NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tabone1]

Thats one heck of a kid if he is willing to stick his foot in a binding with that cut. Looks like the worst place he could get a cut. Hope all is going well.

[xpjim1]

So how did it go today, Ragboy??

[ragboy]

Well, its a lot to type on my iPhone, but here goes...

I glued and ducted him up and sent him out for a practice run last night. RJ is in pain in the binding, but he wants it bad. All he has to do is make the podium in his division on sat and sun and he goes to the US championship in Louisiana. He does his practice run and fumbles his first run, but then nails his 2-4 runs and even his wildcard tricks.

A lot of pain pulling out of binding, mom is crying of course. I get him back to our trailer and unwrap him. It looks like the seal worked, its dry. But the wound is bulging. You can see it took a lot of pressure. Those wake to wake landings must have hammered it. As I am running distilled water over it, one of the stitches comes right off. It was barely hanging on. It also bled a lot, and it didn't before. So I am holding his leg, he wants to ride, and I am looking at this mess...

I said, "I can't let you ride tomorrow son." He starts crying, amy is crying, and dammit, I start crying also. We have worked all summer for this, and at least one of my daughters is going to louisianna. RJ also has the best chances of placing in louisianna. Anyway, we all wanted it bad, but I had to the right thing.

At 11pm he was in pain, so I took him to emergency room. The doctor said he should be ok, but the wound can't take that kind of pressure, and if he pops another stitch, they have to reopen and restitch. And that would greatly increase chance of infection. That sealed it. So RJ is just a spectator, rooting for his sisters.

[Greg Mallek]

Keep your chin up R.J. Your a great kid, with alot od boarding, and surfing talent. Next year will be EPIC for you. I can't wait to see you guys at the next surfing contest. Tell your sisters "Good luck" from "The Hammer"

[Coach]

DMSO- buy it at a pet store and put some on the heel. Super glue the cut and put on a booty and you will be money. I didn't have time to read the 4 pages of info today, but know a few quick fixes for pain and to control bleeding fast.

[tabone1]

F$^% it dude, lets go bowling - The Big Lebowski

[da.bell]

It's probably better that RJ didn't do his runs. I am sure there is a lesson learned here. Wear shoes when you can and I am sure no other children will have this happen in your house now.

[kko]

tough luck RJ keep your head up heal quick and get back on the board bigger badder next year buddy. will be pulling for ya.

[Ruune]

The doctor said he should be ok, but the wound can't take that kind of pressure, and if he pops another stitch, they have to reopen and restitch. And that would greatly increase chance of infection. That sealed it. So RJ is just a spectator, rooting for his sisters.

Finally someone talked some sense into you. From your first post on this thread it was quite apparent that you were more concerned with going to the last INT stop and having your kid compete, than you were for his welfare. Ridiculous.

Also, liquid bandage has a different chemical makeup than superglue, although it has similar properties. This is why its shipped as a separated binary solution (glue and hardener) instead of an oxygen-reacting solution. Additionally, ITS STERILIZED. Granted that microorganizms may not be able to grow in the glue itself, but it can still carry them to the wound site. In turn, the sealed wound site can provide a breeding environment for bacteria to grow, and thus you've sealed in an infection.

All in all, he's lucky he didnt tear his achilles tendon. Glad he's going to be ok.

[TigeDuner]

One tough kid....

[dogbert]

I'm with you Ruune. Infections are no fun. We went through this with one of our kids last summer and had to do antibiotic IV and a whole host of oral anti-biotics all summer long. You don't want to mess with a bacterial infection.

[anhaney]

Sorry to here about this. Kids will be kids. I guess that is why we as parents tell them the things we do. Only because we as kids made those mistakes and lost opportunities do achieve goals when we were kids.

Rest assure RJ will tell his kids one day not to go outside with shoes because he learned from his personal experience and he will be sitting in the ER as a parent frustrated that they did not listen. Go get them next year and good luck to his sister.

[ragboy]

Finally someone talked some sense into you. From your first post on this thread it was quite apparent that you were more concerned with going to the last INT stop and having your kid compete, than you were for his welfare. Ridiculous.

My children's welfare/well being is always at the forefront of my mind, and no one had to talk any sense into me. Thats a dumb comment to make, and even dumber without standing next to me. We sealed him up, did a quick practice run to test the waters, and I made my decision.

We are back, Ashley qualified for Louisiana, so we are real excited about that. I can't take that much time off of work, so I will be sending her with her mother. Now I have a few weeks to practice with Ashley to really step up her game to make sure she has a chance to place at USC in her division.

Some other good news, I REALLY like the inland surfer boards, and have been thinking about getting a RED TIDE. Well, we won one! Can't beat that. We also sold the boob infested calibrated board on Saturday.

For the record, I would never force RJ to compete that way, it was allow/disallow. He wanted it bad. You have to understand the level of commitment it took to make EVERY INT this season, with 5 kids competing in 3 different classes. Then to have the one doing the best, ready to take first in the whole thing, lose it cuz he wasn't wearing shoes. It was a bummer. I don't even think it was the championships at Lousianna that made it such a bummer. It was the fact that we went this far, and made such a commitment, and RJ never faltered, he worked harder, and practiced harder than any of my other kids. He inspired the rest of them. He woke up every morning this summer, and came right into my office, and asked if we were going to practice today. Sometimes he asked several times a day. He had wakeboarding/wakesurfing on the brain. He completely gave up all star baseball and didn't look back. I wanted to seem him finish this tour, and he wanted to finish it worse. Thats why we were willing to make a go at it.

Looking back, all is said and done, I still would have tried on Friday night with a practice run again, and my wife agrees. We just wanted to see if we could give the kid a chance.

Well, on to next year. RJ will be bumping up 2 classes to JR intermediate. Watch out!

Ashley and Whitney will battle each other hard in Women's novice.

Maddie will start taking podiums and do much better in JR Entro.

Thomas will be the king of mini-outlaw.

And who knows, there may be a new Garcia entered next year in mini-outlaw, the smallest of them all. She will be eclipsed by the wake, but determined to make a stand up run. Watch out for Jesse.

I think I will have Thomas surfing in the spring also, maybe get him in some of the Surfing contests.

Well, I am tired, got a lot of work to do.

[anhaney]

My children's welfare/well being is always at the forefront of my mind, and no one had to talk any sense into me. Thats a dumb comment to make, and even dumber without standing next to me. We sealed him up, did a quick practice run to test the waters, and I made my decision.

We are back, Ashley qualified for Louisiana, so we are real excited about that. I can't take that much time off of work, so I will be sending her with her mother. Now I have a few weeks to practice with Ashley to really step up her game to make sure she has a chance to place at USC in her division.

Some other good news, I REALLY like the inland surfer boards, and have been thinking about getting a RED TIDE. Well, we won one! Can't beat that. We also sold the boob infested calibrated board on Saturday.

For the record, I would never force RJ to compete that way, it was allow/disallow. He wanted it bad. You have to understand the level of commitment it took to make EVERY INT this season, with 5 kids competing in 3 different classes. Then to have the one doing the best, ready to take first in the whole thing, lose it cuz he wasn't wearing shoes. It was a bummer. I don't even think it was the championships at Lousianna that made it such a bummer. It was the fact that we went this far, and made such a commitment, and RJ never faltered, he worked harder, and practiced harder than any of my other kids. He inspired the rest of them. He woke up every morning this summer, and came right into my office, and asked if we were going to practice today. Sometimes he asked several times a day. He had wakeboarding/wakesurfing on the brain. He completely gave up all star baseball and didn't look back. I wanted to seem him finish this tour, and he wanted to finish it worse. Thats why we were willing to make a go at it.

Looking back, all is said and done, I still would have tried on Friday night with a practice run again, and my wife agrees. We just wanted to see if we could give the kid a chance.

Well, on to next year. RJ will be bumping up 2 classes to JR intermediate. Watch out!

Ashley and Whitney will battle each other hard in Women's novice.

Maddie will start taking podiums and do much better in JR Entro.

Thomas will be the king of mini-outlaw.

And who knows, there may be a new Garcia entered next year in mini-outlaw, the smallest of them all. She will be eclipsed by the wake, but determined to make a stand up run. Watch out for Jesse.

I think I will have Thomas surfing in the spring also, maybe get him in some of the Surfing contests.

Well, I am tired, got a lot of work to do.

I think you guys did great and I know it was not easy to allow it to happen. It was a tough call and I am sure it helped to build your relationship as a family even stroger. GREAT JOB.

[Razzman]

That's pretty impressive there Rags, sounds like you have your own team thing going!