On the Road Again...

1950 miles; 30 hours 28 minutes of driving; 8 hours of being stopped for gas, food and dirty diaper disposal; 18 "disagreements"; a few conference calls and we finally made it to Boston.  I did the math, and I don't drive that much in 2 months, much less 4 days.  As we pulled into Massachusetts, I told Scott I felt like I had accomplished something huge and I should be excited about being there, but I wasn't.  I would have rather been home with both of my little boys, living our normal-crazy life! 
Mom came down Thursday to pick up Reid and help me get things packed.  Leaving your 4 year old for this long is not an easy thing to do.  Does he drive me crazy sometimes?  Yes, but I miss my little "Chatty Charlie", as I like to refer to him.  In fact, I think I miss him more than he misses me.  In my defense, he is with my parents, so this means everything I have worked so hard at molding will quickly go down the potty.  What Reid wants, Reid gets, at Mimi & Pee Paw's house, so I am sure it will take me 6 months of damage control to get him back in working order.    I cried like a baby when they pulled out of the drive-way...you would have thought the poor child was going away to war.  I have never been away from my little side-kick this long…we need each other.  He will be flying to Boston after Rhett gets out of the hospital (Nov 11th-Nov 17th) so we won't be separated for too long. 
We left Ft Worth Friday morning and before we had even gotten to Dallas, we had already had 6 "disagreements".  I was pretty sure if this kept up 1.) I would leave Scott somewhere on the side of the road and do this thing myself or   2.) Throw myself out of the car...it could go either way.  We decided we would keep count of these "disagreements" just to see how high this number got by the time we ALL made it safely to Boston.  Lucky for both of us, the "disagreements" tapered off.  We made it to Memphis Friday night, after a long day of driving.  I hadn't been to Memphis since I was a kid, so I was pretty excited about this stop.  Memphis has everything a girl could want...Graceland & Bar-B-Q.  We were headed to Neely's (Down home with the Neely's-Food Network), but the reviews were not so bueno & even the local people said it was over-rated.  We instead went to another BBQ joint recommended by the hotel....holy moly guacamole it was GOOOOOOD!  Scott ordered one of everything on the menu, including BBQ spaghetti & it is a good thing he did.  BBQ spaghetti is a magical experience, if you haven't had it...get in your car, drive to Memphis, go wherever it is we went and get it!  You will thank me later.  If you have kids, feel free to bring them with you, the waitresses will hold them and entertain your children while you eat.  One held Rhett, while the other proceeded to dance and sing for "Boo Boo" as they referred to him.  It was the greatest...dinner and a show!
Saturday morning we hit the road early and it took us ALL DAY to get through Tennessee.  That is the longest state, pretty, but LONG!  We ended the day around 11pm in Roanoke Virginia.  The further north we drove, the prettier the scenery was.  Sunday we did Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.  Virginia and West Virginia were beautiful.  We were surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains and George Washington State Park and just in time for the fall foliage.  Maryland was the beginning of Scott and me trying to remember what we learned in 7th grade history (Mason-Dixon Line, etc).  Pennsylvania was rolling green hills, full of old farm-houses, bright red barns and dairy farms.  I was fired up when we passed an Amish family, along with their horse and buggy cruising down the highway.  Did you know the Amish are offended when you take pictures of them?  I didn't learn this by experience, don't worry.  Thank goodness for internet and especially Google.  We finally made it to New Jersey, which I had been waiting on for days.  I consider myself a "Jersey Junkie" with all the Jersey shows I watch (Housewives of NJ, Cake Boss, Jersey Shore, Jerseylicious, Jersey Couture, you get the point).  I had a few stops I needed to make, first and foremost Franklin Lakes.  I made Scott drive me through this little town that creates so much havoc and drama, and hopefully on the way home we will make it to Hoboken NJ to get some Cake Boss cake...I LOVE CAKE!!!  Then on to New York, and finally Connecticut.  Connecticut is by far the prettiest state I have ever been through.  The towns are so quaint & charming...I don't think anyone who lives in this state has any worries.  Their lives are picture perfect!  We spent Sunday night in Meriden, CT and finished our trip Monday as we pulled into Boston a hour before our appointment.
Rhett had an appointment to do the Urodynamics Test today, which basically gave them an idea of what damage has already occurred.  The test measured what kind of control his bladder/bowels had and if there was any damage to either of these, as well as what kind of nerve function Rhett had below the waist.  We went directly back to the procedure room where several nurses were preparing "the study" as they referred to it.  By the time the test was underway, there were 8 people in the procedure room including a neurologist, urologist, and two pediatric doctors from Mumbai.  A catheter was inserted, and an electrode (aka large needle) was put in place to measure nerve function and muscle control.  Long story short, Rhett has full control over his bladder and bowel for now, and no nerve damage was detected.  This is GREAT NEWS!    As Rhett would react to different things, the nurses would get more and more excited at how well he was doing.  He had his own fan club, it was very sweet.  They all fell in-love with Baby Rhett and his famous cheeks.  Scott and I were laughing because each time one of the doctors came into the room they each would tell us we needed to take him to Hollywood because he was so beautiful.  Either they were really in-love with our perfect and precious baby and could see what I have been saying all along, or they were just blowing smoke up our rear…either way I felt better.  Apparently, little blonde babies are few and far between up this way…especially babies with little squishy cheeks!
After the procedure was complete, both the Urologist & Neurosurgeon sat down and spoke with us about the results and their opinions.  Both doctors could not believe how strong Rhett was.  They both agreed that for a child his age with this condition, it was amazing he had enough strength & control to stand on both legs, sit up on his own and could not believe he was on the verge of crawling.  The neurosurgeon said he would have never diagnosed Rhett with a tethered cord if he had not had the bump on his back.  Thank goodness for the bump!!!  His left leg is slightly slower than the right, but this wasn't anything they seemed to be concerned with for now.  Boston Children’s is a Harvard Med School hospital, so they research this condition extensively.  We sat down with both doctors and went through 100's of questions pertaining to both sides of the family.  They believe this is a genetic condition, so we were told that anyone of our brothers or sisters would need to take precautions for future pregnancies...basically, needing to take 10 times the normal dosage of folic acid.  After answering every question imaginable we were told they felt Rhett would recover from this surgery with no complications and we would just need to keep an eye on him watching for sign of possible re-tethering, and we would be back in 3 months for another urodynamics test to see where we are after the surgery.  So Day 1 was successful and we left there with great news and relieved that was no nerve damage so far!!!  YEAH!!!!  Next on our list, check into our new digs while Rhett is in the hospital.