Heart of Beckett

UPDATE (1/24/13)

– a lil drama…but happy ending-

Beckett had a good night (again), in which we are clearly so thankful for! However, we have been anxious about a few things:

1) The results of another ‘Echo’ done yesterday on his chest.

2) And, after this morning’s CBC (Complete Blood Count), Beckett’s Platelet Count dropped from 263 to 9….9! That’s not good.

Sooo….the results of the ‘Echo’ were good! For some reason I was really nervous about that one, but everything in his chest looks ‘good’.

Secondly, the Platelet ‘Issue’: In a nutshell, they think it was a fluke. You obviously cannot be too careful about these kind of things, but we were kind of waiting anxiously for the results. They ended up giving him more Platelets to be safe, but they think he’s lookin’ quite good.

In fact, he’s looking soooo good, thaaaaaaat: they just told us that they may be taking Beckett to the NICU tomorrow. What?!?! That’s huge! Basically, Beckett is nearly considered ‘Stable’ (with a capital ‘S’) from a Cardiac Standpoint. This is crazy, and so exciting! We truly are taking great strides in the right direction.

I’d like to conclude this update with some scripture from Psalm 103:1-2 –

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.

UPDATE (1/23/13) -goodnight-

What a great day, and a great ‘win’ (did y’all see our pic from this morning?)! We are only a few hours away from our ’12 hour window’ (which is just a general timeframe), and Beckett is rocking it. In fact, the nasal cannula has continually fallen out of his nose the past few hours and he’s still holding strong stats on his own. Similar to when he was taken off Ecmo, I’m nervous to go to sleep tonight without his ventilator….but I really do think he’ll be just fine. This has yet been another great milestone for lil Beckett…and I am genuinely so thrilled and proud of his progress! Go Beckett!!

[Please keep praying for Henry (our new friend’s son) who is battling Leukemia. They have received word that all traces of his Leukemia are gone(!), but they are now fighting an allergic reaction and he is still struggling to successfully Extubate. Great news about the Leukemia – Frustrating/Discouraging news about the other issues. Thanks.] — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.

UPDATE (1/22/13) -goodnight-

Beckett’s had another good day (so far). We had more friends and family come visit again, and a relaxing afternoon/evening of just holding him…even Grandma got a chance this time.

The current buzz around here is that the Extubation may commence ‘early morning’ tomorrow morning. …..wow…..what an exciting next step! We have been warned that this may not be successful the first time (that just happens). Which reminds me: Please pray for some friends of ours we’ve met here whose son has Leukemia. They have certainly had there ups and downs (like us), and have attempted to Extubate their son (Henry) 3 times (3rd time today), and he just isn’t ready yet. Though they still have options, this can be very disheartening. Please keep them in mind and in your prayers as they work through this as a family. They have been very supportive of us during our journey, and we certainly would like to reciprocate!

(lastly, stay tuned as we are putting together a lil website for Beckett…for all those who’d like to follow outside of Facebook) — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.

UPDATE (1/22/13)

I’ll begin by saying that we had another good night. We were presented with news this morning that they may attempt to Extubate Beckett sometime today, however, after ’rounds’, the doctor decided to just really wean him down to bare-bones on his ventilator and then try to Extubate him tomorrow. All the nurses seem very excited about this for us, and though we too are excited, this is yet another ‘crutch’ for Beckett that we are nervous to take away. However, taking into consideration our hesitation, we really are very excited to see our son’s entire face once again without all the tape and tubes.

This is the update thus far….it’s been a nice uneventful, slow-progress type of day.

Matthew 11:28-29 — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.

UPDATE (1/21/13) -goodnight-

It’s been another great day. After ’rounds’, one of Beckett’s doctors said, ‘It’s time to start power-weaning!’. Our first thoughts were something like, ‘ummm, ok….here we go again’. They turned down some of his ventilator settings quite a lot this morning, and he handled it like a champ……sooo, they turned him down some more. The original intent was to have him Extubated by Friday (as I mentioned in my earlier post), but they are now saying possibly tomorrow or Wednesday! With that being said, we have learned our lesson that Beckett will go at his pace and is not shy to remind us who is in control (he’s got quite the attitude….I think he gets that from his mom ;-)). Soooo, as I said, another great day! We even had a friend visit from Illinois, along with constant messages, posts, and words of encouragement from so many of you who’ve been reading these updates. We even heard that the infamous Ivanhoes MIGHT have a Blue Ribbon fastened out front of their store…we’re hoping for free Ice Cream for life for lil Beckett. j/k (I’m trying to intentionally cut the proverbial tension developed over the past few weeks by lightening the tone a lil with this update) We are very pleased, yet each beep in his room, whether ‘serious’ or not, still quickly raises our brows. It’s quite funny to watch the nurses ‘fight’ to be put with Beckett for their shift….he’s already stealing all the ladies’ hearts.

And as always, thank you all for all the prayers and support! This journey would have been horribly lonely and discouraging without each of you.

I’d like to attempt to quickly do a brief ‘shout-out’ of thanks: our ‘Detroit’ Friends and Family (Evident, Vox, Apple, Bridgeway, DMC, UDM, etc..), Gaylord, Archbold, EMC/FEC, Chicago, Wheaton College, Bethel College, The Castle, Taylor University, Upland, Miracle Camp, LCS, St Joe’s, even all those we’ve actually never met all across the country and even around the globe, and certainly our close family and friends (…and all who I’m missing, in which I’m so sorry). Thanks to you all!! Lets keep this progress going….Go Beckett! — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.

UPDATE (1/21/13)

Can’t believe it, but our son is 24 days old already, and, according to the Doctor, he’s looking the best he’s looked yet! We had a very uneventful weekend (PTL), other than the amazing opportunity to hold Beckett once again on both Saturday and Sunday (please see the pics I posted…it was so great!). The plan for the week is to slowly wean off different medications, but the big goal is to possibly have Beckett extubated by the end of this week (aka: pull the tube out of his mouth that’s helping him breath). These ‘weanings’ may be challenging to observe, but a much more welcomed challenge than situations where his life is in the balance.

The support has been astounding, you all have been so great! We’ve had multiple family and friends visit us here at the hospital, some financial support, and even our small town of Upland is tying Blue Ribbons out in front of their homes in support of Beckett and his precious life! We are so humbled and blessed to have the family, friends and networks during this time of need…and are so very thankful!

Lastly (and I know many of you don’t necessarily share the same ‘religious’ beliefs I have…but), it has truly been undeniable that there has been a higher power at work in my son’s life. The Doctors and Nurses have even mentioned that they can’t necessarily share everything with us quite yet, but Beckett has truly been a miracle baby and has touched many lives even here in the hospital. I say, ‘To God be the Glory!’

Revelation 4:11

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.

UPDATE (1/19/13) -goodnight-

What a great day!

Beckett has held an ‘acceptable’ heart rate nearly all day today. The surgeon did put in another drainage tube this afternoon which drained over 100ml of fluid (which is a ton for a baby his size). He’s also had multiple bowel movements (sorry if that’s gross), which is great news! He’s probably lost a lot of weight today, but it’s all very good and very encouraging. Going forward, however, he does need to start building up his strength while regaining healthy baby weight.

Now, on to the finale: Did you all see the picture(s) of Leah and I holding him?!? Oh man, how awesome was that? One of the Doctors came in later this evening an said, ‘He needs to be held….It’s time to hold him!’ …and they really didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer (as if we actually said ‘no’). It was so cool. We are very pleased with Beckett’s progress, yet understandably timid to quickly forget these challenging past few weeks.

Brighter days are ahead, and we press on to win the prize (Philippians 3:14) and bring glory to our God through the testimony of our son. Grateful for all our many blessings! — with Leah ‘Whiteley’ Rupp at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.