I apologize. This week was crazy with a capital C in school. We just have eight days left and we had our field trip on Thursday which I loved. Then we have so many little things happening. Life will be busy for the next two weeks so if I don't get on to blog like normal I will after school gets out. The last day is the 28th. It seems hard to believe that the school year is almost out.

Above and below: Uncle Jack, Will and Shannon

Happy Birthday

Above: Here's little Carson showing off for "Uncle Will" and Aaron. Isn't he cute?
Candace was down for the weekend and we had a lot of fun with her. Angel got some cute pictures and I will get them up on the blog so you can see how big she is getting. She went out fishing on our boat with her daddy and she loved it.

Above: Here's Will with his other Uncle (Tom's other brother, Bill) and Shannon. I think Tom is cleaning off the table. He's such a good helper.

GOD BLESS

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2009

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

We had a great day today!

We started the day by going to church and I love my church. Then we came home and went over to Kim and Richard White's house (across the field) to have lunch. Will(and the rest of us) sat outside on their new and improved patio (I forgot my pictures,sorry) and ate a hot dog. Then we jumped on the boat and went fishing!!! The weather was perfect and hardly any wind-amazing for Idaho. It was everything I thought it would be and then some. Look at this perfect day.

ABOVE: Will is sitting at the back of the boat just waiting for the "big one" to bite (it never did).
Kim is back there helping Will fish. After almost hooking him in the eye (yes, his good one) she was fired. But we sure laughed. Aaron is fishing on the other side of the boat. He was the only one, of six who fished, who caught any fish (4).

ABOVE: Angel and fishing just don't get along. So she brings a book. My mom even got a fishing license but she didn't get a worm wet, maybe next time.

Above: Here is my mom's dog, Tinker. She has a yellow doggie life preserver on. So Will put his life preserver on so Tinker wouldn't feel so embarrassed.

ABOVE: Will is taking a break from fishing and is enjoying a rice krispie treat. He's got it rough, doesn't he? Hayley and Riley White are fishing in the front of the boat. I guess Will didn't share his treats with them.

ABOVE: Aaron is bragging to Will about the "big" one he just caught.

ABOVE: On the way back to the dock, the sun went down and it got cold, even for Will. Poor Will, he had to squeeze in between those two.


This is one of my favorite quotes about mothers:

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

For all you mothers out there-you know what I'm talking about.

MOTHER'S DAY 2009, WILL GO DOWN IN MY HISTORY AS ONE OF THE BEST!
I hope your day was as great as mine and I thank God that I was able to have my mom and my two kids with me.

GOD BLESS