Setup in Gainesville

We've arrived at the 1 bedroom furnished apartment that we rented in the "Hunter's Crossing" apartment complex. We have a single queen bed, so I'll sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag for a few days. Once they go into the hospital, I'd get the whole bed for a week, but I'll be spending the night in Jake's room. Two weeks from now, we'll have a second apartment (a 2 bedroom), and we'll move into that and the in-laws will get this one. We're set up fairly well, with a supermarket close by and our own washer/dryer. I can't figure out how to get the cable modem to work, but there's no problem finding an unsecured "linksys" router for "free" wireless access.

The trip was uneventful. Jake plowed through half of Season 4 of the Simpsons and is working on Pokemon Platinum. He calls it "doubletasking." Jen and I listened to Casey Kasem running down an America's Top 40 from 1976. Disco Lady by Johnnie Taylor was number 1 that week.

This is graduation weekend for both University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College, so everything is fairly crowded. We stayed local for dinner, because I was told we absolutely, positively needed to be back for the premiere of the new Jonas Brothers tv show at 8p.m.

Both Jen and Jake have hospital appointments at 8:00a.m. on Monday morning, but Jen doesn't formally check in until Tuesday. Jake will have his last (hopefully) dialysis on Monday, and will sleep at the hospital Monday night (as will I). I have a lot of work to catch up with before the surgery, so tomorrow will be low-key.

5/1- Leaving tomorrow

We've leaving for Gainesville tomorrow morning. We recently bought a 2009 Honda Pilot with the flip down TV and wireless headphones, so Jake now likes long car trips because it allows for uninterrupted Yu Gi Oh. He received an iPod Nano, an iPod Touch, and new Nintendo DS games for his birthday (all from his friends), so he's fully self-contained (i.e., spoiled rotten) in the back seat.

We need to get to Gainesville by 5:00p.m. so we can get the keys to the aprtment before the rental office closes. Otherwise, it's the Super 8 for tomorrow night.

The whole family is coming to town by plane on Monday, and we're a little spooked by the swine flu possibilities. The no-hugging rule will have to go into effect.

Jacob's preemptive 9th birthday party

Since we'll be in Gainesville for his birthday (May 10), we had his birthday party this weekend. 25 kids at Le Choclatier - making chocolate-dipped confections and chocolate "painted" pops. He also had a going-away/birthday party in his classroom.

4/22- Two weeks until transplant

The transplant is scheduled for May 5 at Shands Hospital in Gainesville. Momma is giving Jake a kidney. We're expecting to spend most of the summer in Gainesville recuperating. We hope that Jake will spend just a week in the hospital. Jen may be out a little faster, but her procedure will also hurt more ('tis harder to give than receive).

If the kidney kicks in right away, we hope that he'll undergo minor surgery within a few weeks to remove his port catheter. We're told that it can sometimes take a few weeks for the transplanted kidney to start operation. He'll be keeping his two old kidneys for the time being. His existing kidneys do work for fluid collection, but they don't filter. The third kidney will get installed right in the middle, and will hopefully perform the filtration role. If the old kidneys continue to cause high blood pressure problems in the future, it's possible that they may get removed later on.

After Jen and Jake are released from the hospital, Jake will have post-surgery checkups every day for at least a month. At some point, the check-ups become farther apart. We probably won't move home until they are spaced a week apart. We've rented two adjoining corporate apartments for the summer - one for us and one for the inlaws. After the first month, Dad (me)will be in Miami M-F for work and will come back on weekends, while the in-laws are around during the week. I aspire to clean the junk out of the house (old toys, "heirlooms," etc.) while I'm home, but no guarantees.

Jake will be under quarantine most of the summer to avoid infection, and he won't be able to have visitors for at least six to eight weeks after the operation. After then, we'll need to play it by ear (masks, etc.), and make sure that visitors haven't been around sick people.

In the next weeks, I'm told that I need to configure the recuperation apartment with the basic essentials - Tivo, Playstation 3, Wii, and dual computer access. We'll be roughing it for sure.

2/25 - Off to Gainesville

No posts for a while - eh? We've transferred our "waiting list" time from University of Miami/Jackson Hospital to University of Florida/Shands Hospital in Gainesville. FYI - both of these hospitals are primarily affilaited with semi-pro football teams. There are allegedly medical schools at both facilities, but that appears to be a mere sideline to intercollegiate sports.

Shands appears to have a much more modern and user friendly (i.e., returning phone calls) pediatric transplant program. One other big change is that Shands encourages parents to donate a kidney, while UM discourages it. This week were going to Gainesville so Jen can be assessed as a potential kidney donor (She's a blood-type match, and I'm not). If she's a match, we may do the transplant in the next 45 days.

This weekend, we're going to Camp Boggy Creek, which is a camp for kids with medical issues. This is their Kidney and Cystic Fibrosis mixer weekend. My guess is that he goes for archery and fishing. It will be a nice break from Yu-Gi-Oh. On the other hand, I'm worried about whether Jen will enjoy cabin living.

Jake is otherwise doing very well. His brain is 100%. The kidney function is close to zero, which means that the dialysis sessions are taking longer, and are therefore more painful.

10/16 - No luck this time

Not a good match. Either too many freckles or not enough freckles. If we don't get a match soon, we get six free months of Match.com to find his soulmate.

10/15 - going in to kick the tires on a kidney

We're going in tonight to check out an available kidney for compatibility. We're hoping for one with built-in satellite radio. We'll keep you posted.

No match - try again later

No luck this time. They needed it for Iron Chef.

Transplant update - 6/12

We've been on the transplant list for a while. Yesterday, we received a call that there was a kidney available. We went to Jackson Memorial Hospital for tissue compatability testing. We're still waiting (11:30am) for the result. We'll keep you posted.

Dr. Seuss dress up day at school

Jake was a star-bellied sneeetch. His friend Lucas was Thing 2. The green hair is not a medication side effect.

Back to Legoland

We got to do a very quick make up trip to Legoland after dialysis on the last full day in San Diego. Jake got to meet the Master Builder, tour the workshop, and make a Lego model of himself which went into the permanent display. Look closely at the model in Jake's hand.

Day 2 - DisneyLand?

We left the hotel so Jake could go for his special planned day at LegoLand. We we arrived, we were informed that the park was closed for the day because it was raining. Jake was despondent, so we decided to drive up to DisneyLand. He calmed when we hit the Lego store at Downtown Disney (which had better stuff than at LegoLand). He got picked to pull the sword out of the stone, and he was very excited after that.

Day 1 at Legoland

We landed in San Diego, and went to Rady Children's Hospital the first full day for his scheduled dialysis. It turned out his catheter was cracked, so that meant general anesthesia and surgery, and an overnight stay at the hospital. When he woke up, we decided to skip the San Diego Zoo and do an extra day at LegoLand (which was a good thing, as you'll later see).

Make A Wish travel to California

The trip was pretty impressive - limo to the hotel, cockpit trip (as soon as they cleared him off the terrorist list), special rental car reception and an incredible hotel room with bay and ocean views.

Trip to Sebring

We went to Sebring so Jake could pull the winning raffle ticket. The event was the national Porsche Owners Club get together, and Jake got to ride in the pace car around the track.

3/20 Update - Make a Wish and other things

We've been pretty busy. Jake had his Make A Wish trip to Legoland in San Diego, with a side trip to DisneyLand. We had another trip to Sebring Florida so Jake could pull the winning entry in a Make A Wish Raffle for a special edition Porsche Cayman. He's currently on the kidney transplant waiting list, and we still go to dialysis three times a week. The next few entries will be some of the pictures from our trips ...

1/11 - My work goodbye

I sent this today:


A heartfelt and sorrowful goodbye (with the obligatory top ten list)





Today is my last day at Akerman. It has been an incredible privilege to learn from and work with my colleagues here for the past 12 years. Having previously worked at Skadden Arps and Greenberg Traurig, I can state with confidence that this is the finest firm that I have ever seen.



So why am I leaving? Male menopause. My wife won't let me buy a Camaro, so starting a new firm is apparently the only way to recapture my quickly-fading youth. Actually, the real reason is probably no more logical. As many of you know, last year was a very tough year for my family, due to my son's ongoing illness. My friends at Akerman have been the lighthouse that helped us weather the storm. That said, my subconscious appears to be driving me, like a spawning salmon, to separate from everything in the "past" so I can approach a different future (healthwise) for my family. Can you see why I only earned a B- in Psychology 101?



Once my subconscious began driving me (without a GPS) towards unspecified "change", I developed my one sentence business plan – "Do something in which Akerman remains a friend." I have never had any desire to go to another large firm, because Akerman does it better. So I came up with the plan for a small litigation boutique, in which I am joining Scott Cosgrove and James Sammataro. That allows us to continue to work with our Akerman friends, call upon their vast expertise, and do the kinds of things that Akerman can't do because of client conflicts.



So where does that leave us? Akerman is the dominant firm in Florida. And Miami. Period. A quick look at the phone list reveals the caliber of our people, from the most senior partners to the most junior staff. There's nobody smarter, and nobody more skilled. Period. To top it off, our "jerk quotient" is so low that an unbiased observer wouldn't believe its actually a law firm. Think about it.



While nobody can touch me with regard to pop culture knowledge from 1980 to 1990 (yes, I've thrown down the gauntlet), the rest of the litigation practice will march on without even a hiccup. In the face of the continuing recessionary pressures, there is no firm better situated to thrive. On the other hand, if you have questions about "Pretty in Pink" or the Psychedelic Furs, you probably need to call me.



Yada. Yada. Yada. What would my email be without a top ten list? So here it is, the top 10 reasons why I'm leaving:



10. The firm won't let me try to fix the copiers when they jam, so I wanted the opportunity to do it for myself.



9. There's a glass ceiling – I will never, ever, ever, be able to beat Steve Roddenberry at Brickbreaker on the Blackberry. I give up.



8. "I forget what 8 was for."



7. I really, really want to go back to Word Perfect.



6. Management said that if I walked around the office in spandex bicycle clothing one more time, I was in trouble. It's so comfy against skin, and one thing led to another, and the rest is history.



5. I can now buy a Keg-erator for beer room.



4. I can't get over the fear every time I step into the new elevators.



3. Work was getting in the way of my blog (which is still going, if anybody's interested).



2. The firm was pressuring me to update my web bio picture, which was taken 3 years ago during the brief 2 week period after I lost weight and before I lost my hair. No dice.



1. People were getting suspicious about the collection of Porsche headlights in my office.



As you can see, there's still a writer's strike. . .



If you need me, Scott or James for any reason (Hart Scott advice, L.A. Law trivia, teaching your child how to ride a bike), we'll be 40 yards to the east in One Biscayne Tower. Our phone number is 305-377-1666.

January 10, 2008 Report

Big news. Jake is scheduled for a Make-A-Wish trip during President's Day weekend to Legoland in San Diego. We fly out after dialysis on Friday, spend Saturday and Sunday at Legoland, do dialysis in San Diego on Monday, and fly back on Tuesday. A whole weekend where it won't be safe to walk around in bare feet. He's very excited, and we are of course grateful to Make-A-Wish. I'm going to miss the annual 24 Hours of Sebring endurance bicycle race, but it's clearly worth it.

We're moving forward with getting him on the Kidney Transplant list at University of Miami Hospital. It looks like he'll go on the list in April. From there, it could take a week or it could take a year.

In other news, I left my job and I'm starting a small "boutique" law firm with 2 friends. See www.SCS-legal.com for details. It's kind of a mid-life crisis thing. I'll post my goodbye email to Akerman tomorrow.

December 25 (Picture from Halloween)

I fixed the #%#$^&! digital camera. This is from Halloween.

December 23 update

We're doing dialysis today (Sunday). We normally do Monday/Wednesday/Friday, but for the next two weeks we're doing Wednesday/Friday/Sunday. This gives the dialysis staff Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve off. Everybody came in very early, so there's still some weekend left when we finish.

Yesterday, we participated in a ceremony at our synagogue to give him (i.e., add) a new Hebrew name - Chaim ("life"). He's now Yaakov Chaim Avraham Silverman. This is apparently an orthodox/Lubavitcher tradition, but we went with the flow. He didn't even participate in the process. Dad was part of the minion, the prayer was recited at the Torah, and presto. The scary part was Dad having to recite the Hebrew prayers that are looong forgotten. Reading Hebrew with my 41 year old eyes is out of the question, so it's a memory thing. Jake was out playing with the other kids while all this was taking place, and Mommy was behind the lace curtain (the sexes are separated at the shul during services, much to her displeasure). It was nice, because the synagogue building had a serious fire last week and services were held in somebody's house. The house had a big front yard, it was a beautiful day (70 and sunny), and Jake had a fabulous time playing with the other children. I had suggested adding Shaquille as his new name, but nobody seconded the motion.

He had a flu/cold for a few weeks, but he's mostly recovered. He still has that little kid chest cough that comes from not knowing how to blow his nose or cough up, but there's no more fever. Kidney function is unchanged. The docs seem to feel that the lack of improvement in creatinine levels means that transplant is the proper course. That would still hold to a schedule where we "go on the list" in March or so.

We're staying home for the holidays. After the new year, Jake and Mommy will go to Jacksonville for a few days (with one day of dialysis in Jacksonville).