Thanksgiving Trip to SC – What was I thinking??

It has been quite a while since I've taken a car trip with Riley, just me and him. In fact, I believe it was last summer. I remember arriving at my sister's, my family already there, and I was in tears. Wednesday night was close, but no tears.

Riley took a long nap Wednesday, which I usually say he never does, but lately, it happens a little more frequently, especially since we rarely get a decent night's sleep anymore. We started out on our trip, car fully loaded, with great expectations. I told everyone, “I'm just going to take my time, not get in a hurry, stop as much as Riley needs to, no problem. The one thing I can say, traffic had absolutely no impact on the trip, nor in making what should have been a 4 hour drive a 6 hour one. That was definitely one blessing we had going for us. Even through Atlanta, not even a hiccup. No congestion whatsoever. But I digress.

Let me back up and just say Tuesday night was my night to pack for our trip. I had all the laundry done, ready to come home from work, get Riley dinner, bath and to bed, then pack and load the car so we could leave straight from my office the next day. Riley had other plans.

It was getting close to bedtime and Riley was swinging. I recently purchased an indoor swing that mounts in any doorway, which, I might add, is the greatest invention ever! Riley loves his swing and it is great for me, too. He can be swinging while I am getting dinner ready or cleaning it up, and we are in the same room together and he is happy and I am able to do what I need to do. Riley's swing brings him much happiness, but it is also great at bedtime. It practically rocks him to sleep. He had been swinging as I was packing snacks for our road trip. He stopped swinging and was just sitting there, when I noticed his foot “jump” a couple of times. I stopped what I was doing and went over to him and as I did, I noticed his head kind of “twitch”. Usually if Riley has a seizure, his face will twitch, but this was not his face, but his whole head. Also, the leg that had jumped was his right one, which has always been the side of his body he loses control over when he has a seizure. I was pretty sure he was about to seize, and he did. Luckily, the medication we give him worked almost immediately, so there was no trip to the emergency room. He was very tired after the seizure and went right to sleep, so the packing began.

We left Wednesday and I was hopeful it would be a good trip, even with Riley taking a nap. We had barely made it to Dalton, maybe 30 minutes from home, and Riley had already ripped his pull up off. Keep in mind, this is while in a 5 point harness car seat, while still wearing jeans. I was trying to get over to an exit as quick as possible to change him, but he was quicker than I was. After a quick stop to get Riley re-dressed and back in the car seat, we were on the road again. This time, we made it about 30 more minutes to Rome, GA. He was just extremely frustrated about having to stay in his car seat. I thought, “maybe if he eats dinner and has his meds, he will sleep the rest of the way.” We stopped at Cracker Barrel, which may be a first for just Riley and me since he's been sick. It went pretty well. Except, Riley has no patience. If you are not moving fast enough for him, he gives you a little push, literally. I have come to despise this new habit of Riley's, and now, even more. Right there, in the middle of Cracker Barrel, apparently I wasn't moving fast enough for Riley. Actually, I was gathering all of our things so we could leave, but Riley was ready to go, so, I got the “little” push, and down I go, flat on my butt, but catching myself with my elbow just enough to make it hurt really bad! For those of you who don't know, I fall, a lot. You could say I'm a faller. It happens so often, it usually doesn't bother me. I just get back up, no big deal. I've even been told by many, I do it very gracefully. Well I'm not so sure how graceful being pushed down compares to just falling, but regardless, several people came running over, and yes, this was embarrassing. Since Riley and I were holding hands, he could “feel” that I had went down. I'm not sure if he knew he was the cause, but either way, when I managed to get back up with the help of a very sweet customer, he took my hand and started kissing it. Probably just a coincidence, but still very sweet.

So, back on the road we went. We stopped a few more times, a few times, pulling over at a gas station to change Riley, once to get a Popsicle, hoping to get the same result of luring him to sleep like at home, and a couple of times, just pulling over in the noisy emergency lane to find Riley's gloves that he had taken off but HAD TO HAVE. Gloves are his new thing. He has them on practically 24 hours a day, only taking them off to eat, or feel something he can't feel well enough with them on. He usually even falls asleep with them on and I take them off when he gets to sleep.

So after about eight stops, we finally made it to Spartanburg in 6 hours, instead of 4. From then on, we had a great trip. We ate lots of wonderful food including a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, followed the next night with turkey and dressing egg rolls made from leftovers, deep fried outside by a camp fire. Riley really seemed to enjoy being out by the fire with friends and family and music, and of course the food. He had chicken wings by the fire too and devoured them! Last night, we had a wonderful birthday dinner for my sister with grilled steaks, twice baked potatoes and grilled brussel sprouts. Riley has walked off everything we ate over the weekend because that is about ALL he has done. He had a great wide open place to do it, and everyone took turns walking Riley around, both inside and out. All of the fresh air did him good and he was exhausted!

Our trip back to Chattanooga today was much better. Riley slept about the first hour so we were able to get a good start. We made it in 4 ½ hours ! It is nice to be home, even though we had a great time over the long holiday weekend. So, “what was I thinking?” That it was definitely worth it!