Better news

Jake's creatinine levels are back to his normal levela.  We got the test results in preop, so the biopsy was cancelled and we'll drive back to Miami this afternoon.  I'll include more detail latet - this post is from my phone.

Yom Kippur Update

We've been boogie-boarding in Fernandina Beach all weekend. We were supposed to drive home tomorrow evening, but instead we're driving to Gainesville later this afternoon. Jake is scheduled to have a radiology-assisted kidney biopsy at 11 tomorrow. I hate those late morning procedures, because he can't eat all morning. due to the anesthesia. We'll have to stay overnight at the hospital to recover from the biopsy, and we'll see the results Tuesday morning.

Jake had previously tested positive for BK virus, which is fairly common in the population but which poses a problem when you're immuno-suppressed. His creatinine numbers are up this week, so they want to take another biopsy to see if he's rejecting, etc. If he needs an anti-viral treatment, we may be in the hospital a while because that's a pretty serious IV-administered medicine. I need to talk to the docs, because my view is that all of this can be done, if necessary, at home instead of Gainesville.

Jake has been stalking some pretty serious (and expensive) Yu Gi Oh decks on ebay. I told him that we can't bid on them because we need to save that kind of thing until we need an in-hospital distraction. He agreed. There's a t-shirt for sale on one of the sites that says "My deck costs more than your car." That's an exaggeration for most cars, but a "Lightsworn" deck costs several hundred dollars.

I only brought one laptop with me for this trip, because we weren't expecting the detour. If it lasts, I may "need" to buy another one. That always gives me some editorial fodder.

The Final Post

I keep passing a billboard on the drive to work for Randy Pausch’s “Final Lecture”.   This is the “Final Post” – same sentiment but drastically different circumstances.

We spent the weekend at Jen’s parents’ house in Fernandina Beach.  Jake went swimming and boogie-boarding twice a day, and got to see his cousin Mia and Uncle Frank.  He’s looking good and he’s feeling good.  I’d say that he’s recuperated.

While walking to the coffee shop this morning, I was thinking how truly blessed we’ve been.  From the deep lows at the beginning of this journey, we never lost hope or love for each other and our friends and family.  That love has paid off, and we spend each day with a rare gift – a conscious recognition of how blessed we are each and every day.

Thank you for all your love and support.  You can friend me at http://www.facebook.com/larrysilv for all the latest updates.  I’ve also set up the new Silverman Family blog at www.larrysilv.blogspot.com, so you can keep up with our travels, my consumer rants, and all the other minutiae. 

Weekly update

Jake's doing so well that it doesn't feel right to say he's recuperat-ing. It feels like he's recuperat-ed. He had a surprise pool party early in the week, and has been swimming a couple of times. Today we rented a cabana at the Four Seasons Hotel pool and hung out for a few hours.

My Mom has been in town all weekend, so he had a chance to spend some time with her. Yesterday we went to another Yu Gi Oh tournament, where he won his first round match, lost his second, and got knocked out in the quarterfinals (although it was very close). He's been talking Yu Gi Oh non-stop. He looks and feels good. I'll post some pictures tomorrow (the camera's memory card isn't compatible with the laptop that lives on the couch, an I'm too lazy to hook up a usb cable tonight).

Why is today different than all other days?

Riding home from work today, I rode through dozens of gnat storms. Did anybody notice that today is an especially gnat-filled day?   

Experimental voicemail

Since I already have his car picked out for when he's 16 (1988 Volvo Diesel Wagon), I signed up for a new Google Voice number (786-379-JAKE) so I can pass it on when he gets his own phone. Until he's ready, I'll use it as my number. If you call that number, it's supposed to forward to my other numbers. If it goes to voice mail, it sends you an email with the recorded message and emails a transcribed message. Cool.

Funny windows issue

I just backed up my hard drive and noticed this issue.

First day of the new regime

We now do the weekly clinic on Mondays. Today was Jake's first day with a non-catheter blood draw, so I went to the hospital with Jen and Jake so he could sit on my lap. He'd been worried about this for days, but it went very well. Jen had pre-treated his arm with the anesthetic cream, and the phlebotomist did a great job. The fact that the first one went well will make our lives much easier, because he won't be worried about it for future visits. No blood test results yet.

Consumer plug - Bought an Acer H213H 21.5" LCD monitor for 160.00 at BJ's Warehouse club yesterday. If your computer can put out a 1920x1200 signal, it's awesome. It also has an HDMI input so you can use it as a small TV.

Tournament Recap

Jake had a great time at his Yu Gi Oh tournament. I was really worried about it, because (1) I didn't know how he would deal with losing; and (2) I didn't know how well he would do.

He lost his first round pairing to a 17 year old kid in a tiebreaker round. He lost the first duel, won the second, and barely lost the tiebreaker. The whole tournament had to stop because Jake's round took much longer than the others, and they had to wait for a winner. The fact that it took a long time was attributable to the closeness of the duels, not Jake's age or relative inexperience.

Jake lost his second round fairly quickly to a 16 year old who had a deck Jake hadn't seen before.

He was in very good spirits, and had no problem losing. He was also a good winner in the duel he won. It was neat to see him talking about Yu Gi Oh issues with the older players.

It looks like we'll be doing this every Saturday afternoon. He's now officially registered in the national ranking system.

That's Jake in the yellow shirt.

We're going to a Romanian restaurant this evening ("Transylvania"), so that should be fun.

Post-surgery

Jake is doing great.  The catheter spot is sore, but he otherwise feels great.  Today he is entered in his first real Yu gi Oh tournament.  They have a tournament at the local card store.  He'd always known about the tournaments, and this week he decided that he wanted to enter.  The owner suggested  that he just watch and learn, and asked one of the kids to show him what to do.  Right now he's beating the kid who is supposed to show him the ropes.

Jen and I are going to try adult date night again tonight.

Out of surgery

We're in the recovery room and Jake is slowly coming around. He feels groggy but good. He's got a band-aid where his catheter was.

He fought-off the anesthesia as long as he could. He tried holding his eyes open with his fingers, and he still can't figure out why that didn't work. As an educated consumer, he asked the doctor (right before falling asleep) how many times she'd done this procedure before.

The last time?

Jake has surgery today to remove his port catheter. We need to get there by 7:30, and they hope to have him on the table by 8:30. It's a general anesthesia procedure, so he'll need some time to recover. However, we don't expect to be admitted to the hospital, and presume that we can take him home in the afternoon. The recuperation is a week (or two), and then he can take real baths, go swimming, ride the mechanical bull, wrestle gators, etc.

Jen and friends

We had some friends come over Friday evening. That's Susan (middle) and Michaela. I hadn't yet figured out how to use the fill-light on the new camera.

Jake and dad

An overstuffed SUV

The boys hanging out

Jake (on the ground) with Remy (with the ball) and Michael.

Home at last

We came home on Friday evening. For the last two days, Jake has had all-day play dates with some of his friends. Yesterday I took the boys to the Yu Gi Oh card store, for pizza, and to Dairy Queen. It was great to have a normal Dad day. Today the boys are playing on the computers -- one computer has Youtube playing and they are doing computer art on the other one.

Pics to come later today.

Jen and I had a chance to go out for a quick anniversary dinner last night while Jake was at his friend's house.

It's taking some time for Jake and Jen to get out of their Gainesville routine and back into our Miami routine. Part of the problem is going from our empty and efficient Gainesville apartment to our full and cluttered house. We spent Friday evening trying to throw away all the expired food to make room for new food. It is nice being able to box up all the weird kidney food.

Being home on a normal schedule allowed me to get in an 8 mile run yesterday and a 55 mile ride today.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary. It seems like just yesterday . . . that I finished paying for the wedding. We hope to have an actual adult night out (with a babysitter and everything) on Saturday.

I'll be driving back to Gainesville in the afternoon (in my big pimpin' Toyota Yaris rental), and we should be driving back to Miami tomorrow.

Jake is tentatively scheduled to have his catheter removed next Thursday at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Fort Lauderdale. We hope that he won't have to be admitted for an overnight stay to recover from that procedure. Once that's done, he can take real baths, swim, go skydiving, practice bullfighting, etc.

I thought we'd be done with big medical expenses, but I have to go to the orthodontist next week and I may need braces. I'd been proud of my ability to handle stress, but I've been grinding my teeth (or so I thought). It turns out my jaw is now misaligned to one side. Could be stress, could be the physical beatings I take when somebody in the car sees a punchbug.

Got the new camera body in the mail, so once I finish reading the 300 page manual I can post higher-resolution pictures that you won't be able to notice because blogger compresses everything.

We really are leaving

Jake's creatinine is .8 - same as it's been and will be. That's good enough for us to say that we're getting out (because we'll be long gone by the time that results come back on Friday).

I haven't decided whether to continue the post-return updates on this blog, or whether to start a new one for a new chapter. "Jacob's Bar Mitzvah Blog"? "Larry's Mid-life Crisis Blog"? "Jen's American Idol Analysis Blog"? The possibilities are endless.

I'm in a mediation all day. I haven't watched the Tour today, but am looking forward to it later. Go Lance! My fantasy Tour team is already in the toilet.

This week's schedule

Things are hectic, but good. The plan was to drive up on Thursday night, take the family back to Fernandina Beach on Friday, and drive back to Miami with the family on Sunday night. Our Gainesville lease expires on Tuesday, so we need to get out of town.

However, I just received an Order setting a federal trial for Monday morning, so I need to work this weekend. Now the plan is to drive up to Gainesville Thursday evening, pack up the apartment, and drive back on Friday morning. I'll need to buy a beaded seatcover to keep my butt from going numb. I can reuse it when I drive a cab on weekends. At least the family will be back in Miami for the weekend.

I just ordered my first digital SLR camera (Pentax, so I can use all my lenses), so I may start linking to family photos posted on Picasaweb (or Flickr, or Snapfish, or Kodak Gallery, or something like that).

Jake's doing well. No test results yet from yesterday's clinic visit. Jen's doing well, too. Last night was another Melting Pot visit with Lauren, so all the dirty clothes probably smell like Melting Pot.

Today's Ceramic painting

Just for archival accuracy, this picture is from today and the other pictures are from yesterday. We needed to make sure that we killed enough time, so we made sure to emphasize need for multiple coats of paint. Jen has a real knack for painting, which is surprising given her shaky-hand tendencies.

Trip to the ceramic studio x2

We're having a very nice weekend in Fernandina Beach. Yesterday it was over 100 degrees, so we needed to play inside during the day. We ended up going to paint your own ceramic studio in "downtown" Fernandina Beach with Jen's brother Frank and Jake's two cousins Mia (the younger one) and Dory (the older one). They had a lot of fun. It was a little cooler today, but it was still too hot to do much during the day. We decided to do the same thing as yesterday, and it was still fun. The ceramic studio is about half the price of what they charge in Miami (which means that we ended up buying twice as much stuff), but they don't sell artisan cupcakes here. Like all southern resort towns, a downtown trip usually involves a fudge purchase. I'm still on my diet, but it's hard.

I ran yesterday and biked today. The mornings have been beautiful, as long as you get inside by 9:30.

7/2 Update

I’m back in the Fort Lauderdale Airport waiting for a flight back to Jacksonville. Jake had his clinic today, and his creatinine level was .92. In other words, he’s where he’s been. The docs want us to stay “just one more week”, so we’re planning to go home next weekend. We’re stowing away all long weekend at the in-laws' house on Fernandina Beach (just like the last two weekends), and Jake’s cousins will also be there.

Somebody asked what creatinine levels mean. Creatinine is the flotsam (or jetsam, if you’re on a crazy exercise routine) that floats around in your blood as a result of the normal process of muscle breakdown. It is normally fished out by the kidneys. If the levels are too high, that means your kidneys aren’t filtering well. The typical level for “men” is .7 to 1.2. I don’t know what the typical level is for “very young and very skinny men”.

I had anticipated that the family would be coming home this weekend, so I made a bunch of work appointments for the upcoming week and RSVP’d “no” for my firm’s annual retreat on Tuesday at a country club in Scarsdale. Oh well. Since this is my last bachelor weekend, I have to wean myself off my “Lord of the Flies” lifestyle. I had a tub of hummus for dinner last night, because that’s what was left in the refrigerator. [I think it was hummus, but it could have been really old cream cheese.] Either way, it was low carb.

The nation should be able to rebound from the sorrow of Billy Mays’ untimely death last week, because the news is now out that Kevin Jonas is engaged. I hope the ceremony is soon, because he and I took vows to wear our promise rings until he got married, and my finger is turning green.

6/30 Update - it will be another week in Gainesville

Creatinine is 1.0. The staff had proposed doing a biopsy next week to investigate the slow rise, but that doesn't make sense because the rise in creatinine seems to precisely coincide with the decrease in prednisone. In any event, it doesn't look like the family is coming home this week.

The new plan would be for Jake and Jen to drive to Jacksonville on Thursday night, and I would fly up there on Thursday night and fly back on Sunday. Jake would go back to clinic on Monday morning, and if that goes well I'll drive up later in the week.

6/28 Weekend Update

A very nice weekend. Jake had an excellent time with his grandparents, and really didn’t want to go home. He had a blast on the beach Saturday night. We give him freedom to do what he wants (the beach is empty), and he ended up making drawings in the wet sand that were five blocks long. My rule is that I let him walk as far as he wants, as long as I can still discern the color of his bathing suit from towel basecamp. He still can't get his catheter wet. Once we're home (hopefully next week), we'll have it removed.

We went to see Star Trek (which was awesome). Jake thought it was too violent, so he had Jen take him out after five minutes.

I ran for 90 minutes on Saturday morning and went for a long bike ride along the Jacksonville coast this morning. It’s very pretty in the morning, before it gets unbearably hot..

6/26 Airport Update

Blogging is easiest when I have down time somewhere that has ample wi-fi. Of course it's hard when the blog is supposed to be about Jake and Jen and there are no actual status updates since a substantive post four hours ago. On the other hand, I may have purchased a pack of gum or seen a shiny object, and I can narcissisticly presume everybody else is as enthralled in these things as I am. More importantly, my two choices right now are (1) update the blog, or (2) listen to TV coverage of Al Sharpton talking about Michael Jackson's death. I choose option one - although I think I voted for Al Sharpton in the Democratic presidential primary a few years back (really).

I'm hanging out at Fort Lauderdale Airport waiting for the delayed flight to Jacksonville. The reason is that "they are having weather in Tampa". No specific kind of weather - just "weather."

The airport Dunkin' Donuts now stocks donuts, so that nightmare is apparently over. On the other hand, the Chicken Kitchen doesn't sell chicken - only something called a "chop-chop" that has pieces of chicken over a bowl of rice. That's not how I roll.

When I'm in a big room with lots of people, my sport is to play "spot the recent law school grad". The bar exam is next month, and you can spot the nervous people reading while holding a rainbow of highlighter pens. I've spotted two so far.

6/26 Update - maybe not

The creatinine was .91. They want to keep him in Gainesville another week, because he allegedly "seemed dry" at clinic yesterday. It doesn't make a lot of sense, because they had conceded that the creatinine levels are all basically the same, but then don't act accordingly.

Jen and Jake are going to Fernandina Beach to spend the weekend at Jen's parents' house. I will fly there tonight and fly back Sunday night. I am planning to pick them up in Gainesville on Thursday for the move-out. We may drive back to Fernandina Beach for the July 4th weekend so Jake can hook up with his cousins (who would come down from Atlanta for the weekend).

Easy Sweltering (i.e., supposed to be ploddingly slow) 10 8 mile run tomorrow and 50 mile scenic bike ride along the coast on Sunday.

6/25 Update - Maybe this weekend . . .

The docs did an ultrasound on Jake to see if there is a visible cause of the afternoon abdomen pain. It doesn't hurt when they apply pressure to that area in the morning, so they still think it may be colon pressure on the new kidney. It appears that his creatinine is stable at the .7 to .9 mark. If the ultrasound report (which comes tomorrow) is favorable, we'll be able to go home this weekend. I'm driving up a one-way rental car tomorrow afternoon, and hope to drive back in our overflowing SUV.

Jake and Jen are going to the Melting Pot for dinner with our friend Dr. Laura and our student nurse/nanny Lauren.

I was up really late last night preparing for some hearings, and thought it was an acceptable idea to run for an hour on the treadmill this afternoon. I'm hurtin'.

6/24 Update

Today Jen felt pretty good (there was a manicure and pedicure on the schedule), but Jake had sharp pains in his side in the afternoon.  Tomorrow is the nephrology clinic, so they need to have a better answer than “upset stomach”.  We also hope to get an action plan for when we can leave Gainesville.

We don’t have defined weekend plans yet.  We may go to Jacksonville again, or we may stay in Gainesville.  If we go to Jacksonville, my bike won’t be ready so I’ll have to run instead. Yuck.  I apparently committed myself to run the Fort Lauderdale 13.1 half marathon with our friend Susan on November 15th.  I had already signed up for the MiamiMan half-ironman on November 8th, so the only way I’m going to be able to do both is to get into full marathon shape so the half-marathons will seem like training runs.  This means I have to really train this year, not the half-assed marathon training I’d done in the past (which resulted in crappy marathon times and nagging injuries).  A journey of 26 miles starts with a single step, but the journey sucks.  

6/23 Tech experiment

Being a wild and crazy guy, I spent a bachelor night installing Windows 7 Beta on my PC, as well as Windows Live (which allows remote blog design and entry). Big party right here. So far, I've discovered that the "Blogger" platform doesn't enjoy have pages injected into it from outside programs.

Nothing much to report. Jake says that he didn’t play much with his friends when they visited him today because they went to the mall, and he doesn’t consider the mall to be a fun place to play. He says that his side still hurts every evening (even after snacking therapy), so we need to check that out this week.

6/23 Update

Jake's creatinine is down to .80. It seems to fluctuate within a standard deviation off the mean. Of course, if we knew the mean exactly (instead of estimating it), we'd use (n) instead of (n-1) in the denominator. I can graph it for you if you like. No, really, it's no problem.

Jen's stomach feels better than it did this weekend. The Rodriguez family visited today, which was nice. Unfortunately, Jake spent much of that time playing on his Nintendo DS like a zombie.

I expect that we'll go back to Jacksonville this weekend, but we'll see.

6/23 Update

Jen's been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia in her stomach, which means that it's twisted upon itself a bit. The docs inferred that it's not directly related to anything that was done as part of the surgery, but she didn't have it before the surgery. She's still has some tummy pain, but part of the treatment is to each a few small meals during the day so she doesn't get empty (which is the same thing they told Jake for his tummy pain). That seems to be working, and she feels better than she did this weekend.

Jake's doing fine. He's engrossed in the "story mode" of an epic Yu Gi Oh Nintendo DS game. Once that's over, who knows?

We may have some friends from Miami stop by and visit Jake and Jen in Gainesville this week. Jake's looking forward to that.

I came back to Miami last night. Got up at 6 to go a long easy bike ride, but had to sit and watch as a thunderstorm rolled in.

6/21 Update

100 degrees in Jacksonville today. Jake and his friends were cooped-up in the house all day. He generally feels good.

Jen is still feeling ill. I cancelled my flight back to Miami tonight so I could drive them back to Gainesville. I'm going to take Jen to the transplant clinic in the morning, and rent a car and drive home after that.

We went to the beach yesterday afternoon, which was a load of fun except for my stupidity in walking there (on the scalding pavement) barefoot. I ended up with large blisters on the bottoms of my feet, so I couldn't run today. The Jacksonville bike will be in the shop for another week, so I couldn't ride. I ended up spending the morning learning how to configure the Thunderbird email program on the in-laws' computer, because their Outlook Express is irreparably bonked. It's aerobic mental exercise.

6/20 update

I'm in the mood for Zipz. Remember Zipz? The "make your own sundae" place. The biggest size was the zonker, but we usually got our sundaes in a mini baseball helmet bowl.

It's about 100 degrees, so we're hanging out in the house until it cools off a bit. We went to a restaurant on the water for lunch, where I took the picture.

Crummy bike trip, but a beautiful morning. 5 miles from home, the right pedal came off. The crank threads were completely stripped off - so much so that it can't be re-threaded. Rode home with one pedal. I then got a flat 2 miles from home. The bike is at the only bike shop in Fernandina, and I don't know if they can find and old replacement crank in their parts pile or whether they'll need to order one.

Greetings From Fernandina Beach

Jake and Jen had a nice evening at the beach. Grandpa "Beep" brought a ditch-digging shovel, so they were able to do some neighborhood redevelopment in the sand. Jake's friends Max and Masha were also down at the beach, so he was able to see them for a while. Jen is fighting a bug, so she's a little worn out.

We'll do some beach tomorrow evening. Jake's anti-rejection medicines make him very sun-sensitive, so we can't go to the beach (which is about 200 yards from the house) until late in the day. After I get back from the morning bike ride, I'll spend the mid-day hours doing my son-in-law duties -- devirusing and otherwise repairing the inlaws' desktop PC. Their wireless ssid is "Larry". On the other hand, their MacBook Pro ("Little Larry") still runs like a champ.

6/19 update

There's a Dunkin' Donuts in Terminal One at Fort Lauderdale Airport. They don't carry donuts. I didn't want a donut, but still . . .

Jake's creatinine is .90. Prograf is up to 12.5 (we want it below 10). Potassium is good at 5.0. We don't know if creatinine is up because the Prograf level is up, whether .90 is merely within the standard deviation of his "good baseline" function levels, or whether it's something else. I tend to favor the explanation that allows me to make use of my masters degree in statistics (actually econometrics, but it's pretty much the same thing). For more math goodness, try out the new Wolfram Alpha search engine, from the authors of the nerdgasmic Mathematica software package.

Jen had her CAT-scan today. No results, but it was apparently an unpleasant series of logistical problems culminating with a spill of the dye on her new outfit.

We're spending the weekend at Jen's parents' house in Fernandina Beach, Florida (a/k/a "Amelia Island"). It's really nice, and Jake loooooves the kids who live next door. It should be a nice weekend.

I'm typing this on the Netbook at the airport while rocking out on Pandora (the Muse channel) on the Pre and sucking down a decaf iced coffee. Yuppie sterotypical bliss. For those who mock the Larry decaf coffee diet, I dropped 5 pounds in the last ten days.

6/18 post - craigslist edition

We went to the nephrology clinic today for Jake, and Jen went down to the transplant clinic for a checkup. Both Jake and Jen had been having some abdomen pain. Jake's pain comes in the mid-afternoon, so the prescription by the docs is that he should have a snack between lunch and dinner. Jen's isn't that simple, so she's going for a cat-scan tomorrow. No blood test results until tomorrow.

I drove back to Miami in a torrential downpour. Every time I drive back, it rains a little at Yeehaw Junction (and there's usually a rainbow). This time it was an Armageddon storm. My rental Hyundai compact was blowing and sliding, so I waited out the storm at a rest stop. On the other hand, I got a lot of hands-free work calls done during the drive. The Palm Pre is superior to my old iPhone 3G on so many levels, especially as a phone. Much, much better phone reception and call quality, and better battery life for phone use.

Jen and Jake are driving to Fernandina Beach tomorrow (about 90 minutes away) to stay at Jen's parent's house for the weekend. I'm going to fly up after work (Southwest Airlines) and come back Sunday night. I've got an old Miyata road bike at their house that hasn't been ridden in a year, so the tune up will keep me occupied.

One of the things that we've decided to do when we get back to Miami is get Jake a new big bed for his room, so he'll stop sleeping in our bed. That means that his old twin bed (with matching pull-out trundle bed) has got to go. He's slept in it very little, and it's pristine. Any takers before it goes onto Craigslist? Speaking of Craigslist - this is very well done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R32aFmxL9HY

6/17 update

Today's post comes from the bowels of the library at the University of Florida School of Law. I packed up my new netbook and a change of shirt into my manbag (a messenger bag, but let's face it, it's a manbag) and biked over for a day's worth of work. They gave me a visitor password for their wireless network (a courtesy they extend to all Florida Bar members, even people with spandex bike shorts peeking out from under their cargo shorts).

Jake was happy to see me last night, and really happy to receive the new "X-Saber" Yu Gi Oh Deck that I brought with me from Miami. Jen had mail-ordered it, but it was shipped to our house. That's why he was happy to see me go on Sunday, and happy to have me come back yesterday. He's got lots of energy, and feels well. We have a big clinic visit tomorrow. Once that's done, I'll drive back to Miami late Thursday evening. I've got a ton of work meetings on Friday. I'm single-handedly keeping Hertz solvent - although there's no extra charge for a one-way rental within Florida. It's usually only about $70 per weekday, and $40.00 per weekend day. I may not get back for a few days after that, but we'll see.

Jen was able to get a manicure and pedicure, but I can't seem to convince her to get back into the massage routine. Plenty of nice (and inexpensive) day spas in Gainesville.

I'm very happy with the new Acer Aspire One 1920 netbook. Very usable 10.1 inch screen, decent keyboard (given the small size) and very acceptable (almost snappy) performance. I loaded up Firefox and OpenOffice 3.1, so I have all the applications I need. I'd recommend the 160gb hard drive rather than the 16gb solid state drive, because OpenOffice does take up a lot of space. All told, an excellent deal for $329.00. It makes a nice Father's Day present for yuppie nerds.

6/16 Update

This post comes courtesy of the "Attorney Resource Room" at the Orlando Bankruptcy Courthouse (which is one floor of an otherwise civilian office building). I'm pleased to find that they've finally replaced the keyboard on the open-access computer after 5 years. Previously, typing was like shifting the lumps in a bowl of tapioca pudding. After my 2:00p.m. hearing, I'm going up to Gainesville. I'll be back in Miami on Friday morning.

The blood test results from yesterday are generally good. Creatinine is down to .70, so his drinking has helped Potassium is a little high (5.4) and they need to raise the dose of some other medications. I don't understand why potassium would be high if kidney function is otherwise good, but I'm sure I'll learn all about it in the coming semesters of life-experience nephrology university (credits not transferable to other institutions).

The preemptive consumer plug today goes to the latest iteration of CompUSA. I had some time to kill, so I went into the Orlando location. Helpful staff, good selection, reasonable prices. I bought a new Acer Aspire netbook (for which a review will come real soon). The promised 6 hour battery life and 2.5 lb size make it a good tool for my upcoming daily bike commutes to the UF Law Library. Also a thumbs up for the Chevy HHR rental car. It looks like a pie delivery van, but it's roomy and comfortable. When this ordeal is done, I'm going to index the whole blog for easy location of medical issues and consumer rants.

Post-weekend update

Jake had a great eating weekend. He loved the Melting Pot. Since he normally doesn't eat, I figured we could get by with the "meal for 2", and add on an extra salad for him and a chocolate fondue. He devoured most of the shared cheese fondue, and ate most of the shared meat. I'm looking forward to taking him to the Melting Pot in Miami with his friends (all of whom are big eaters).

We also went to the Ivey House Restaurant in Alachua for lunch. It's on historic Main Street, in a big old house. He ate a bunch of fried shrimp (which were excellent). I highly recommend it.

He had a big, big tummy ache this morning. Maybe he ate too much this weekend.

After schlepping his bike all the way up to Gainesville, Jake said that he didn't have any interest in going bike riding. I had passed up the available sports car rental in favor of a crappy Hyundai SUV, so I was a little miffed.

I have a hearing in Orlando tomorrow. I will be working part-time from Gainesville (presumably out of the UF Law School library) Wednesday through Friday of this week.

6/11 Update - Ask the cranky critic

Larry's back in Gainesville for the weekend (and much of next week), and now Larry will stop referring to himself in the third person. It was hard to be gone for a whole week. Jake looks good and feels well. The blood tests yesterday show Creatinine climbing a bit (.87) and potassium up. Jake knew he hadn't been drinking a lot, and told Jen that he now knows its necessary because both sets of doctors mentioned it. If only one set of doctors says something, he's not fully convinced. We've moved pill time to 9:45 am and pm. It makes it easier for him to wake up (late) and fall asleep (late). I guess we'll try out "summer hours" and go back to normal bedtimes when school starts. That also gives me time to get in a 50 mile ride before they wake up.

We had hoped to go home within 2 weeks, but now we won't go home until the levels are truly stable. We'll resume the Monday blood tests to go along with the Thursday clinic visit (and blood tests). I'll be here for the upcoming Thursday test. The catheter won't be removed until we go home, but we apparently can get that scheduled at Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital on an outpatient basis without too much difficulty.

Jen's Mom and pre-nurse Lauren took care of the family while I was gone and did an incredible job.

And now the content you all have been waiting for - my consumer column. First off, I'm a very happy Palm Pre customer. I was walking back from court and passed by Radio Shack. They had the big Palm Pre display in the window, so I went in and found out that they actually had them in stock. The Sprint network has been good, and the Pre has lots of neat functionality. Most importantly, I'm able to type on it much better than I could with the iPhone. It has a real blackberry-style keyboard (a little small, but usable). My office hasn't decided whether they are going to support it, but it syncs well with Gmail, Google calendar and Google contacts so I can do what I need to do. Battery life is a little better than I had with my old iPhone. On the kid entertainment side, you can watch TV on it through the "Sprint TV Network". Very cool.

The usual thumbs down to . . . Best Buy. After buying the Palm Pre, I needed to buy a car charger. Since I'm on one of my crazy self-designed diets, I decided to drive to Aventura for D'Lites low carb ice cream. Since I have no life, this was pretty much the most exciting part of my week. I stopped in at Best Buy to try to pick up the charger, but Best Buy doesn't stock genuine Pre accessories - just their own crappy knock-off house brand for the same price as the real thing. If I wanted to buy a knock-off, I'd go to Walmart and pay the knock-off price.

One last observation that may be useful for you stock market investors. I went to the Borders bookstore in Aventura. That place is a toilet. Most of the magazines that I was looking for had the April issue out on display. I have to think that the chain is millimeters from bankruptcy. Sell short.

Another exciting day in Gainesville

We arrived at Nephrology Clinic at 8:45 a.m. Met our fellow Joe DiMaggio Children's Hosp. Transplant Patient in the waiting room. He's about a year out from his transplant and doing great. We will get results from blood tests tomorrow. The doctors are saying that we might get to go home to Miami in the next couple of weeks. If results are good tomorrow than we won't have to go back until next Thursday for blood and to see the doctor. We were officially dismissed from Transplant today. We hugged our Transplant Doctor goodbye, but exchanged emails and hope to stay in touch. After the appointments we went to Target for a Yugioh Deck than lunch at Fridays. We hung out in the apartment for awhile. Lauren our nursing student came to watch Jacob for a couple of hours while we went out. I bought myself a belated Mother's Day present at Coach. Thank you Larry.

FYI - Larry has a new cell number

The new cell number is 305-763-0432. The old number wasn't transferable, for reasons that are suspicious and murky.

Jacob and the Chocolate Factory

Well Mom and I returned from our big day of shopping and we needed to get Jacob out of the apartment. We decided a trip to The Melting Pot for dessert was just what he needed. He dipped strawberries to his hearts content. I'm not sure whether more ended up in his mouth or on his shirt. He asked all about the other food at The Melting Pot and I described in detail from the cheese fondue to the salad and the boullion boil. He said that it all sounded great to him. So we have a reservation for Saturday to return for a full dinner with Daddy.

On another note, my Mom suggested that he might want to ride bikes with Daddy this weekend, so we are going to ask him to bring the bike from Miami. Sounds like a winner.

Great news! Creatinine is down to 0.67. Potassium is 4.7 (He can have some more fruits and veggies). Prograf is 8.9. We were told to keep the drug same until we see the doctors on Thursday, when more labs will be taken with results on Friday. Hope to have the prednisone lowered again on Thursday or Friday.

Mom and I are off to the Gainesville Mall for a few hours of shopping. Lauren the smart and beautiful student nurse/nanny is on her way over. She is a dead ringer for my niece Dory. Big beautiful blue eyes, freckles across the cute little nose and the same coloring. It's like looking into the future of what our wonderful Dory will look like when she's 20. We have other beautiful nieces and nephews too. My brother Frank and his wife Jami's two girls - Dory and Mia. Larry's brother Noel and his wife Dita's two girls Kara and Jessica and their son Joshua. Than on Grandma Donna's side we have Eric's kids Zach and Brooke, Ronnie's kids Jonah and Leah. We also have a bevy of canine nephews and nieces from my brother Ed and his wife Rachael.

Jacob loved the dinner we made from the recipe in the kid's cookbook last night. He's eating better than ever. Hope to have even better news to report soon. Such as great success at the mall today:)

Jennifer's Guest Blog

All is well here in Gainesville. My wonderful Mom is with us this week helping me take care of Jacob. We went for labs this morning but won't have results until Tuesday mid-day. Afterward we went to the bookstore and bought cookbooks for kids (my Mom's great idea). We are planning on using the recipes this week with my Mom. Jacob also picked out a Yu Gi Oh manga. He read the entire book while getting a much needed haircut after lunch. We will go back later this week for more books. We need to keep him reading for the summer and I count Yu Gi Oh comics as reading. Will let you all know labs tomorrow.

6/6 Update

Grandma: "Let's go to the Florida science museum".

Jake: "I don't wanna go. I'll just wait in the front with my DS".

Grandma: "OK. Should we go and get the present we were planning?"

Dad: [Loudly and passive agressively toward the back of the car]"We don't reward bad behavior. If he's going to be like that, we can go just home."

Jake: "I should be open minded and try new things. I'll go."

It's a very cool museum, with dinosaur fossils and a live butterfly exhibit. We all had a good time.

He's eating very well. He gets a little grumpy a few hours after the medicines (Prednisone?), but he generally feels good. Jen feels good. I got in a 50 mile bike ride - I didn't intend to go that far, but Newberry is farther west than I had expected.

6/5 - Nerdgasm

I came back up to Gainesville this evening. Jake looks great. Creatinine is down to 0.83, and Potassium is 3.2. We went and bought what little inventory was left over from his previous Toys-R-Us trips (Thanks Alicia and Raquel! and Dr. Calderon). It's like looting, but you pay at the cash register on the way out.

Since we were in one place for a week, some gifts that had been sent to us during the hospital stay finally caught up to us. I guess the same inner instincts that are so good for avoiding creditors are counterproductive when people try to send gifts. Thanks to Carl Roston for the UF Championship hat, to Scott Goldstein for the awesome games and goody basket, and to the Kasowitz firm for the dainty girlie stuff for Jen. Dr. Calderon sent an amazing basket of goodies that we received earlier this week and today we received packs of Yu Gi Oh Cards and another gift card to Toys R Us from him. Thank you all for your generous gifts.

I had some time to kill last night (my stag lifestyle leaves much to be desired) so I went to Aventura mall. The Sony Style store is awesome. It's like the Apple Store, except with Sony stuff. They have all the ultrapremium Sony laptops on display that you don't normally see at retail. Since I lean towards Windows, it was hard to resist some of the tech porn. I did, but it was hard (to resist).

The Miami Supercon Comic book convention is this weekend. We're going to miss it, but it's a good reminder that the convention was the first public thing Jake and I went to when he got out of the hospital two years ago. Even if we were in town, we'd probably skip it anyway. Too many germs and too much Naruto.

6/4 Update

Another day where I am out of town and have no real knowledge of anything, but spin the same scary things over and over again. Look at me, I'm Ann Coulter!

They went to nephrology clinic and transplant clinic this morning, but the blood tests won't be ready until tomorrow. Other than the 2 hour+ wait to see the transplant docs, everything was pleasant enough. I head back in the morning, and come back Sunday night. My rental car is a Prius, so I get to be a crunchy all weekend.

6/3 Update

I'm still in Miami, so I don't have any direct knowledge. He's been feeling a little better. Tomorrow morning he has his blood tests, so we'll find out how things are really going. Jen is running errands, which is wearing her down physically. She should still be resting, but I've got to cover some work responsibilities and she's flying solo.

I'm starting a self-created diet to try to take off some of the vending machine weight. Every time I want to snack, I have an iced decaf with splenda. It worked a few years ago, so I'll try it again..

6/2 remote update

I came back to Miami to work for a few days, so I have no first hand knowledge of what happened today. I drove back in a rental car last night. I was very pleased with my Pontiac G6 rental car. I think they'll do well with that model.

Apparently there was a very expensive trip to Toys-R-Us, and a lot of Lego construction. We go back to the nephrology and transplant clinics on Thursday, so there won't be any blood tests until then. We hired one of the student nurses from the hospital as a part-time nanny, so Jen got a chance to get out of the apartment and get her nails and toes done. http://www.tbs.com/video/0,,58134%7C314580%7C,00.html?eref=sharethisUrl

Dear Brother Ed and Brother Frank, I apologize for Larry's joke. Although you have to admit it's pretty funny.
Love Sister Jen

6/1 afternoon update

Creatinine is down to 1.01 (dropped by almost half). Potassium down to 4.2. He should be discharged today.

A dozen UF football players came through the ward today. They seemed like very nice young men, although none of them were starters (except the punter). On a related note, a bunch of FSU players visited the local correctional facility . . .

6/1 update

We're in the hospital waiting to find out if he is going to be discharged. The labs are running a little late, so no blood test results yet. On what is hopefully his last day as an inpatient, we finally found things in the cafeteria that he likes.

One clarification on yesterday's post. Just because I take full credit for the diagnosis doesn't mean that it was my idea. C'mon people, I'm married. It was Jen's idea. Thinking of something and taking credit for it are two completely different things. Think Al Gore.

If things go well, I plan on renting a very small car and driving back to Miami this evening so I can take care of some work tomorrow.

I rode around rural Gainesville on the bike yesterday. It's really pretty, and bike lanes are abundant. I could live here if they had better electronics stores. Went to Office Max yesterday to buy the laptop in the ad, but they were suddenly out of stock when I declined the extended warranty. I actually heard the stockroom guy ask the sales clerk on the radio whether I was getting the warranty before he went to "look" in inventory.

5/31 Report

Creatinine is down to 1.9. Steroids seem to be working. I take full credit for the diagnosis and treatment. We'll leave at noon and need to return by 7:00a.m. tomorrow.

He was a little nauseated yesterday afternoon. It may be because of the steroids (Solumedrol).

I convinced him to watch part of Star Blazers with me last night. He said he didn't really like it, because he "only likes either funny cartoons or cartoons with some action and some funny", and this didn't have enough funny or action. The fact that it's 9 hours long also plays into his analysis. My new bribe is that if he's well behaved, I'll download a Phineas and Ferb episode from iTunes for his iTouch. When I was a kid, if you were well behaved your parents would beat you with a softer belt.

I went to Best Buy with money in hand to buy a laptop (I was even considering a MacBook). I couldn't get a salesperson's attention, and we left after 15 minutes. Who'd have thunk that people would be shopping on a Saturday afternoon? I think they could smell that I wasn't buying the Geek Squad add-in.

If things are good tomorrow, I'll drive back to Miami in the afternoon.

I forgot to mention - happy Shavout.

5/30 report

Creatinine is still rising (2.24), and his prograf level is up. The nephrologist came by in the morning, and said that the MAG3 test showed that his kidney flow function had improved (from 28 minutes to drain the marker fluid 2 weeks ago to 22 minutes now). The transplant team then came, and conceded that the scans don't show any kind of impairment that would require surgical intervention. They prescribed a three day round of steroids (something we'd been suggesting all week) to treat what could be a subtle rejection. I raised a stink as to why he'd need to be admitted for three more days to allow for a 15 minute treatment once a day - especially where we've been sitting here for a week for little more than observation. After some negotiating and complaining (and with the assistance of a very able nurse), it was resolved that we will leave at 4pm each day and return at 7am. It was as pissy as I've even been at the docs.

He's lounging in the buff and proudly stinky. I plan on taking him to the comic book store later for a firm grounding in the classics. Other than that, no big plans. Maybe an afternoon bike ride and then a month of time sheets for the 2 hours a day of work I was able to do.

5/29 - Night

The nephrologist called and said that the Mag3 scan showed no functional impairment. We treat that as good news. The current problems would then be treated as rejection-related, and medicated via steroids. That sounds a lot better than something which would require invasive surgery. On the other hand - who the heck really knows. Its a mystery wrapped up in an enigma smothered with paradox and currants, and then deep-fried.

Onto other news. First, Batmite (voiced by Paul Reubens) was featured on tonight's Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Awesome! Lots of nerd in-jokes. He was portrayed a lot like Boingo the Bunny from Hoodwinked. Some of you may recall that when Jake first left the hospital two years ago, the first place we went was a comic book convention. I'm not that into it anymore, but he really does get it from me (although I was more Marvel than DC). I need to get him reading comic books rather than manga.

Second, once he goes to sleep I can start Star Blazers (a/k/a Spaceship Yamato) off of iTunes. Each episode is a 1gb download. It's a Japanese serial cartoon dubbed into English. It was on at 8:00 a.m. every morning when I was in the seventh grade. I faked sickness for two days in a row to see how it ended.

5/29 evening update - Still here

Creatinine is up to 2.14. We just came back from another Mag3 test in radiology. Same message from the docs - "you can go home tomorrow if nothing drastic changes". Same as last 3 days.

No common view as to why creatinine is rising. Surgery group wants to do surgery to treat a potential blockage. Nephrology wants to wait and see. Same as last 2 weeks.

He's in good sprits. We played some Wii, and he beat me fair and square (as opposed to Yu Gi Oh, where he cheats sometimes).

Puppy

And sometimes they know what they are doing . . .

He woke up kind of grumpy and blah, and an bunch of anti-rejection medications on an empty stomach didn't help. He was moaning and bundled up in bed when the dog people came by with a ten month old Maltese puppy named JJ (who travels by turquoise purse). Jake perked right up, and has been playing with the dog for 15 minutes. I hadn't previously seen the dog visits work well, because they usually visit with big dogs (which doesn't interest Jake).

We don't have the test results back yet, so we don't know if we're going home today.

5/28 Evening Report

We had two out-of-hospital excursions today. At lunchtime, we went to Toys-R-Us so he could use some of the gift cards that he'd received. They have plenty of Club Penguin stuff in stock, so he was pleased. We came back for the afternoon medical rounds, and then went back to the apartment and to dinner. We're now back in the hospital room for the evening.

If nothing bad happens, we'll be discharged tomorrow and spend the weekend in the apartment. He's been off IV for 24 hours, and we need to make sure that his levels stay stable. He's drinking the prescribed amount, so we'll see what happens. If everything according goes to plan, I'll drive back to Miami on Monday afternoon so I can do some office work, and then drive back here late Wednesday night or first thing Thursday morning.

We did learn during the afternoon meeting with the medical team that the lead transplant surgeon and I went to intermediate school together (I'm one year older). Good old I.S. 72 - Rocco Laurie Intermediate School in Staten Island (pictured above). Mascot is the Bulldogs. Official colors are pink and blue. Official automobile is the 1982 Chevy Monte Carlo.

5/28 Morning Report

Creatinine is up to 1.94, from 1.6 yesterday. Potassium is stable. In other words, he's pretty much the same as he was when he was discharged last week (although I presume they thought that the creatinine would decrease over the weekend).

No word on discharge plans. They've given us a pass to leave for a few hours, as long as we come back by rounds at 2:00p.m. We will either go to the Butterfly museum (if the weather is conducive) or to Walmart for a change of clothes. We didn't bring a lot of clothes (because he lounges au natural), so he's wearing his Transformers (Bumblebee) pajamas.

Cutting Edge Transplant Surgery

Thank you - Edition "C"

We want to say thanks for some of the cool presents that we've received. First, thank you to Dr. Timko for the package: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BovQyphS8kA

Jake also wants to thank Alec (from whom he got his middle name) for the excellent Yu Gi Oh cards.

Spurs did not win (afternoon update)

No big changes. Jake is off the IV, and has been ordered to continue to drink lots of fluids. We'll see how he does tonight. The entire transplant and nephrology staff is soon to be off to a transplant convention in Boston this weekend, so we're hoping to be discharged tomorrow.

I went home to watch the game. I was asked not to spoil the result. I won't, other than to note that Tottenham did not win the 2009 Champions League. Further, I know that Spurs did not win the 2009 FA Cup, the 2009 Premier League, or the 2010 Champions or Europa Cup.

5/27 morning update

He's getting really frustrated with having to be in the hospital even though he feels good. He's eating and drinking fine.

We hope to do some arts and crafts today. He gets his reading in, but it's all either websurfing or Yu Gi Oh. We have him too well-conditioned, because he refuses to go to the playroom because there are germs there.

It seems to have stopped raining. When it rains, the local traffic is unbelievably bad - so bad that it's easier for me to stay in the room than go home for a break.

The big soccer game is on at 2:45pm. I'm currently negotiating for tv access at that time.

5/26 Evening Report

The initial reading of the biopsy is identical to the previous biopsy. No rejection, but the same reversible damage (necrosis and ischemia) from the initial antirejection medication levels. He's very sensitive to his fluid levels, but he's been superhydrated on IV fluids for the last two days 2 days and his creatinine levels have barely moved since we got here. The potassium came down after the initial treatment, and has stayed at that level. The next steps haven't been decided yet.

After doing a lot of research, I went to Best Buy to purchase a laptop. I pointed the one I wanted from the display, but they suddenly decided (after I declined the extended warranty and the Geek Squad setup) that they were out of stock. I'd go mail order, but then I lose the instant gratification.

5/26 Afternoon Report

He's out of the recovery area and back in his room. Nothing substantive to report. We need to order a range of soups for delivery, because his excellency was not pleased with the (admittedly gross) selection in the cafeteria.

5/26 Morning Report

We're outside the operating room waiting for the completion of the biopsy. He'll be groggy and hungry afterwards. Once he sharpens, he'll ask about the Yu Gi Oh deck that I promised I'd look for at Walmart. That gives me about three hours to find them or create my own on the computer.

He's remarkably stoic about the whole thing. He's sick of the process, but he's not bitter.

He's a little stuffy. I hope my allergy attack isn't a cold, and I hope he didn't get it.


One of the laptops developed a tiny (at first) screen crack, and I've been watching it slowly spread across the screen. Looks like a Best Buy trip this afternoon.

New research on children's health care

I think Jake would agree:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/study_most_children_strongly

He's scheduled for another biopsy (his third) tomorrow morning. He feels good, but is frustrated with this process. They still don't know what caused his potassium to rise. They say it's nothing he ate or drank. You have to be careful - I read the label on something and saw that it was "dangerously cheesy." Sounds like a product liability lawsuit waiting to happen.

Memorial Day/Spring Bank Holiday

He had a quiet night. Everything is hooked up through the port catheter, so they don't have to bother him to draw blood or administer new IVs. There was a 2:00am blood draw that he didn't even notice. We're on a different floor than our previous visits. On the other floors, the nurses wouldn't touch the port catheter. On this floor, they have no problem doing that. This is surprising, because this floor appear to treat less-intensive cases. There's open access to this floor - no passes or permission necessary.

They treated him with insulin and sugar serum to get his potassium level. We much prefer that to the terrible tasting drug they usually use. It is somewhat ironic that they can use a diabetes-related treatment for levels that are elevated due to fruits and vegetables.

The sporting event with the world's biggest financial jackpot is 10:00a.m. this morning. It's the Championship playoff game between Burnley and Sheffield United. The winner gets to join the Premier League and receives $150,000,000 as part of the Premier League TV contract. The loser gets nothing. I couldn't figure out why the game is today, because they don't celebrate Memorial Day in England. Instead, today is the "Spring Bank Holiday" in England.

The origin of Skittles

Very informative.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Skittles

Yes, we're bored. At least everything is hooked up through his catheter, so no more needles today. He's on a bunch of meds and we'll have more tests tomorrow.

Hospital info.

We're in Room 4510. Room phone number is 352-265-0045, but call us on the cell unless it's an emergency.

Two observations. First, is it a southern thing, a hospital thing, or some other thing that explains why people don't say "You're welcome" here? The response to "thank you" is "mm hmm"? What is that?

Second, it took us an hour and half to get admitted even though there was nobody else waiting and they knew that he was an emergency admit due to the potassium. The reason - the charge nurse was "on lunch."

The good news is that there's no IV, and they will be taking his blood tests out of his port catheter. No pain, no problem. He's cool with the hospital experience when there's no pain. He was expecting an IV, but didn't want anybody to talk about it in front of him. He'll have an ultrasound either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Back to the Hospital

We just got the results. His levels are rising (Creatinine at 1.7, Potassium at 6.5) and we're leaving for the hospital. He'll be readmitted. We have stop off on the way to the hospital to buy a second Yu Gi Oh cartridge so we can duel against each other wirelessly. When I told him the bad news, it was the only distraction I could think of.

5/24 - morning update

It's 12:34, but it's still only a morning update. We had to be at the hospital by 8:00a.m. for a blood test. We don't know the results yet. After we came home, Jen and Jake went back to sleep.

I'm on a cocktail of allergy medicines (don't know if it's the rain, the season or the apartment), and have been sleeping more during the day than I am at night. I hope to go for another bike ride this afternoon. I took the new fixie out yesterday. It was good to get out but (1) I've lost a lot of fitness over the past three weeks, and (2) it will take a lot of tush time to break in the brand new Brooks saddle. Fitness or not, it's a pretty bike.

Jen's parents went home today. They were an enormous help to us. I had initially planned on going home tomorrow and coming back on Wednesday, that that all changed after the last hospitalization. I'm now hoping to go home next Sunday and come back on Wednesday.

5/23- a little exercise

He's feeling good, as you can see from the video below. We had two excursions. The first was a trip with Jen's parents to a Florida State Park called the Devil's Millhopper. The park is only a half-mile from the apartment. It's a giant 10,000 year old sinkhole that is as close as you can get (in North-Central Florida) to a rainforest. I kept telling the family that every step down would later require a step up, but nobody listened. The trip down (there's a boardwalk and lots of steps) was beautiful. You can see the waterfall in the background.

The trip back up was the family Bataan march. Afterwards, Jen took a nap and I took Jake to the card store and to Krystal.

We go for a blood test tomorrow morning, so we'll see how things are really going.

5/23 Update

This is the happy dance. We're in the apartment, feeling good.

Jake's guest autobiographiblog

First things first. I am thankful they won't have to keep poking me, but I still don't like the staff at the hospital. If I could say anything right now to them -- as Dr. Doofenshmirtz once said, "Thank you and curse you."

I also want to say hello to all my friends and tell them that I'm doing well.

If you want to know a good show, watch Batman:The Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network.