ok, latest news, it's a bit vague and variable and all 'ifs' & 'buts' but thats the way things are at the moment.

IF Brad can keep his temperature down and stable until Sunday morning then they will let him come home for the New Year.
BUT if he doesn't then he'll be kept in until it is settled.

UCLH have been in touch and his blood levels are all back to normal so they will continue with round 3 of chemo on Thursday. He will have to have antibiotics for the pneumonia (NO Magners for Bradley!!!), but it's not as bad as they originally thought and can be treated as an outpatient, he has a little bit of a cough but otherwise feels fine and is trying to find ways of escaping the hospital asap.

Byeeeeeeeeee
Mum

Hello All, well just when you think things are looking up for Brad, someone kicks him in the teeth. When i got back to the hospital this morning, his temperature was back up again!! Still awaiting the results of the Skin Biopsy but we had the results back on the C.T. scan of his chest that was done last night and they have said that he has Bronchial Pneumonia.

They have started him straight away on Antibiotics and will be keeping him in for at least a week, but would prefer to keep hold of him for 4 weeks to treat him as an inpatient. We'll have to wait and see how this fares with UCLH though and his Chemo regime, obviously they don't want to hold up his chemo, but he needs to be fighting fit again before his body can take the next dose.

Rest assured though that at the moment he is feeling fine other than this little cough he has, and is being his usual cheeky self and demanding food be bought in from home instead of the horrid hospital food.

If anyone would like to call him at hospital they are welcome too, he would love to hear from you all.
Love Mum.

Hi Mum here, good news the temperature has started to head downwards, it seems that Brad has had one of possibly two things going on, either a fungal virus or shingles, they have taken a skin biopsy which they are looking at and will be treating accordingly, but he's looking and feeling heaps better so should be heading home in the next day or two.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL (if we don't post again before Sunday).
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Hi all, Hope you all had a nice Christmas Day, most of you will know by now that my Brad spent Christmas in Addenbrookes, on Saturday he had a temperature which hovered around the 38deg mark so we took him in for blood screening to see what was going on. He has an infection under his armpit and also inside his mouth which is extremely sore. His temp has been anywhere between 38deg and 40deg.

We took his Christmas presents up to him and spent most of Christmas day with him, thanks to Jodi and Jack for visiting and cheering him up, and of course to Penny and Rich for braving the roads in that horrible fog again, thanks Dave, our lovely neighbour for the lift yesterday too, much appreciated. Yesterday his Haemoglobin and platelets were a little low so they have given him a bag of platelets and a blood transfusion which started through the night to give him a helping hand, he should really start to feel a lot better once that gets into him.

Can't wait to get him home again and then we'll have a really lovely New Years Dinner when he's feeling better. Bri and I are going back to the hospital this afternoon, he wants milkshake and ice cream bought up cos it's all that he's able to eat at the moment. Nan Lin, Claire and Elaine are visiting this morning to give him a change instead of getting bored with talking to us!!!

Anyway, i'll update again soon, thanks to all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hello again everyone, we went along to the Saints last night for the Wasps match, Brad was feelin a little under the weather (enough said about the ****** weather!!!!), he enjoyed the game none the less even it was mighty damn freezin cold. Could just about see most of the game, couldn't see the other end of the pitch due to freezing fog.

Temperature is a little high this morning, hovering around the 38deg mark, i've been in touch with the hospital this morning so they are aware and ready for him should he require their help again, he says he feels ok so we'll see how it goes!!!

One of the guys at St Ives drew a picture for Brad (thanx so much) which we had signed by all the Saints players last night and he has also received a Year Book and Watch and all the Wasps players signatures too - getting proper spoilt!!!

We're looking at a nice Christmas at home, quite quiet, with a bottle of wine or two (oh go on then, perhaps three or four!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

If anyone would like to visit Simon's blog and read the writing of someone far more intellectual than any of us then his site is http://curtainsofinfirmity.blogspot.com

Hi everyone, goin good here, i'm doin ok, doin my injections by meself now, nurse put the cannula in for me so that i can inject into that instead of stabbin me each time.

I'm goin to Northampton on friday night to watch the Wasps match, shld be good fun, thankx to Brian and to Mike at St.Ives for doin this for me. Got some new gear for my drum kit today, a new bracket and two cow bells, but best of all a chrome drinks holder so i don't spill my Magners!!!!

Thanks to Jack, Jamie and Andrew for my pressies too, very very kind, ta, good to see ya again.

goin now, nearly bed time, got to go to Addenbrookes in the morning to meet the docs there in case i get ill again in between chemos, so that they can meet me and know who i am.........who wouldn't want to know me!!!!!

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hello everyone, we are home at last, finally finished his chemo at 7o'c tonight, we've come home with bagfuls of drugs again. Also to stop his white cells and neutrophils going so low again I also have an injection to give him everyday to give him a bit of a boost, he's not looking forward to this attall, but guess what 'i am'!!!!

As Brian said on previous post, this cycle of chemo has gone really really well, not a bit of sickness and this time they run the chemo through during the night so that he slept through it, probably the best way to do it.

He's also met a young 18yr old guy who was in the bed next to him, he also has Ewings and was starting out on his first cycle, he's really great and plays the guitar so Richard bought up some musical accompaniments and Brads Bongo's so that they could get a little rhythm going!!!! They'll probably be in together on the next cycle so it'll be good to see him again.

Hopefully the next two weeks will go smoothly for Brad, he's already put on 6kg of the 9 that he lost, so we'll fatten him up some more over xmas then he's back on the 4th Jan for round 3.

Thanks also to Shelly and Brian for Bradley's gifts, the blanket went down well, we had a nice cuddle under that, and the hat - well what can i say, it went round the ward, everybody wanted to try it on.

Well, Merry Christmas to everyone, hopefully we'll be able to get together with most of you at some point if he's feeling up to it, and if he's not on too many drugs then i'm sure he'll partake of a Magners or two to celebrate!!!!!

Lots of love Mikki

hi to everyone, a quick update .
been upto uclh today with mikki to see brad and how he,s getting on with round 2.
well it was such a surprise to see such a difference in brad from the 1st session.
he,s on his last bout of chemo as i update this, no sickness at all so far,( those guys & girls up there have really sorted out his antisickness drugs this time!!!) he,s managed to put on @ 5kg since coming out last week from his stay in our local hosp, and going in on thursday. which is great news as his mum was getting jealous of his figure!!!
just spoke to mikki and whilst on chemo he is eating like a horse which is good to hear, should finish this last dose about 5am sunday then the 12hr flush through, and i should be collecting them sunday eve. cant think of much more to say at the mo, big thanks to everyone whose sent lovely messages and all the guys at st ives rfc, for keeping brads spirits up especially mike m & jodie and of course the boys who post on here and took the time to come to hinch hosp last week to abuse and embarass the chap, whilst he was practicing his multi coloured yawns!!!

a big thanks to penny,s bruv for the davy crockett hat, with brad in his and me in my aussie bush hat, we,ve taking to living to living near the fens like proper hillbillies (only need to grow an extra finger or 2!!} sure i,ll get told off for last bit


thanks again more sane messages from tomorrow eve when they come home and i get a clip round the ear!!

bri, rhi & loo

Hey hey everyone, wot do u think of my cool hat, thankx very much Brian, everyone shld hav one, theyll be fights over this, thankx again.

goin to hospital again tomorow for round two of kemo, hope its better than round one.........!!

see u xxxxx 

hi everone brad here just here to say that thanks for all the advice and support from friends and family and from over seas. my fav thing bout home my own bed and food not grub. ill speak again soon meanwhile my receptionist will fill u in aka mum.

bye brad and cliffo

Hi everyone, sorry it's not the most flattering of photo's but this is Brad today after deciding today that enough is enough, and to shave his head. He's still as handsome as ever (but i am biased!!!).

He's well on his way to recovering from this bout of yukkiness, he's eating everything in sight and they have taken him off the drips etc and is back taking his antibiotics and antisickness in tablet form again, just waiting for his blood counts to come up a little then he'll be home again. Yippeeeeeeee!!!!! 

Hi, it's tuesday (i think, i've lost track a bit), i've popped home quickly to check the house is ok. Docs have been round this morning and all is looking good, Brad has kept fluid down for over 24 hrs now and a little bit of food, the GCSF should be kicking in soon and the white cell count should respond and increase to help fight the infection. He's looking much better with a little more colour today and has attached himself to the PSP so things must be returning to normal, grunting has also returned - also a good sign of normality for Brad.

His hair unfortunately has also started to come out which is really annoying for him, he woke up this morning to find a layer of fur in his bed, cos it's coming out of everywhere ooh err!!!! (Brad's answer was 'at least it'll be easier to keep my bum clean - typical :-)!!!!!

He's asked me to bring the clippers up to the hospital so that it can all come off instead of falling into his face all the time, so if anyone decided to come visit - you have been warned he'll look quite a bit different!!

Bye for now, i'm off back to my baby.

Hi everyone, it's Sunday evening and i've just got back from hospital, Brad has finally stopped vomiting and is keeping a little fluid down at last, he has picked up a little infection (basic sore throat and snotty nose), but because he is Neutropenic it has caused his throat a few problems and this severe vomiting.

Neutropenia should begin to waine a little soon they have given him a drug this evening to help his white cell count come up (it stung quite a bit going in and we thought Brad was going to knock the nurse out, fists came up and teeth clenched etc).

His temp has been anywhere between 36 - 38.6 over this weekend so they have given him some quite strong anti biotics too. UCLH are happy for Brad to stay at our local hospital and they are liasing with Hinchingbrooke all the time.

With a bit of luck and fingers/toes crossed he should be back home in the next couple of days.
Love Mikki, Rich, Nan Pen, and Nan Lin. (the sick bowl holders!!!!).

Hi there, unfortunately Brad's sickness got a whole lot worse and he wasn't able to keep any fluids down or any of his tablets, so he has been admitted to our local hospital to have antisickness and fluids through i.v. Hopefully this should stop the sickness and then they'll be able to continue the tablets for his bowel problems too.

He is already at the neutropenic stage i was talking about with the low white cell count, they took some bloods to check when we arrive, so he is in a side room to protect him from germs and bugs.

Hopefully I can have him back home again soon, and start building him up again ready for the next session on the 14th, he's lost a lot of weight in the last few days so if anyone has any nice calorie loaded gut busting recipes they can recommend i'd be grateful.....you know the sort of thing i mean, everything they've always said not to eat cos it makes you fat.....well Brad's aloud to eat them (lucky monkey)!!!!