Rob was having problems with his seizure medicines, so we packed up the
walker, wheel chair, plastic tote of clothes, spare driver and bathroom
spotter (Mike) and all the other things we knew we'd need and headed north
to Chapel Hill.  The long and short of it:  I've been inadvertently over
dosing Rob on dilantin.  He was really shaky with a medicine change the
doctor gave him, so I put him back on the original amount of Depakote (sp)
but didn't drop the Dilantin back to the original amounts.  Depakote
heightens Dilantin levels,  Rob had a Dilantin level of 31 when normal is
10-20.  He's back on the original amounts of medicines, and should get
better soon.  Dr McNeil also gave me a sliding scale for giving Rob his
insulin.  I was just told to give him 27 units of humulin in the morning and
22 at night.  Now if and/or how much insulin he gets depends on his blood
sugars.  I feel more comfortable about that now.

I don't know what was happening at Chapel Hill, but all of the motels were
booked.  Being cheap, we stayed at the Econolodge on Hollyridge street in
Raleigh.  It was not only reasonably cheap, but was clean, comfortable, and
had a microwave and mini fridge.  It was not in the greatest repair or in a
fantastic neighborhood, but we didn't really care.  It worked for us.  Not
only that but we discovered lunch at O'Malley's Tavern, an Irish style pub.
Rob ordered a chicken parmesan sub that made him moan as he ate it, it was
that good.  I can't laugh as my Irish dip sandwich (roast beef and cheese in
a roll with au jus) had me moaning with joy as well.  Not only that, but the
chef there actually knew how to cook onion rings.  As aficionados know onion
rings are not the easiest things to get right, but the chef got these as
close to perfect as possible.  Mike had an "Irish Club Sandwich" that got
him talking blarney for a while, it was THAT good.  We went back for
breakfast this morning, but wasn't impressed.  The food was ok, but a major
let down after yesterdays' lunch.

The big problem with motels is no cats.  I asked and was told $5/night/pet.
That sounds reasonable to me.  We were so happy to get home.  Rob climbed
into bed and Merlin, Huey, Qui Gun Kit, and QC had a brief debate as to
which cat(s) got to claim Rob.  Merlin and Huey won.  The other two
contented themselves with sleeping in the same room for a while then left to
find more exciting activities.  Merlin and Huey won't leave Rob alone for a
minute, they even trail him to the bathroom.  Rob has such good nursecats.

Pam S.