Update (8/6/07)

To say today has been a roller coaster does not even begin to describe the whirlwind that we have been through, but all things aside one very important event took place. Beckham's name is now on the national waiting list for organ transplant.

While I won't go into the various details, it suffice to say that due to a few insurance issues we were almost shipped to St. Louis, MO today and now we should be able to stay here in Iowa City. I have not seen the Micheal Moore documentary "Sicko" in which he discusses the problems with America's health care system, but I am sure our case today would qualify for some screen time. Thanks to our doctors and a social worker going to bat for us we should be able to stay. After that got sorted out (the ordeal began early this morning and lasted until about 5pm) we were able to sit down with the pediatric cardiologists and really begin to discuss Baby Beck's future.

At 3:oopm the various disciplines involved with Beckham's care had a meeting to discuss the best course of care to help him out. They find new problems with his heart daily and it is beginning to cause problems with his other organs too. Surgery is an option, but extremely risky so that makes transplantation the best method of treatment at this time. So now we have to 'hurry up and wait' for a heart to come. The sooner his heart comes the better, but if we wait too long methods such as surgery will become necessary to buy time until a heart replacement becomes available.

We had a long sit down also with Dr. Edens, Beckham's transplant cardiologist. He went through each stage of transplantation with us and what we can expect as this situation progresses. They are as follows:

1) Initial visit/evaluation
2) Listing for transplant
3) Waiting for donor heart
4) The heart transplant surgery
5) Post-Transplant Recovery
6) Living with a transplanted heart

We are kind of doing number 2 and 3 at the same time. He has been listed and we are waiting for a new heart, but not all the details of the listing have been finished. Number 2 should be wrapped up by tomorrow and then we just pray long (hopefully not too long) and hard for 3 too wrap up too.

While the algorithm that determines recipients is fairly complex we do know a few things that help us understand his chances. Most important he is number one on The University of Iowa's list and automatically becomes the recipient should a heart his size and blood type become available in the state of Iowa. After that there a various components that go into where he ranks on the list of hearts procured in other states. He also has A+ blood and (without going in to the logistics or physiology) that means that he has more hearts that will match his needs. What does work against him though is his age and size. There aren't a whole lot of hearts that small that become available, but it happens all the time and we have hope in his case too. Also in a sort of catch 22 situation he is able to accept hearts from donors up to about 7 months of age because his heart is so abnormally large that he has space there to accept a heart that would normally be too big for his little body (Normally his heart should be just larger than his little fists...it now reaches almost clear across his chest).

As for the care Beckham has received over the last few days we can't express our gratitude enough. The nurses at Mercy Medical Center were awesome. We can't remember the names of everybody that we would like to, but Steph, Becky, and Wendy were a few of a many that made our stay great. Thank you to everybody there that took part in his care.

Here at University of Iowa Hospital we have also been very impressed. The doctors and staff seem very confident in their abilities to care for our little boy. It is awesome to have a plan of action that could possibly save his young life. My dad and I were just saying tonight that if everything works out well here we will definitely become life long Hawkeye fans.

We also want to thank all of our friends and family that have given us or offered support. We (honestly) couldn't do it without you. We are grateful for every email and every call we receive...I'm just sorry we can't respond to them all.

While Beckham gets sicker every day it was great to know that there is a possible solution in the future...no doubt in part due to the efforts of all of your fasting and praying.

Love,
Nate, Kim, Gwen, and Beckham

I almost forgot...today did have one event that made at least a moment of time one of the best few minutes since this ordeal began. Gwen was able to see her baby brother for the very first time (I'll put the picture up top). This is obviously a confusing time for her, but she did spend few moments just quietly watching her brother (and if you know Gwen even a single second of sitting still is an anomaly...we owe my mom and brother a huge thanks for watching her the last few days) and she even gave him a kiss. Having some time with Gwen helps us get through each day more than anything else ever could.