'The Voice' — Illness hasn't hushed attorney's humor

Early on, nearly overwhelmed with all he'd have to master, Rod asked Dove if he should give up being an attorney. She told him he'd have to decide that, "but I wouldn't prematurely bow out."

He'd had an unusually long and difficult road, she says. Radiation can stop cancer, but it also kills other tissue. It shrinks down blood supply. Tissue that's irradiated becomes more rigid and less functional over time, which leads to swallowing problems. Rod will always need to exercise, stretch and strengthen the muscles that were irradiated to counteract that.

It's also a lot to keep track of. Back in court after lunch one day, he started to speak and nothing came out. He'd literally lost his voice, the expensive little hands-free valve. He excused himself and retraced his steps, finding the valve on a street corner.

The event may have been worrisome, but when he retells it later to Dove, it's an anecdote that brings smiles.

He's not in court as much as he used to be, but he's often there several times a week. He worries he's not as effective — suddenly losing his voice or not being able to be heard is always an issue. He says he's lost some of the emphasis and the fast responses he used so well.

He was making a presentation to 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas when his prosthesis plugged and his voice disappeared. He didn't have "Mr. Robot" with him, so he asked an associate to take over but couldn't tell her what he wanted her to say. Finally, he turned and faced a packed courtroom, popped out the button and took a brush out to clean the prosthesis "as I watched the faces of the innocent bystanders grimace in shock as I ran this brush through the hole at the base of my neck."

The courtroom, that most formal of settings, has provided a few new etiquette challenges. When your hands-free device is clogged with mucus, should you face the judge or the jury as you try to clean it?

Ted Barnes has had the office next to Rod's for 27 years and says Rod hasn't made a comeback. "He actually maintained his practice and focus during this period of tremendous and repeated challenges" that included "procedures, distractions and recovery."

Barnes describes his friend as a lawyer's lawyer, well-known and respected, a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, to which one must be voted in. It's a small, select group, Barnes notes.

He's respected for his judgment, his analytical skills, his irreverence, according to several of his colleagues.

Daughter Alyssa says the changes have gone deeper than that. "I think it has made him wiser and sharper mentally. It has required him to be more in tune emotionally with his family and his friends, and more compassionate in his work and with family. Those are positive changes."