McComb Family

Adam's Surgery

Adam started hurting at the baseball game, and it continued ALL NIGHT LONG!!! He was in so much pain -- he couldn't get comfortable and he certainly couldn't fall asleep! The pain made him throw up, so we spent most of the night in the bathroom with his little chin resting on the side of the bowl. Poor guy!! We would have been back at the ER again, but I kept thinking that his surgery was only a few hours away and I'd much rather have his pediatric surgeon do the procedure than an ER surgeon. We finally made it to morning and got him to the hospital. He fell asleep in the car on the ride down (wish I could have too!!) and slept right through everything. Here he is before the surgery. They wanted me to wake him up to give him the medicine to make him sleepy, and his nurse said no way!! She dripped a little into his mouth at a time, and he swallowed it all down without batting an eye!!

The surgery went well. The surgeon said that it looked really red and inflamed, like something had been stuck in it recently. You think!?! I had just been up all night with him in agony -- I could have told the doctor that!! : ) Here he is in the recovery area. They had a little IV in his hand and monitors taped to his chest.

The checked the other side and it looked good. They gave me a picture of it, which I was thrilled about -- I love that kind of stuff. If you don't.....scroll fast!!

And here he is shortly after we got home. His incision has 2 little steri-strips over it, but then they put another bandage and band-aid over that. He was thrilled that he had a crayon band-aid, he thought that was pretty cool!

Here he is coloring in the coloring book he got and surrounded by books and movies to keep him from being too active!!!

He took the band-aid off this morning. Here is his little incision!

Glad it's all done, and he's feeling better. This has not been a fun time for him!

Posted in: on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at at 11:59 AM 2 comments

River Cats Game

Bret did plans for a couple whose daughter happens to be a friend of Briana's. They had tickets to the River Cats game last night and invited us to go along. For those of you who don't know, the River Cats are our local Triple A baseball team. We have never actually been to one of their games, so we decided it would be fun to do -- plus the tickets were in a suite (you can't beat that!!). It was fun. I think the kids enjoyed the food and bounce houses more than the game, but who wouldn't!?! Of course, shortly before the game ended Adam's hernia started acting up again. Poor guy!!

The kids in the suite

Sacramento skyline

Close-up of the Tower Bridge

Hope and Briana

Bounce Fun

Posted in: on Friday, April 18, 2008 at at 8:10 PM 0 comments

Date change (again)

So, another new date now for Adam's surgery -- Friday. I had called after our trip to the ER this weekend to ask if there was anything sooner. The only day before his scheduled surgery that his surgeon was operating was this Friday, but it was all booked up. They had a cancellation today though and got him in. It will be nice to have the whole weekend for him to recoup, and I'll only have to take one day off of work now instead of two. Hope it all goes smoothly!!

Briana had another game last night. They did a great job again, but it was a looooong day. She had a Girl Scout field trip up to Georgetown right after school. They ended up running late, so one of the leaders kept Briana up there while I went up to meet her. Her game was back up there and we were going to end up being late if I had to wait for her to get back to Northside first. Yikes! Busy, busy, We're off to practice again tonight. She should be professional by the time she's 9 at the pace we're going! : )

Posted in: on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at at 4:28 PM 0 comments

Skype

Just thought I'd check with everybody and see who has Skype. My uncle and I tried it out this morning and it worked pretty well. There was some delay on my end probably because I'm on satellite, but it wasn't too bad. I'd like to get my video camera going too, but I only have that set up to my laptop at this point. Still more to do, but at least I'm on my way. If you do have Skype, my username is batons97 to add me as a contact. Let me know if you're using it -- it seems like a great way to keep in touch!!

Posted in: on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at at 5:02 PM 0 comments

Kid's Expo

Saturday the kids and I went to the Kid's Expo in Placerville. Briana took her friend Holly with us. Unfortunately we got there towards the end, then had to eat lunch, hang out with their friend Skyler who also happened to be there......needless to say, we did not get to see all the booths and activities that were there. They still had a great time, and it was beautiful weather (low 80s!!).

Here are the girls

Playing with play dough

Teeth brushing practice

Sheriff's car

This better be the only time I see them in the back of a police car

And the fire truck

Walking all over the county

Posted in: on at at 7:52 AM 0 comments

Good news.....and a little excitement

Yesterday I officially found out that I will definitely have a job next year. My layoff notice has been rescinded, which means I won't have to go to the hearing Monday. Yea!!! Not that I know what I will be teaching though -- they could put me anywhere. It looks like there will be a position in science (if they keep it as that), 5th grade, and 6th grade. I'm sure people with more seniority than me will be looking to bump me from my spot, so we'll see how things shake out. Should be interesting. Hopefully I'll know before August what I will be teaching!!!

Came home to celebrate, had some friends over for dinner, and Adam ended up not feeling well. His hernia was really bothering him and quite painful. Then he started throwing up. He'd start to fall asleep, and I'd think if was going to go back in because he was relaxed -- then he'd wake up crying and throwing up again. Poor little guy. Finally called the advice nurse and she said bring him into the ER. So I took off with Adam while Bret stayed and played host!! : ) Any excuse he can find to avoid any health/medical problem!!! We got about halfway down the canyon and came upon a car accident. A guy who supposedly was drunk hit the side of the mountain, spun his truck and hit the guard rail head on breaking his axle in the process. People were stopped and out of their cars, and I guess he was belligerent and really giving people a bad time. I finally got some guys to help me get through -- they escorted me through past the crazy guy, going off-road and over rocks he had loosened when he hit the side of the hill. Luckily my car is skinny and fit through between his truck and the hill, but who knew it was an off-road vehicle as well!?! He he!! I must have passed at least 30 cars who were blocked because of him! Once I got through that we were on our way, and then he threw up in the car. It was such a wonderful evening!!! Got to the ER, they checked him in -- little thing was still in agony and throwing up. He finally feel asleep after midnight and sometime between then and about 1 a.m. when we saw the doctor his hernia had self-reduced. They gave him some crackers and juice to make sure he could keep it down and released him about 1:30. Ended up getting home about 2:15. Fun, fun, fun!!! Glad they bumped his surgery date up, but it's not soon enough for me. Let's hope we make it to the 28th without anymore ER trips!!!

Posted in: on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at at 10:04 AM 1 comments

Opening Day/First game

Again this year I am the manager of Briana's softball team. We had Opening Ceremonies a couple of weeks ago and here are a few pictures from that day.
Her team is made up of four 1st graders, four 2nd graders, and three 3rd graders. She's one of the little pip-squeaks of the team though. Our first game was last night at Northside. We played the other Cool team. I was a little nervous going into it that our team wasn't ready, but we won! Our pitcher pitched a no-hitter, so she was really excited!! Briana got a base hit and played 2nd base for the game. She'd like to eventually play pitcher, although she hasn't really learned how to do it yet. Maybe someday!!

Also, Adam's surgery got moved up yesterday, so now instead of 2 1/2 months it will be in 2 1/2 weeks. The new date is April 28th. Thank goodness. I couldn't imagine having to deal with this thing for that much longer!!! I'll let everyone know how it goes! The other day he was running his finger along my scars like he does and asked why I had a big one and a little one (the little one is from where they had the drainage tube). I told him that's just how the doctor needed to do it for my surgery to be done, and he told me to tell his doctor that he wanted his big scar on the bottom and the little one on the top (opposite of me!!). Luckily he is not nervous or apprehensive at all. We'll see how he is when he's actually there, but for now he's doing great. I even bought him two books which we've read a couple of times that tell about going to the hospital to have an operation. He's just looking forward to some spoiling!!! : )

Posted in: on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at at 7:30 PM 1 comments

New projects

The date is finally set......June 20th. Yes, it will be another two and a half months before Adam's surgery. The good thing is that it will be during summer vacation, and we won't miss any school. The bad part is that it's another two and a half months! Ugh!!! Not that it is slowing him down much. Here he is just a bit ago....

Bret has a couple of new projects going on now that he is about to get a final at the other house. He had his inspection Friday and just missed the guy, so it's postponed again. Kind of frustrating, but at least close!! So, now he is dismantling our deck (which was never even finished in the first place!!!). He wants to add a den on to that side of the house, and the lumber he is removing will be used at the other house for stairs leading up to the door. I guess it takes care of two problems at once.

The other project (and the more important one, I might add) is the tree fort. The kids (and Bret!) have big plans for it. Here is the future home of the McComb Tree Fort/Rope Swing.

Posted in: on Saturday, April 05, 2008 at at 5:51 PM 0 comments

What a week!!

After my wonderful week last week, I wasn't so keen on going back to work this week....but off I went Monday morning like a good little employee. Got home that night to put the kids to bed and practically fall in bed myself. Nothing like a nice 12-hour day to welcome you back to the work week. To top it off - midday I started feeling pretty lousy and now have a full-blown cold. Just figures, doesn't it!!? Tuesday was a normal 9-hour day (hooray!), but I was so stuffed up I had to sleep sitting up! That's always fun! Then Wednesday I left home at 7 a.m. and got home that evening at 9:00. OMG -- they're trying to kill me!!!! That way they really don't have to hire me back next year! : ) To top it all off, I picked up my mail on the way home and have a notice letting me know I have a certified letter I need to sign for at the Post Office. Yep, my layoff paperwork. Yippee!! And their hours are 8 - 4. Are they kidding?? Who could possibly pick something up between those hours?? This is definitely not my week. Hopefully next week is better!!!

Posted in: on Thursday, April 03, 2008 at at 5:30 PM 0 comments

Solution to my problem

My mom sent me an email with an idea about how to get Adam's surgery moved up.....

"Two patients limp into two different medical clinics with the same complaint. Both have trouble walking and appear to require a hip replacement.
The FIRST patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day and has a time booked for surgery the following week.
The SECOND sees his family doctor after waiting 3 weeks for an appointment, then waits 8 weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn't reviewed for another week and finally has his surgery scheduled for a month from then. Why the different treatment for the two patients?
The FIRST is a Golden Retriever. The SECOND is a Senior Citizen."

She says to just tell them he's a puppy!! Hmmmm!!!!

Posted in: on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at at 5:51 PM 0 comments