HOMECOMING, Tuesday, April 6

The doctors are releasing Brad from the hospital this morning!!! He finally gets to come home. Karen and Betty went to the hospital to pick up Brad. Before leaving, Karen successfully removed his bandage, cleaned it with saline and put a new bandage on. Time to go home and recover there.

Monday, April 5

Karen and Brad's mother, Betty, went to visit Brad at the hospital. Brad's niece Anna also came to visit him today.

The doctors believe their is an infection and performed a minor procedure in which they lanced Brad's incision. They will keep him on antibiotics for awhile. The incision will require rebandaging twice a day and will take up to 2 months to heal fully. Brad should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow. The doctors taught Karen how to clean the incision and properly bandage the wound. They will test Karen tomorrow on performing this bandage procedure before they allow Brad to leave the hospital.

Easter Sunday, April 4

Happy Easter! Another beautiful day outside! Brad sat outside on a balcony for much of the day and enjoyed the weather. The doctors checked his incision and noticed some redness. They think it might be an infection so they gave Brad some antibiotics.

Brad met with Dr. Cameron in the evening. Dr. Cameron is going to recheck the incision tomorrow after the antibiotics have been working for 24 hours. If there is an infection, they will have to make another some incision and drain it. This should be only a minor 5 minute procedure if needed. Leaving the hospital Monday doesn't seem realistic, so Brad is hoping for Tuesday.

Brad's mother flew in from Atlanta this evening.

The Redskins trade for Donovan McNabb. Brad feels indigestion setting in...

Saturday, April 3

Today Brad finally got to eat some real food, chicken! The doctors removed his IVs and he walked without his IV pole for the first time since surgery. Evidently he was using his pole for balance as he was weaving down the hall and a bit wobbly. Since he no longer has the IVs hooked up, Brad is taking pills to control the pain.

Dr. Cameron has been away on vacation for the past few days, but Brad is scheduled to meet with him tomorrow morning. He is antipating a departure date of either Sunday or Monday.

Friday, April 2

Brad is doing much better today and was even up to answering phones calls. He is much more alert, probably due to less medication and his humor has returned. Today he ate Jello, Italian Ice and a very disgusting potassium drink. The doctors removed a drain from his side. He is continuing to walk around a lot. His arch nemesis, the hiccups are still around and reoccur from time to time.

Brad is hoping to leave on Easter Sunday morning.

Feel Better PopPop - Thursday, April 1

A beach message from Emma and Avery wishing PopPop to feel better. Brad finally got to eat some food today. The lineup consisted of Italian Ice which was "really good", cranberry juice and some sort of chicken broth which was "terrible". Brad only has 1 IV hooked up to him now, so when the nurse needs to give me antibiotics or something else, they remove the pain medication line and don't add it back for awhile. During this time, the pain returns which is no fun.

Brad walked a lot last night so he is a bit drained in the energy department. He is having a hard time finding a comfortable sitting position as he has been sitting or lying about since Monday and his muscles are getting sore. He is still battling the hiccups, but seems to be getting more sleep now. The doctors told him he may need to stay until Sunday or Monday. He is hoping to be out for Easter, but his body's recovery is the most important thing.

Recovery Wednesday, March 31

So evidently the "food" Brad was promised today comes in the form of ice chips in a medicine cup once an hour. Good thing he isn't very hungry!

Brad doesn't seem to have too much energy for walking today, although he did go on at least 4 walks. Might have to due with the lack of sleep. He is still bothered by hiccups throughout the night and nurses interrupting his sleep. He got some good sleep during the day today so hopefully his energy will be up tomorrow.

Road to Recovery...Tuesday, March 30

Brad is doing much better today. He didn't get a lot of sleep last night as hiccups would reoccur every 5-10 minutes, but those seem to be the only source of discomfort. The tech wanted him to take a lap around the ICU this morning, but of course Brad had to push himself and did 4 laps instead. The tech told him that was enough. I think he was just showing off :)

They moved him out of ICU around noon and into the Marlburg building which is very posh and has the feel of a hotel. The nurse removed the central line in his neck. The doctors informed him that they would start him on food tomorrow. Brad is hoping to be home by the weekend for Easter Sunday. His mom is flying up from Atlanta on Sunday.

Surgery at Johns Hopkins

18:10 update: The anestesia seems to be wearing off and Brad is becoming more alert and coherent. Team of doctors making rounds spoke with Brad, Karen and Jason. The doctors explain that the surgery went well. They had to remove a little bit of the liver, but they said his liver should regrow to its normal size by the time he leaves the hospital. They also removed parts of his colon and small intestine.

15:50 update: Went to ICU to see Brad. His CO2 labs came back positive so the nurse administered pain medication. He was in significant pain after he awoke from surgery.

14:45 update: Nurse Debbie briefed us that surgery is finally complete. Evidently Dr. Cameron is very strict with regards to post-op activities. Nurse Debbie actually took care of Brad after his Whipple surgery back in 2003, which was also perfomed by Dr. Cameron. Karen and Jason are going to see Brad momentarily in ICU.

12:30 update: Surgery was successful!!! Dr. Cameron came out to speak with Karen and Jason. He found 2 walnut sized tumors, one in between his liver and colon and one growing on his small intestine. Dr. Cameron was able to successfully remove both tumors. Dr. Cameron did not see any other tumors but suspects there could be others. Family will visit Brad around 14:30 in the ICU.

11:45 status: Surgery is going well. Dr. Cameron expects to be out by 13:00 to speak with us. They will close him back up by 14:00. Karen and Jason should be able to see him recovering in the ICU by 15:00.

10:00 status: Nurse told us Brad is doing fine and surgery is going well.

Arrived at Johns Hopkins bright and early at 5:30am Monday morning. Spoke with Dr. Cameron at 6:00am who sounded very confident in his ability to remove the tumor from my colon. Talked to Karen and Jason from 6:30-7:30 and went under around 8:15.

Good times at the 2010 ACC Tournament