Hello Seattle

 So, this will be a two poster post. I am going to do a whole separate post about the actual Dr. visit and that will be INCREDIBLY long, so here is your warning.
So we received McKay's initial diagnosis of M-CM last April. It took 15 months to get a diagnosis. I can say with confidence we only got a diagnosis because I really pushed it and took it upon myself to get a hold of the Dr. After we got the diagnosis we talked about going up to see the Dr. that diagnosed McKay. He is a leading geneticist in the country, and the Doctor that discovered the syndrome of M-CM. We decided it would be worth it for us to go up to Seattle to see him. We decided to wait and schedule for the fall. We couldn't get an opening so I kept calling. Relentlessly for 6 months. Finally in November they were so sick of my calls, they said his March date had finally opened up and they got me scheduled for March. Yes, this appointment took over a year to get to!
We decided to make it a little bit of a quicker trip and just take McKay with us, and not the other two kids. Trust me, they didn't miss us for a second. Grandma and Grandpa Ford took them out to dinner, out to a movie, to the Aquarium, to Chuck E Cheese, and out for ice cream.
We couldn't take McKay on a plane because of the germ risk so we drove. We drove to Boise the first night. McKay had started a fever 2 days before we left. No other symptoms but a fever. We took him into the Dr. to see what he thought and he wasn't sure. He still had a fever the morning we were suppose to leave. We called our Dr. again and then called up to Seattle to see what our options were. They said they could not get him in until August if we canceled that appoitment. He only sees patients once a month, and only 5 patients in that day! So we decided to chance it and hope he was better. (Fever broke Saturday night!) He slept very well on the way up, mainly because he didn't feel well and had lots of Motrin in him. We had planned to drive farther than Boise, but our Dr felt strongly we needed to be near a hospital just in case. Luckily we had oxygen already and an oximeter to keep an eye on his oxygen.

We drove the rest of the way the next day and were very happy to have finally arrived and be out of the car. We are so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful family friends that live just an hour out of Seattle. Plus, their house is so incredibly gorgeous!
The Gamblins are friends of the Ford's and have been for years. David (Kyle's dad) and Alan Gamblin were mission companions and their families have stayed friends ever since. Kyle and I had such a great time with them. The food was delicious (I want to move in for a week and just take notes on Jeri's cooking), the place was beautiful, and the company was fabulous! We had so much fun just talking, playing games, or watching tv with them.

 On Sunday everyone headed to Stake Conference. Since McKay couldn't go out in public we decided to go out and go for a walk. McKay was so incredibly happy to be outside. It is BEAUTIFUL in Seattle. Kyle has been trying to convince me that someday we could move to Seattle. Up until now I have said no way, but after this trip I fell in love with the beautiful state. I LOVE this picture. I have a very hard time getting McKay to smile especially for pictures, it almost brought me to tears after I saw the picture. (I don't love me in the pic, but I don't care...) Sunday was very low key. We had a wonderful meal and went on a short walk. McKay would crawl over to the window and cry to go outside.

 We headed out early Monday morning to head to Seattle. We left plenty of time because we were not sure how long it would take us to get there. We got there pretty easy. What a hospital, it is huge! We got checked in and attended out appointment. It went incredibly well. (More on that later). We decided to just go ahead and head back home after the appointment. We were all a little exhausted and McKay didn't nap well so it was a little bit of a long drive. We got to a hotel and didn't even want to take time to get dinner. So we ate some oranges and pringles from our snack bag for dinner and fell asleep pretty quickly.

The drive through the Oregon mountains was beautiful, we did hit a little snow but it wasn't for too long. The rest of the drive went pretty well. It's always the last two hours that drags on a little bit. We were happy to be home and happy to see the kids. We came home and they were both sick with colds. Poor kids (and poor Grandma).
It was a great trip, it was great just getting out of the house. I have to say my favorite  part was having some alone time with Kyle (well alone with McKay). We haven't done a road trip in a very long time and it was fun to just be in the car for a long time just talking and laughing.