05 June 2008

What's been going on with "Jenny" and the website?

I'm sitting on the back porch, in the middle of a wind storm, watching fireflies blow out of the garden....in Norman, Oklahoma.

My friend Caryl the Stormchaser can appreciate why I'm sitting outside: there's nothing like watching a storm come in and feeling the power of the wind all around you.

I won't go inside until the rain starts.

Besides, the wireless bandwidth out here is tremendous. Probably 1000% what we get in Okinawa with our cable connection. We usually get 50kb on downloads without tweeking. Right now, I'm rocking 550kb. So this means I can download my radio and tv shows lickety split.

You stateside spouses are so spoiled! :-)

So why, you ask, if I'm in the states and I'm getting such awesome bandwidth, is the "Jenny" website falling to the wayside and generally being neglected? Are you ready for the explanation? Here we go....

My daughter, age 19, has congenital thyroid disease. About a month ago, she got a new PCM who questioned the level of meds she was receiving and cut them in half...as an experiment.

My daughter moved stateside after graduating from Kadena High in Okinawa so I'm no longer in charge of her care. When she told me what the new doctor wanted to do, I told her every day to go to Tri-Care and get a referral. Instead, she played along with the doctor and subsequently couldn't get a follow-up appointment to check her progress. After a couple of weeks of this new "therapy", she started to go downhill...nausea, digestive problems, lethargy, forgetfulness, weight-gain, etc. All of the things that go along with not having the correct amount of thyroid in your system.

Suddenly she started having arythmias. One per minute.

Within 48 hours, she went to the Emergency Room three times and the Red Cross got me on the first plane out of Okinawa (which is another Space-A story to be told later).

By the time I reached Oklahoma City, my daughter was in stable condition and had her referral to a thyroid specialist. Of course, we were on "heart-attack watch" for the first week and I took charge of her two-story house....laundry, dishes, dog, etc. She's now had her second appointment with the specialist and is absolutely fine. She's back at work and back in the swing of things in her life.

Meanwhile, just when things were settling down and I was getting back to work on the strip, my oldest daughter, age 22, who lives just across town, gave birth a month early!

She wasn't due until June 24th and I was scheduled to come to the states on the 11th but Saturday, May 31st, she called me and said "Mom, my back really hurts. What should I do?" By ten o'clock that night, Benjamin Riley Springer was born at Norman Regional Hospital.

So guess whose house I've been cleaning lately? :-D

Finally, all is well. Everyone is healthy. And "Jenny" is back online. Thanks so much for hanging in there with me.

As my gift to you, here's your moment of Zen...




Justin Springer holding son Benjamin Riley Springer



Cheers!


~ jewls

6 comments:

Unknown said...

What a precious picture! Thanks for sharing! Congratulations to everyone! I am so glad that your family is doing OK, and for you, that you were able to be here.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad everything turned out OK. And your grandson is absolutely beautiful!! Congrats!!

Anonymous said...

So glad to see you are back and that your family is doing well after some very trying times. Congratulations on the new baby!!!!

Anonymous said...

That's too bad about your 19-year-old, but good news that she's doing better.

And congratulations to your whole family on the birth of Benjamin! What a sweet, sweet photo that is!

wendy said...

Beautiful!

Congratulations!

Laura Paxton said...

Welcome to the little guy! So glad that everyone is doing well again!