Wednesday, April 30, 2008
C.A.R.E. 5k & 10k
Hey all of you Iowans (and outside Iowa is you are interested) please come to the first annual C.A.R.E. (Compassion for Awareness, Remembrance, and Education) 5k & 10k in Waukee, Iowa on Saturday, May 10th. This race is to spread awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation and to give thanks to the donor families for their unselfish gift of life to the donor recipients. What a great cause to run for! The race is sponsored by the My Angel Foundation. Register to run here. You can walk or run in the race or even push your kids (in a stroller of course). It begins @ 8:00 AM. We hope to see you all there.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Update 4/28/08
All ready for warm weather (if it ever comes!)We visited the GI doctor today and I think that we might finally have some options (hopefully). The GI doctor actually was very impressed with Beck's size even though he has lost some weight. His exact words were "he's a chunk." Beckham is only in the 25% of weight for his age but he has such a big head and such huge cheeks that people think he is super chunky. Well, I guess that he is chunky next to our little Gwen.
We actually were really excited this weekend and full of hope because Beckham went 3 days without vomiting but then Sunday he got really mad during med time and vomited. Maybe I should look at the 3 days as progress. The GI doctor said that this is a "learned behavior" issue (which we already figured) and that he thinks the G-tube would be a bad idea because with the tube we would be putting the meds directly into his stomach and if he gets ticked off he can still vomit all of his meds. He does not rule out a G-tube, but wants it to be a "last option" resort. His suggestions were to first- add extra calories to his food so that he can re-gain the weight he lost and second - we are changing one of his meds (Prilosec) to a powder form so that we can mix it with his food. He hates the Prilosec and a lot of the time that is the med that sets him off. The doctors third suggestion was that we have a Speech Pathologist come in and work with Beckham to help him not react to his meds and anger with vomiting. We'll see if any of these work.
Beck was playing on the floor the other night and suddenly stopped. I went to check on why and this is what I found. SO CUTE!!
We have a pretty busy week with doctor appointments, speaking events for Iowa Donor and lots of other stuff. I will report on the happenings soon. Enjoy your week.
-Kim, Nate, Gwenyth & Beck
-Kim, Nate, Gwenyth & Beck
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Update 4/22/08
Beck's culture for his ear infection came back yesterday and showed that it is a Staff Infection. Yucky for our little guy, but at least it is not another crazy bacteria infection that his doctors have never heard about. His meds seem to be helping a lot (when we can get them down him) and the creams also seem to help. Beckham's ears ooze not only on the inside but behind his ears and besides the oozing they crack and bleed. We have been given a couple of creams for these issues and I think that we have finally found the one that works.
On to the vomiting issue. Nate and I are at a complete loss on what to do about this. Beckham now not only vomits when we are giving him his meds but whenever he gets mad as well. His vomiting started happening a little over a month ago and at first it was once and week and it has now evolved to almost every day and sometimes twice a day. Because of the large amounts that he is vomiting his weight has gone down and now he now has to have weight checks every two weeks. His weight loss is not the issue that most concerns the doctors, but the fact that he is vomiting his meds. He has to have his meds and there is no way around that. We have used every trick that his doctors and others have come up with. Some of them include flavoring his meds, a binki that you can give meds through, a bottle with a syringe that you can place meds in, spacing out his meds, and on and on and on. You can basically name it and we have tried it. Our baby is just to darn smart and he will not be tricked. This basically only leaves one option and that is a GI tube. We are meeting with the GI doctor soon to discuss this and see if he has any other options. I am truthfully okay with the GI tube because I know he has to have his meds and I know that the GI tube will be temporary. I just hate that Beck will have to get another scar on his little body. But the way I look at it is that if he has to have some sort of set back I think that this is the best option.
A great thing for us to report is that he had his cardiology appointment on Friday and everything looked great. His heart looks awesome and the doctors can't say enough about how amazing he looks. A neat thing that happened at Beck's appointment was that the cardiologist who first saw Beckham after he was born and diagnosed him, stopped by the room we were waiting in. When I first met this doctor he was very "professional" (that is probably the best term to use because he was kind but not overly friendly and I am sure that was because he was delivering very bad news to us and did not want to give us false hope) and this time when he was completely different. He came into the room, went over to Beckham and smiled and played with him. He was so sweet and in awe of how well he is doing. His last words to us before he walked out was "miracles do happen." I was so touched by this because he is right. Miracles happen. My little Beckham is a living miracle. I always wondered what makes a person want to become a doctor (more particularly a specialist in something) or a surgeon or so forth and take lives in their hands and see such sad things. Now I know that moments like when he saw Beckham make his job all worth it.
That's all for now. We will keep you posted on anything else. Have a great week!
-Kim, Nate, Gwen & Beck
On to the vomiting issue. Nate and I are at a complete loss on what to do about this. Beckham now not only vomits when we are giving him his meds but whenever he gets mad as well. His vomiting started happening a little over a month ago and at first it was once and week and it has now evolved to almost every day and sometimes twice a day. Because of the large amounts that he is vomiting his weight has gone down and now he now has to have weight checks every two weeks. His weight loss is not the issue that most concerns the doctors, but the fact that he is vomiting his meds. He has to have his meds and there is no way around that. We have used every trick that his doctors and others have come up with. Some of them include flavoring his meds, a binki that you can give meds through, a bottle with a syringe that you can place meds in, spacing out his meds, and on and on and on. You can basically name it and we have tried it. Our baby is just to darn smart and he will not be tricked. This basically only leaves one option and that is a GI tube. We are meeting with the GI doctor soon to discuss this and see if he has any other options. I am truthfully okay with the GI tube because I know he has to have his meds and I know that the GI tube will be temporary. I just hate that Beck will have to get another scar on his little body. But the way I look at it is that if he has to have some sort of set back I think that this is the best option.
A great thing for us to report is that he had his cardiology appointment on Friday and everything looked great. His heart looks awesome and the doctors can't say enough about how amazing he looks. A neat thing that happened at Beck's appointment was that the cardiologist who first saw Beckham after he was born and diagnosed him, stopped by the room we were waiting in. When I first met this doctor he was very "professional" (that is probably the best term to use because he was kind but not overly friendly and I am sure that was because he was delivering very bad news to us and did not want to give us false hope) and this time when he was completely different. He came into the room, went over to Beckham and smiled and played with him. He was so sweet and in awe of how well he is doing. His last words to us before he walked out was "miracles do happen." I was so touched by this because he is right. Miracles happen. My little Beckham is a living miracle. I always wondered what makes a person want to become a doctor (more particularly a specialist in something) or a surgeon or so forth and take lives in their hands and see such sad things. Now I know that moments like when he saw Beckham make his job all worth it.
That's all for now. We will keep you posted on anything else. Have a great week!
-Kim, Nate, Gwen & Beck
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Update 4/16/08
Sorry it has been so long between posts. Here is an update on the last couple of weeks.
Last week the "sick bug" visited the Scadlock household. Nate came home from Texas with a cold which soon passed on to Gwen, Beckham and myself. Gwen and I felt sick, but it was "a normal cold" sick. Little Beck's cold was of course much worse and I took him into the doctor (because of the severity of his cold and of course because I am paranoid!). The doctor said that Beck's cold was also a "normal cold", just intensified because of his immuno suppressed state (duh). He did not seem to get too much better and by Wednesday he had spiked a high fever and was clutching his ear. By the weekend I noticed that his ear was all red and was oozing (not as bad as the last time but I did not want to wait for it to get worse). I took him in to the doctor again today and they did another culture test and sent us home with more meds, drops and creams. We should get the results from the culture back in a couple of days.
On a happy note we had a couple of exciting events this weekend. On Saturday we all went to Costco as a family. Yahoo! This may seem insignificant to some, but to us this was a real treat to be able to go somewhere as a complete family. It seems like the only time we ever go anywhere all together is when we go to doctor appointments. I can't even express how fun that is (note my sarcasm). Also, on Sunday we went to church as a family. We sat in the back and we did not attend all the meetings but we did go at least. It was especially nice to sit next to Nate at church and have his help chasing Gwen. My next project will be to arrive on time for church. I have never had to get two children (and myself) ready for church at the same time and I completely underestimated how much time I needed.
Another exciting event is that Beckham is finally sitting up. Yeah! I worked really hard at this. I would sit Beck up and feed him cereal pieces one at a time. He would not notice that he was sitting up because he was concentrating on eating and soon enough he had the hang of it. Way to go little dude!
Beck sitting up all by himself!
One frustrating thing that happened this week is that Beck has developed a very bad habit. I mentioned in an earlier post how we are struggling with giving Beckham his meds....well that has evolved into a serious problem. Beckham now gets so angry when we give him his meds that he throws up. This does not mean spits up but actual projectile vomiting and large amounts of it. It is so frustrating because 1 - we just have to re-give all of his meds and 2 - he has a 3 hour period around meds where he cannot eat and when he throws up everything in his stomach it makes him hungry and there is nothing that I can do about it and 3 - he has been losing weight because of it. I am not quite sure what to do about it. It has happened almost every night this week and I am at a loss. I feel so bad for the little guy but there is nothing I can do about it because he has to have his meds because they are keeping his body from rejecting his new little heart. We have tried spacing his meds out so that we are not giving them all at once but that makes him just as mad more often. We have also tried every product imaginable to help trick Beck into taking his meds. I am scared that the next step will be a G-Tube (gastronomy tube). Truthfully, I can deal with that. I will to deal with anything to help my little Beckham. If anyone has any suggestions I would be thrilled to hear them!
I'll end on another happy note. Nate's finals are next week and I cannot tell you how excited he is for this semester to be done. I know that the kids will love having their daddy at home more often. Yeah for summer break, yeah for warm weather and yeah for no school until August.
Looks like Gwen is getting ready for finals as well!
Here is a fun little video of the kids. They are starting to play together and it is so cute. I caught this video on the tail end of them playing so it is not the best. Please ignore the fact that Gwen has no pants on. She takes them off the moment I put them on so I have given up. Please also ignore the fact that Beckham's outfit won't snap up all the way over his backside. We are at that awkward "in between" sizes phase. He is grown out of 6-9 month clothes but does not fit in 12 month clothes.
That's it for now. As always, thanks for all of your prayers, thoughts and kind words for our little family. I know that saying "thanks" is not enough to express how grateful we are but it is a start!
-Kim, Nate, Gwen & Beck
Last week the "sick bug" visited the Scadlock household. Nate came home from Texas with a cold which soon passed on to Gwen, Beckham and myself. Gwen and I felt sick, but it was "a normal cold" sick. Little Beck's cold was of course much worse and I took him into the doctor (because of the severity of his cold and of course because I am paranoid!). The doctor said that Beck's cold was also a "normal cold", just intensified because of his immuno suppressed state (duh). He did not seem to get too much better and by Wednesday he had spiked a high fever and was clutching his ear. By the weekend I noticed that his ear was all red and was oozing (not as bad as the last time but I did not want to wait for it to get worse). I took him in to the doctor again today and they did another culture test and sent us home with more meds, drops and creams. We should get the results from the culture back in a couple of days.
On a happy note we had a couple of exciting events this weekend. On Saturday we all went to Costco as a family. Yahoo! This may seem insignificant to some, but to us this was a real treat to be able to go somewhere as a complete family. It seems like the only time we ever go anywhere all together is when we go to doctor appointments. I can't even express how fun that is (note my sarcasm). Also, on Sunday we went to church as a family. We sat in the back and we did not attend all the meetings but we did go at least. It was especially nice to sit next to Nate at church and have his help chasing Gwen. My next project will be to arrive on time for church. I have never had to get two children (and myself) ready for church at the same time and I completely underestimated how much time I needed.
Another exciting event is that Beckham is finally sitting up. Yeah! I worked really hard at this. I would sit Beck up and feed him cereal pieces one at a time. He would not notice that he was sitting up because he was concentrating on eating and soon enough he had the hang of it. Way to go little dude!
Beck sitting up all by himself!One frustrating thing that happened this week is that Beck has developed a very bad habit. I mentioned in an earlier post how we are struggling with giving Beckham his meds....well that has evolved into a serious problem. Beckham now gets so angry when we give him his meds that he throws up. This does not mean spits up but actual projectile vomiting and large amounts of it. It is so frustrating because 1 - we just have to re-give all of his meds and 2 - he has a 3 hour period around meds where he cannot eat and when he throws up everything in his stomach it makes him hungry and there is nothing that I can do about it and 3 - he has been losing weight because of it. I am not quite sure what to do about it. It has happened almost every night this week and I am at a loss. I feel so bad for the little guy but there is nothing I can do about it because he has to have his meds because they are keeping his body from rejecting his new little heart. We have tried spacing his meds out so that we are not giving them all at once but that makes him just as mad more often. We have also tried every product imaginable to help trick Beck into taking his meds. I am scared that the next step will be a G-Tube (gastronomy tube). Truthfully, I can deal with that. I will to deal with anything to help my little Beckham. If anyone has any suggestions I would be thrilled to hear them!
I'll end on another happy note. Nate's finals are next week and I cannot tell you how excited he is for this semester to be done. I know that the kids will love having their daddy at home more often. Yeah for summer break, yeah for warm weather and yeah for no school until August.
Looks like Gwen is getting ready for finals as well!That's it for now. As always, thanks for all of your prayers, thoughts and kind words for our little family. I know that saying "thanks" is not enough to express how grateful we are but it is a start!
-Kim, Nate, Gwen & Beck
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Update 4/2/08
Happy Greetings from the Scadlock household. I would love to say "happy greetings from the Scadlock yard" or "happy greetings from the Scadlock's, enjoying the great outdoors," but no...Iowa is still cold and we are still stuck in doors. Iowa was even kind enough to kick off the month of April with snow. Lovely! It's alright because I am sure that the warm weather is just around the corner and soon I will be complaining about the heat.
Gwen enjoying the snow
Everything here is great. Last week Nate traveled to Dallas, TX to attend the National Nursing Association meetings. This was a great opportunity for him and his career. Last year for a school project Nate and a few others wrote a resolution about how they believe that it should be a law that all coaches are CPR certified. His school liked the resolution so much that they sent him and another to the Iowa Nursing Association meeting to present it to the board. The Iowa board liked it so much that they sent him and another girl to Dallas this past week. They completely paid for the trip and put Nate in this amazing hotel (rooms are from $750-$1,500 a night). Nate's resolution passed with a 99% rate. Way to go! During this time Nate was able to meet with many different people from top schools in the USA. This will help immensely when it comes to the time where we will make the decision on where to move for Nate's doctorate or masters program. Our top choices (right now) are: University of Utah, University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. Nate will start applying this summer so we will keep you posted. I am leaning toward the University of Iowa because I am little nervous to leave Beck's doctors.
Nate's hotel (not quite a Super 8!)
While Nate was gone his aunt Kally and his cousin Miquel came to stay with me. I know...I am a wimp when it comes to staying alone and I am so grateful that they were here to keep me company and entertain my children. Actually this was a great thing for me to have them here. Nate's aunt Kally just celebrated her 19th year of having her heart transplant. I know that I probably drover her crazy talking transplant...but I can't express how much it helped. I am still such a basket case when it comes to Beckham and it is great to know that I am supposed to feel that way. Kally is a great photographer and she took such cute pictures of my kiddos.
Other then that, we are all doing great. Beck is getting a tooth and is not the happiest camper but he is doing pretty well. We got his results back from his CMV test yesterday and he tested negative! Yeah! This does not mean that he will be able to come off the Valcyte, but it does mean that the med is doing its job. Beckham's ear also finally stopped oozing. Yeah again! Here is a couple fun facts: Beck weighs two pounds less than Gwen and they are now in the same diaper size. I love it!
Look at Beck's scar. You can barely see it!
That's all from us. Wishing you all warm weather very soon!
-Kim, Nate, Gwen & Beck
Gwen enjoying the snowEverything here is great. Last week Nate traveled to Dallas, TX to attend the National Nursing Association meetings. This was a great opportunity for him and his career. Last year for a school project Nate and a few others wrote a resolution about how they believe that it should be a law that all coaches are CPR certified. His school liked the resolution so much that they sent him and another to the Iowa Nursing Association meeting to present it to the board. The Iowa board liked it so much that they sent him and another girl to Dallas this past week. They completely paid for the trip and put Nate in this amazing hotel (rooms are from $750-$1,500 a night). Nate's resolution passed with a 99% rate. Way to go! During this time Nate was able to meet with many different people from top schools in the USA. This will help immensely when it comes to the time where we will make the decision on where to move for Nate's doctorate or masters program. Our top choices (right now) are: University of Utah, University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. Nate will start applying this summer so we will keep you posted. I am leaning toward the University of Iowa because I am little nervous to leave Beck's doctors.
Nate's hotel (not quite a Super 8!)While Nate was gone his aunt Kally and his cousin Miquel came to stay with me. I know...I am a wimp when it comes to staying alone and I am so grateful that they were here to keep me company and entertain my children. Actually this was a great thing for me to have them here. Nate's aunt Kally just celebrated her 19th year of having her heart transplant. I know that I probably drover her crazy talking transplant...but I can't express how much it helped. I am still such a basket case when it comes to Beckham and it is great to know that I am supposed to feel that way. Kally is a great photographer and she took such cute pictures of my kiddos.
Other then that, we are all doing great. Beck is getting a tooth and is not the happiest camper but he is doing pretty well. We got his results back from his CMV test yesterday and he tested negative! Yeah! This does not mean that he will be able to come off the Valcyte, but it does mean that the med is doing its job. Beckham's ear also finally stopped oozing. Yeah again! Here is a couple fun facts: Beck weighs two pounds less than Gwen and they are now in the same diaper size. I love it!
Look at Beck's scar. You can barely see it! -Kim, Nate, Gwen & Beck
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