Karen and I had been browsing Yahoo Personals for a few weeks, when I started to notice her profile with those cute pictures AND a remark about her passion for cooking. We began communicating through IM's and emails, followed by the first phone conversations.

Karen lived in San Antonio, just about 90 minutes by car from my place in Austin. Our first face-to-face meeting happened when she came visiting me at my Saturday morning farmers market booth. It was interesting - I had a different image in my mind, from what I knew about her looks in online pictures. But I thought, "Wow - she is even more beautiful than I expected!"
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On the Friday evening of our first weekend together at my place - I had a heart attack! (This kinda messed up our plans, you know...)
Although Karen was supposed to return to her job on Monday, she refused to leave my side during my 4-day hospital stay. I was deeply moved by her compassion and support. So I proposed to Karen, on my knees in the hospital room, with my gown gaping in the back. The ring came from the hospital gift shop (all they had was some toy box with a plastic ring for $1.95). Call me cheap - but this was a chance I wouldn't let pass by me. I had found "my woman for life". My Superhero!
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We had basically "hit it off" right away and the only remaining question was: "Where do we go from here?" Karen had a job and a 2-bedroom apartment in San Antonio, I had a small business and a 1-bedroom place in Austin, which was in the process of being sold for remodeling into high-dollar condos.

Where there is love - there is a way, right? We found a new 2-bedroom apartment in South Austin for less rent than my old 1-bedroom, and Karen could even bring along her little dog "Bugsy". (You can marvel at Bugsy's yodeling talents in my lens "Singing Dogs Video Showcase".)

Within 3 months we had met, moved-in, and started working my business together. Karen has a wonderful "feel" for good food. She knows how to cook fabulous dishes and her skills contributed greatly to my budding Agasweet business, with sidelines into chocolate and pastry production. So far - so good. Our business grew quickly and our young love was confirmed daily in our newly-found lives as a couple. We had truly "found" one another!

Our first meeting place - our place of business!

Foe the last 10 years, I've had the wonderful opportunity to cook for the guests at the Driftwood Lodge in SE Alaska. This is a seasonal gig, usually from mid-August through mid-October. Of course, Karen would come along as my assistant - what an adventure for a couple in love! We work together, and then we...well, we work some more together. This job is basically one huge 2-month shift: from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., everyday for 8 - 9 weeks. But we're together!

We decided to get married during our Alaska gig. Not many couples can say they were married in the wilderness of Alaska, 80 miles from the next settlement, with bears roaming the grounds behind the reception place.

Our "Wedding Chapel", the Driftwood Lodge.



In Alaska, anybody can legally marry you if you register that person with the magistrate at your wedding location. We asked the wife of the lodge owner to be our "minister-for-a-day".

Our wedding ceremony, in the dining room of the lodge.



"Ladies and Gentlemen - Mr. and Mrs. Thiemermann!"



The morning after...

In spring of 2007, Karen started to have severe back pain. The spine specialist diagnosed her with a progressive state of spinal stenosis and he wanted to do surgery as soon as possible.

Karen and I don't have health insurance. (And not much money, either.) The Seton Hospital system in Austin, Texas offered us to schedule the necessary surgery right away, if we send them a check over $50,000.00! We didn't even have $5,000...

Over the next 3 months, Karen's doctor tried to work out something with Seton - but to no avail. Karen felt worse and worse, and I had to leave for the annual Alaska gig without her. We didn't have a choice - I had to make some (good) money in Alaska to be able to possibly finance the surgery.

We had tried everything: charity applications, trial studies, hospitals in different cities - wherever we could find hope for cheaper treatment or long-term financing. Nothing.

While I was in Alaska, Karen had to rush to the emergency room because of certain symptoms her doctor had warned her about. There, she was drugged-up and kept for 12 hours, forced to have two unnecessary MRI's, and then sent home at midnight, with a complete stranger in a taxi cab. Our bill: $6,000.00!

I went nuts over all this in Alaska. Karen and I had sporadic email and satellite phone connections, but, of course, I felt enraged and powerless over her experiences at home.

One of our early-season guests at the lodge was an internist from Houston Methodist Hospitals. He offered to help upon his return. Karen spent a week under Dr. Jackson's care in a luxurious hospital setting. A top neurologist friend of our doctor run a large number of tests and found an infection in Karen's spinal fluid. At this point, surgery was out of the question. Karen was sent home to seek follow-up care with local specialists.

Neither Dr. Jackson nor his neurologist friend charged us a cent for their services. Methodist Hospital granted us 100% charity. This was the other end of the spectrum of our experiences with health care in Texas!

Karen kept getting worse and her needed medication intake grew larger and larger. We were shuffled from internist to pain management to another internist, and so on - for several months. Our finances dwindled quickly.

Meanwhile, Karen couldn't move without a walker, and she spent most of her time sitting in her recliner. In spite of her excruciating pain and often-times drugged-up condition, Karen ran through daily sets of exercises to strengthen her muscles and to keep her spirit from deteriorating. She also meditated and studied inspirational books by Deepak Chopra and Walter Starcke.



One fine morning in late April of 2008, Karen got up from her chair and announced that she's had enough. "I want my life back!" she exclaimed. My superhero wife made a plan to titrate herself off of all her prescription medication and she canceled the appointments with the pain management office. She started working - almost as if she had never been ill.



As of now, late June of 2008, Karen has increased her productivity and she is completely free of her pain medications.

And here's another good piece of news:
My superhero wife Karen will be my assistant for the 2008 season at the Driftwood Lodge in Alaska. I just hope she'll make me her famous peach cobbler for our second anniversary on September 8th!

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