This was from last night: "Little Man Posted 12 hours ago is finally peaceful and sleeping again. Back on the morphine to keep him calm. otherwise he is restless and crying. He can have that every 2 hours. The meds they started him on can cause this but they took away the loratab as it masks his temp. Still no word on the cultures. Pretty crazy. Hopefully, they come back soon w/ something, hopefully, it is nothing but i at least would like to know that. Please pray tonight for our new friend from here that is about Bradleys age who got to go home tonight:) one day that will be us. Though they did reassure me today that i get to practice playing nurse and learn how to give shots on tomatoes and oranges before i leave here so i can give them to Bradley when we do go home. I tried to make it clear to them that i am scared of needles. i have to close my eyes whenever i have gotten them or had blood drawn. When they give him shots i look away while holding his hand. SO this should be interesting. I asked if most parents cry the first time and are dramatic so i won't feel like the worst parent in the world:) They just basiscally nicely explained that as a parent you do what ever is necessary to save your kids life. They have a point and guess i'll learn to look at a needle. Anyways, his temp is still hanging on. Please keep up the prayers and your support has been awesome:)Pray for Bradley and Grandma tomorrow as we will both be at work for the first time and she is in charge:)" And an older update: he still has a temp. They have him now on the strongest meds possible. We don't have the final reports in but we don't have time to wait. His temp is not dropping. So as the nurse said they have called in the big guns to kick this. Lol...whatever works right? And i was not mistaken, there is no chemo this Friday. So that confusion was straightened up. Thank God for that and now we are just focusing on getting his numbers up so that we can get the shunt put in. He sat on my lap for 2 hours and cuddled. That was good for me and him. So back to work tomorrow. We really don't think the dr would do the surgery tomorrow afternoon so we should be safe. The earliest would be Friday i think. Then i'm sure if need be they would do it on the weekend in this type of situation too as we are going against time here. Thus meaning they have had the external drain in for over 10 days and now we are pushing the limits on going for about a month. Keep praying that his white count starts boosting up so he can do this surgery. He is now starting to lose what hair has grown back from the surgeries. Kinda crazy. I thought it would not bother me as he has it shaved but seeing it all over his pillow did make me sad. The reality of it. Keep up the prayers. He made such HUGE steps on Monday...and now it is not so good. :( Please keep him in your prayers! Thanks!! If you would like to send another card, I will post the link for that too. Bradley Allen Blank Children's Hospital 1200 Pleasant Street Des Moines, IA 50309 Here is a link that might be useful: Online Card For Bradley

He is doing pretty good for all that he has gone through! Getting stronger! He is going through some testing to figure out why he is getting sick so often. So far, no answer to that....hopefully today. They still have a long way to go...but he is doing so much better than the slight chance he was given before the 2nd surgery...where they were surprised that he lived through it! The best news....he gets to go to Mayo in MN for a 2nd opinion!! Their insurance first declined allowing them to go, but someone said something right and now they are going! Not sure of when yet tho as this just happened yesterday. Mom & Dad take turns at the hospital and when they both have to work (Angie has to for insurance (will take a leave when they go to Mayo) and Chris has to work for the bills!) Grandma comes to stay at the hospital. Grandma is also about to retire...so she can help out more. Here is a link that might be useful: CarePage-Search: BradleyAllen2

I got this update just a while ago: he is in pain Posted 1 hour ago imagine that if you will...he's back to grinding his teeth. He barely opened his eyes a little. Chris noticed when he was crying he isn't using the left side of his face...we haven't really seen him move the left side of his body. Obviously it's early on to tell but they did notify the docs. Praying that this is not the case. hoping it's just the swelling and nothing more to it. He's too cute and innocent to be affected by this...please don't let there be deficits that can't be resolved in time!!! He doesn't need that! Kids can be mean when he is older and it brings tears to my eyes now to even think that they could be mean to him. He's been through hell. Chris is trying to make light of it and say he'll talk like Sylvestor Stallone. Anyways, the fam just got here. I'll talk to you soon.

Thanks Sandy. I tried to see this last night and evidently hadn't been posted on line then. Bradley is such a little fighter. I hope the new treatment works really good for him. Jane