Hello, not much to say today, everything is mostly ok, only a little bit of sickness, Brad is off the painkillers now that the tumour is shrinking down rapidly.

He's also trying to eat a bit more today and is a little happier, so he's up for visitors if anyone is available to pop by.

Even his cat knows that something is up, she is normally attached to him like a limpet but she hasn't really been near him (probably something to do with the green cloud eminating from his ass yesterday)!!!! She came up to his room this morning, had a smell around and walked out again.

Lots of love Mikki, Brad and rest of the gang.

This is Brad's room at the hospital, sleeping as usual.
This is Brads PICC line, this is used to introduce all drugs and take blood tests etc instead of loads of injections etc. 

Hello everyone, well our first night home was very comfortable, no sickness and plenty of rest.

Today he has been ok, been eating and drinking slowly, only little bit of sickness, he's taking all of his tablets regularly, and i'm keeping a very close eye on his temperature. He's had a nice soak in the bath too and has settled back into home ok.

He's trying food and drink that he would normally have and finding that it tastes wrong or different to what it used to, this is a side effect of the chemo drugs, with any luck, miracles will happen and he may even start to eat vegetables!!!! His favourite beans and cheese on toast was turned down earlier with a very sour-puss face, he said the beans tasted weird!! I think baked beans are weird anyway!!

If anyone is thinking of popping round to see Brad then you will be more than welcome, but please ONLY COME IF YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO BUGS OR GERMS AND HAVE HAD NO CONTACT WITH ANY IN THE LAST WEEK, (expect to be disinfected and de-loused at the front door), probably best too to come round before the weekend, cos that's when Brads white blood count will be at it's lowest and he'll have no infection fighting cells!!

Enough of the lecture, speak to you again soon.
Lots of love Mikki, Brad and Family

Good morning everyone, we both had a good nights sleep last night, no sickness and no real problems, just one little glich - Brad had an allergic reaction to one of the anti-sickness drugs they tried (Shelly you were right about the Metoclopramide-Maxillon,it's crap).

We are waiting to see the docs today, and hopefully everything crossed we can come home for a break, as much as we love it here!!!!!

Brad's got his appetite back again, which is always a sign that everything is ok.

But saved the best news till last CLIFFORD is definately a CLIFFOR.........''IT HAD SHRUNK ALREADY'', it feels really different and smaller - good news eh.

Bye for now and hopefully see you all at home.
Mikki and Brad

Good morning everyone, early morning update for you.
What a night, poor Brad, i think the devil himself has been to visit during the night, he's had sickness all through the night, right from the very bottom of hell itself, his poor tummy is totally empty, but it is still trying to get something up, approx every 20-30 minutes he's been sick.
They have given him extra anti-sickness through the i.v., steroid injections, and now they are going to set up a continuous pump with another drug to try and stop it.

Once he is comfortable and sleeping again, i'll also try to get some sleep with him so i'm posting this now so you're all aware in case i don't contact you today.
It looks like we won't be coming home either while this sickness is being controlled otherwise he'll be straight from here, home, then into Hinchingbrooke if it were to continue, and i'd rather him be here where they know him.

Bye for now, sorry it wasn't a nice post, no doubt it won't be the last on this journey of Brad's.
Mikki XXXXXX......... :-(

Good Morning, day 2 was ok, only a little bit of sickness during the night around 1am, they immediately gave him some more anti sickness and then back to sleep for everyone. Today he is very sleepy, but i'm sure he'll wake up and be ok later because the rugby is on this afternoon. I'm taking Rhiannon to London Zoo for the afternoon,i've missed her lots this week, the boys can stay here and shout at the telly !!!!

Thanks for your posts
Mikki and Brad

Morning everyone, well....round one didn't go to badly, finally finished running everything through around 9 last night. Only had 2 goes at chucking up his tummy contents and believe me Brad doesn't give away food that easily!!!
Hopefully today will be a much smoother ride, they have tried various anti-sickness drugs and they've got plenty more to try till they find the right combination for Brad.
They'll do all four of the chemo drugs again today and then again tomorrow, then flush his system through on sunday, so with all fingers and toes crossed we should be out of here on monday.

Bye for now Mikki, Brad, Rich, and all the lovely nurses.

Good morning everyone, early start today, chemo is starting today, had some early blood tests taken this morning, they were meant to be done last night but Brad's PICC was blocked and they needed to run some Hepsil through to clear it overnight.

This session will run over 4 days with a combinationof 4 different drugs plus some others for anti sickness and organ protection etc. We'll let you know over the next few days how he fares, but everyone reacts differently so there's no knowing what effect it will have on our Brad, as long as it has the desired effect and starts to kill Clifford.

Blog again soon - lots of loveXXXXXXX

Hi there, quick update, donation made (super quick we might add !!!!)
Went down to theatre at about 1o'c then back by 2.30, biopsy all done, finally had something to eat too, been starved again since this morning. We have taken some pics while in here and once we get home we'll post them onto here for all to see.
Byeeee for now
Mikki, Brad and Rich.

Hi,Brad here, i've had my PICC line inserted today, all 46cm of it into a main vein near my heart. I should be going this afternoon to make my first 'donation'!!!
I normaly give a fiver but this time it will be a full load.
Thanks for all your support and messages. Hospital food still crap so mum is supplying us with grub at the mo.

Good morning everyone, we are settled back into our penthouse suite on the 12th floor!!!! Got here around 6.45 this morning after leaving at 5 - big yawns all the way.

We'll keep you all posted during the week with progress, see you all soon.
Michaela and Brad XXXXXX

Hello everyone, we are home - yeeaahhh!!!
Docs decided to let us come home with the anti biotics as the swelling and redness in Brad's ankle had gone down when he woke up. We will be going back on monday morning to settle back in, then his PICC line is being inserted on tuesday, then Bone Marrow Biopsy on wednesday, Chemo will start on thursday morning and run through the weekend.
Hospital is ok, very posh and has everything he needs in a little private room of his own, lovely staff and other kids around to fool around with.
Post again soon or someone else will if i can't access computer from hosp.
Byeeeee Michaela and Brad and Family.

friday 16th nov 06

hi everyone,
brad wont be coming home as we,d hoped,
turns out the swelling and redness is a small infection,
so they are putting him on i.v. drip anti biotics to shake it off
i,ll update again once i know more.

fri 17th nov 06

little update for everyone,

brad has had a chest x-ray and another on his leg this morning,
didnt need another ct scan as they we not aware he had 1 at stanmore recently.
just spoke to michaela and they are waiting to see an someone from ortho to have a look at his xray, as his leg is rather swollen and quite red, if they are happy he should be home tonight.
fingers crossed.

16TH NOV 06

quick update for you guys, as you all know we took brad to uch this morning for the start of his journey, he has a nice room with tv sofa bed for sleep overs on the 12th floor and everything you,d expect in a brand new hosp, so far today he,s had heart, and kidney function test,s to make sure he,s upto the chemo, was due to have a ct scan but they are doing that tommorrow now also had a few vials of blood taken for more tests!! hoping to have him home for the weekend,but not sure yet.
back in next week again ,also will be reviewing his pain relief.
probably back monday for his picc line to be fitted,then tues/weds under a general for a bone marrow biopsy, then looking at starting chemo wed eve or thurs morning,
oh almost forgot somewhere before the chemo, brad is having to make a small deposit,kids in the fridge(kif) thats about it for now. as michaela is at the hosp with brad i will try to keep this updated as best as i can, any news i get i will post asap, thanks for the support for brad and his mum its much appreciated..

Quick update, Brad is going into UCH tomo morning to begin his tests and will be staying until first session of chemo is finished.
I'll try and get someone to update this blog to let you know how he is.
Michaela

Hello everyone, at last the news we've been waiting for even if it's not the best news.

Brad has been diagnosed with a EWINGS SARCOMA, this is a primary bone cancer that is localised to the tibia. Apparently it is a cancer that affects youngsters mostly between the ages of 10 - 20 yrs old, and more boys than girls and basically it is all about a group of bone cells usually within the long bones of the body, that decide to start to misbehave abnormally (issue them with an ASBO!!!!).

Brad will spend approx 7-10 days in hospital having tests to check out all of his other internal organs and ensure that he is strong enough to commence the chemo, he will then have to store some sperm samples (no sniggering!!!), for future generations of rugby players,

Chemo can then begin. This will probably be 4-6 sessions each lasting 3 weeks, then surgery of whatever type they deem suitable at the time, then up to 8 chemo sessions to finish, all this should take roughly a year.

Keep up the support, he does read the posts and it does cheer him up. Thanks again everyone for the posts XXXXXXXXXX Michaela and Brad and family.

Hi, i'm trying for the 2nd time to post this message, so if all of a sudden the same thing appears twice, i'm sorry, not very good at this am i???
Here goes...............spoke to hospital today, they have had their meeting which they do every friday to review cases, they are expecting all pathology to be back on monday, so have asked us to come down on Tuesday morning to clinic, to speak to consultant and get the results........here we go eh. XXXXXXX

Hi, Mum here......spoke to hospital today, they have had their meeting which they do every friday to review cases, they are expecting all pathology to be back on monday, so have asked us to come down on Tuesday morning to clinic, to speak to consultant and get the results........here we go eh. XXXXXXX

I thought i'd post some pics on here, it's only took me 3 days to work out how to do it.....doh.
This is Brad in France in the summer, Rhiannon - Brads annoying little sis and Brad in his fav rugby shirt.

Hello, mum here, still no news, it's been 8 days since the Biopsies were taken so shouldn't be much longer, as soon as i hear i'll let you all know. Thanks everyone for the posts by the way, good to hear from you all XXXXXX

Hi there, I'm Bradley's mum, we are hoping to use these postings to keep family and friends up to date on what is going on with Brad's tumour (who he has affectionately names Clifford), he says that it deserves a name as it is someone he is having to live with for the time being.
I'll try and be brief and introduce ourselves and our situation - bear with me if I start to waffle!!
Basically 18 mths ago Brad was hit by a cricket ball which fractured his tibia, this was however not spotted in casualty at the time, in the time between then and now he has rested his leg on occasion when it hurt, but otherwise has been strapping his leg up and played two seasons for our local rugby team. Then 3 weeks ago his leg was quite swollen, more than usual so I insisted that xray did another film to have a look again, hey presto they could see the healed fracture and also found what looked like a mass causing the swelling, at the time they said possible infection!!!
They organised for an MRI scan the following week, it was then that I was taken in to see then scanning screen and had this what we now know is an aggressive tumour growing from his ankle to approx half way up his tibia. They followed this with a CT scan to check his chest, good news - all clear.
We were then referred to a fabulous hospital the Royal National Orthopaedic in Stanmore in Middlesex, he had Bone Biopsies taken, Nuclear Bone Scan and Bone Measurements taken.
We are now in limbo waiting for the biopsy results to come back, it's so frustrating, Brad's in quite a bit of pain some days and has been given Morphine to take to enable him to at least sleep a little at night. We are waiting to find out exactly what type of tumour this is - possibilities are a Periosteal Osteosarcoma or Ewings Sarcoma.
I will keep everyone informed of what we find out and what they are planning to do, hopefully if i can prise Bradley's fingers away from his new P.S.P. you may even be privilaged to have a posting from the man himself.
Bye for now - Michaela and Brad.