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.