Update 2/16/09

Whew....where to begin. Sometimes our lives feel like we are running in circles, never seeming to get out of the same old cycle of home, hospital, and home again. I know we'll get there...just one day at a time I guess.

If you couldn't read between the lines, Beck is back in the hospital. After being home for only 3 1/2 days, his fevers were getting out of control and he added vomiting to the mix (guess he just felt like we didn't have enough excitement to deal with). We headed the ER Sunday afternoon, to which Beckham greeted the waiting room by filling it with vomit. Luckily, everyone is VERY familiar with him and immediately ushered us back to a room. From there, Beck had a load of blood tests, an x-ray, and then was admitted. It was a nice thing that I was 100% positive that he would be admitted and packed ahead of time.

After getting settled in our room and debriefing the residents, I made it clear that EVERYTHING needed to be ruled out as a factor for Beck's illness - mainly brain and heart. They agreed and then went on to tell me that in the x-ray done earlier that night, his heart was larger than the x-ray done the week before. Naturally this scared me to death and I freaked out! They took us down for a CT scan soon after and did a EKG of his heart. The CT of his brain came back normal. Can you believe that? Normal! This means that his clot and bleed can no longer be seen in his brain. A big sigh of relief was made that it was not his brain, although this still left the heart to think and worry about. His EKG came back irregular...but they expected irregularity with a transplanted heart, and went on to order and ECHO for the next day. On top of everything else, Beckham at that time had started to have numerous, stinky, dirty diapers in a row. Think about it...multiple dirty diapers and a fresh circumcision equals a bad combination and lots of pain. Ouch, ouch, ouch! All I can say is that not much sleep was had here last night.

A cardiology visit and an ECHO the next day showed a normal heart (whew) and no signs of rejection (whew again). We gave another big sigh of relief, but still had no idea what was wrong with him until the results of his stool sample came back positive for Rotavirus. If you are unfamiliar with this, it is a virus that causes fever, diarrhea, and vomiting, and can last 3-9 days. Most children are vaccinated against this virus, but Beckham cannot have it because it is a live vaccine. All we can do now is wait it out until it has ran it's course and Beckham will probably have to stay in the hospital while it does. He refuses to eat, and the little bit he drinks he vomits. He is on IV fluids and we are doing our best to keep him comfortable. Right now all he wants is to be held and cuddled 24/7 and we are doing our best to make this possible.

Please keep our little guy in your prayers, that this virus will not attack his body the way the Hand, Food, and Mouth virsus did. Thanks for all the continual support!

-Beckham & Co.