Heart of Beckett

UPDATE (8/10/13)

Beckett is the cutest baby ever. My goodness. I know parents can tend to embody skewed perspectives about their own kid’s “cuteness” (and rightfully so)….but geesh, Beckett is so darn cute! He just flashes the biggest smiles ever, and as of late, he officially responds amazingly well to the age-old game of “peek-a-boo”. It’s great!

So, Leah left this morning for work in Fort Wayne. She left me a list of questions to go over with the Cardiology team during rounds, to which I did. However, amongst it all, I must have missed some fairly pertinent news. They went down on his methadone again today. “Deep Breath.” Here’s the thing, Riley, St. V’s, even Lutheran in Fort Wayne are the reasons we still have our son….but at times it is so exhausting to repeat ourselves over-n-over. You see, when Beckett’s methadone is slightly touched (his dosage, that is), he will respond. Furthermore, he typically has a delayed response. So, it will then be assessed that he is handling a wean “ok”, when in reality, the brunt of it is just about to hit. Coincidently (and unfortunately), the decision will then be made that since he’s handling the last wean so well, we can go down on his dose again. At this point, if this is not caught or dealt with appropriately, the ramifications are only compounded. Beckett will begin to “downward spiral” out-of-control with heavy withdrawal symptoms. Sooo, long story short, I had “a talk” with the on-call cardiologist this evening and the decision has been made to go back up on his dose, sit tight..ready with some PRN doses of Ativan, and wait another day or two before we try anything with his methadone again. Moreover, when he displayed withdrawal systems, it affects his respiratory, heart rate, and even reflux. Well, the two major issues we are (and should be) dealing with are his formula and oxygen settings. And when we play with methadone doses, we just “muddy the water” on if he’s handling a wean on his oxygen support adequately, or is he in mild respiratory distress from withdrawal systems. I hope that makes sense. But either way, I will be discussing this with the Cardiologist tomorrow morning, and I’m confident we will eventually see eye-to-eye on this issue.

Other than that, I restate my first paragraph that Beckett is so cute! If he’s not sweating, throwing up, or irritable (all symptoms of withdrawal…to name a few), he’ll just be laughing, giggling and playing like a champ!

Lastly, please pray for Leah. She is working tonight (once again), and just informed me that she just had a very difficult situation with a baby and that is always very difficult to handle. I only know it was a baby and nothing more cause of course she can’t and won’t say more. My wife is an exceptionally strong woman (in every sense of the word), but working with children or babies in her field might be best explained as her “achilles tendon”, if you know what I mean. Give her someone burnt from head-to-toe, gunshot wounds, or whatever other gnarly thing you can think of…..but not kids. And clearly, our current situation seems to compound the intensity of it all what seems 100 fold. So anyways, please pray for her, please continue to pray for Beckett, and please pray for our continual gratitude and patience.

You guys are the best!!

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

#GoBeckett
#ODAAT

— with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health.