Dear Ellen,
My husband and I were married on June 15, 2012. After 7
months of some stressful planning, it was the day I had always dreamed of and
everything was absolutely beautiful from the flowers to the cake to the
ceremony. I loved that day.
I had also been looking forward to a week long vacation in
Riviera Maya, Mexico to relax and have some romantic time with my new husband.
I bought new swim suits, a big floppy straw hat and new lingerie. J
Unfortunately, our plans of de-stressing on the beach for
the week did not happen.
On our second day into the trip, we went snorkeling that
morning. When we were swimming back to the boat to get in and go back to shore,
my husband was climbing the metal collapsible ladder and his finger got caught
in the hinge of the ladder. The water was choppy and the ladder closed on his
finger suddenly and cut off part of his right index finger!
I was already in the boat, and I looked behind me to see him
floating in blood and looking like he was about to pass out. I could see bone
sticking out and wasn’t sure what had happened exactly, but I knew it was not
good. The boat people were not helpful-no first aid kit and all they handed him
was a tissue. A tissue!
We had to climb onto an ER jet boat that took us back to
land. After about an hour, we were taken by bus to a nearby Mexican hospital.
We stayed 2 days in that little hospital. And let me tell you, it was not like
American hospitals!
No one spoke English, it was not super clean, there was
construction going on inside the building, and I had no idea what was going on!
They would give him drugs and not ask us or tell me what they were giving him.
He had surgery to take a skin graft to cover the bone, and they kept him awake
during the procedure!
At one point, I remember hearing him scream through the
hospital and I had no idea where he was. It was terrible. I couldn’t get a hold
of our families, because my phone would not work in Mexico, and there was no
phone there they would let me use. I did figure out how to use texting through
the hospital’s wifi.
With the help of a translator we had for a little bit, we
found out that Isaac had lost the top one third of his right index finger and
the bone to his first joint. In the surgery, they tried to cover the tip of his
finger with a skin graft from his middle finger and the back of his ear.
The rest of the week was spent managing his pain. He was in
a lot of pain and did not sleep a lot. I was hoping that by the time we made it
back to the resort, I could at least get a day on the beach. But nope!
When we
finally got back, it poured the entire time. So, for the remainder of our
honeymoon, we were stuck inside watching TV and Isaac not feeling well.
Never were we so happy to get back home to Oklahoma to our
little one bedroom apartment. But the stress had only just begun.
A few days later, Isaac had to have reconstructive surgery
on his finger in Oklahoma, because his skin graft had failed. The hand surgeon
in OKC repaired nerves in his finger, and he gave him more length and a fingertip
by taking fat and more skin grafts from all over his hand.
It took months to recover, and he still is not completely
able to fully use his finger yet. We do not know how long it will take.
For me, this was way more stressful than planning a wedding
and one of the most stressful events so far in my life. Because of the stress
from the week, it sent me into a Crohn’s disease flare up. I was diagnosed with
Crohn’s disease about a year and a half ago. I have yet to reach remission, but
major stress events are not helpful at all.
A couple weeks after we got back from the trip, I went into
a flare and for months, I was sick. I lost weight, blood, many days of work and
just plain did not feel good. I am still recovering from my flare, but I feel
am on the uphill now. J
Fingers crossed!
In the midst of all this, your show brought laughter to me
an hour each day and helped me forget what was going on in my life. It reminds
me that finding the funny things in life to laugh about even in the most
stressful, not fun times can get you through it.
I record your show every day while I am at work, and I
recorded your show during the week we were gone on our honeymoon. When we
returned, it was so refreshing to be able to watch your show (even though they
were summer reruns) and laugh!
So, thank you. Thank you for making people laugh once a day.
Thank you for dancing. Thank you for not being afraid to be silly in front of
millions of people. Thank you for scaring people. Thank you for your bad paid
for photos, bad tattoos and your hidden camera pranks. Thank you for giving
back and inspiring so many.
Sometimes I ask myself why we had to go through all this in
the first 6 months of marriage. Why us? I know married couples go through hard
times, but in the first 6 months?? These are supposed to be the happiest times.
I do not know why, but I do not that we are closer as husband and wife than
many other newlyweds. I do know that in sickness and in health, we will stand
by each other’s side. And I do know how important it is to laugh in marriage
and in life. J
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