Life After a Major Amputation

 Life After a Major Amputation 

On Sept. 15, 2025 I had to have a below-the-knee amputation resulting from a surgical site that got infected and quickly moved to the bone of my right leg. What a wakeup call that was for Carolyn and me. 

And how am I doing? 

All things considered, very well thank you. I’ve had to reconcile several factors that are now a part of my life and must be dealt with on an on-going basis now. For instance: 

~I've lost somewhere between 30-40 lbs. 

~I no longer have a right foot and lower 12 inches of my leg. Sometimes I forget and want to lead with my right foot. Thankfully I’ve caught myself every time. 

~I will have a wheelchair and a walker in my life for the rest of my life. 

~I start the process of being fitted for a prosthetic in ten days. And that will indeed be a process, or so I am told. 

~I haven’t learned to drive with my left foot yet, so driving is out of the question. 

Let me be quick to say our Edmonds family has surrounded us with love and great care.  They visited me in the hospital and rehibilitation center and the men in our family have jumped in to do the repair and remodel work we've needed.

This I do know. God has gone before me even before the diagnosis of this amputation. And he continues to be with me and Carolyn through every day we face. 

My surgeon’s nurse took out 50 staples from my incision site on Oct. 7. That was a bit painful, and I survived it. Dr. Wingert said my leg looked better than any other patients he had seen. He was really pleased with me and my leg. You have no idea how that Carolyn and me and encouraged us.

And now you know. I haven’t posted anything on social media about this experience in my life. We’ve been busy adjusting to this new reality and learning new living skills from a wheelchair. 

We’ve had to make a few adjustments here in our living space. 

~Widened our bedroom and bathroom doors to accommodate my wheelchair. 

 ~We’re getting more handicap handrails installed in our bathroom soon. 

Other changes will come, and we will meet them head on with God’s grace and strength. 

What do I need? Your continued love, friendship and kind thoughts and prayers. I’d love it if you wanted to respond through email or Facebook with a personal message. Those are such an encouragement to my spirit. 

Thanks for reading and thanks so much for your constant friendship! 

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Our Dark Days Make Us Prove We Are Strong

Our Dark Days Make Us 

Prove We Are Strong 

I once thought I was not a strong person. My self-esteem was almost non- existent, my self-confidence was in hiding, and I suppose my mindset was one of ‘I’ll coast through life and see what happens. After all, I’ll take what comes and I probably deserve what comes.’

Oh my. What a lousy way to approach life. Trouble comes, so do nothing, say nothing, assume you deserve it and that’s that.

No way. I say NO WAY.

I’ve had a few dark days in my years of living. And with the living I’ve done thus far, I can look behind me and see those dark days.

And look what I learned and look how I came out.

You don’t know the inner strength you possess until you really must dig down and use it. Oh, my friend. You have strength inside of you. I hope you believe that. What you must do now is let that strength, that intestinal fortitude rise to the surface and show us that you may be down, but you’re not out.

That bears repeating.

“You may be down, but you’re not out.”

Many of us have experienced divorce, or bankruptcy, job loss, loss of a loved one, horrible surgeries, and the list goes on.

The great news is this ... some of us have found the strength to rise from the ash-heap and make a new start. We’ve found the strength from somewhere within us and pulled ourselves up by the bootstrap. We’ve determined that this too shall pass, and this situation is not going to be the end of us.

It is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.

It, however, could be the beginning of a new beginning. That’s not double- speak. That is what it is – a new beginning. Every beginning has a starting point. Where is yours?

A personal story:
When I went through toe amputation surgery on my left foot three years ago, I had dark days. I wondered, questioned, and worried over my ability or inability to ever walk at a normal pace. And I thought pain in walking was going to become the norm for me for the rest of my life.

Look at me today. I can walk. I do the treadmill at the gym. I work a 40- hour week. This past summer I discovered I can ride a bicycle again, and the weekly improvements keep on coming.

My first steps after surgery were not a pretty sight. I was in pain with every step. When I came home from the hospital, I was fearful of having to climb eight steps up and then eight steps down into our condo.

I’m way past all that.

Along the way, with Carolyn's help, I found my inner strength, my intestinal fortitude to persevere, to be persistent and to keep doing what I knew needed doing, for I was not going to let a little thing like missing five toes stop me from living a good and full life.

They were dark days. And guess what. They made me prove just how strong I already was.

I found the strength within. How about that.

Now, I’ve used a lot of “I” words to tell my story, and I trust you will forgive me for that. The point is this ... we all have that measure of inner strength. Sometimes, we never see it until the hard places come, the seemingly unsurmountable experiences in life. And when those times do come, we have a choice.

Will we wallow in our self-pity and doomsday mindset? Or will we rise, take up our bed and walk.

Just to be clear, I am a man of faith. I have no doubt that the God of my understanding was by my side through all that I have experienced in life.

And I do know that He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.

What can you do for yourself? Sometimes we can only do small acts, and those small, somewhat insignificant acts lead to more small acts, and muscles that start firing, and neurons and nerve endings that fire, and mindsets that start changing from a can’t do to a CAN DO!

Dark days are no fun, granted. And look what they teach us.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Have Hope / Give Hope

 Have Hope / Give Hope

Do you have hope? Does it bubble up in your heart? How are your dreams? They are first cousins to hope, you know.

Some word pundits say, 'Hope is not a strategy'. However, I wouldn't want to go through life without hope.

Remember this:

Man can live ...

Forty days without food

Three days without water

Eight minutes without air

Only one second without hope.

(Unknown)

If this quote is true, and I believe it is, then I don't want to live one second without hope.

Hope whispers of what might be. Hope offers the seed of a promise in waiting, perhaps.

This quote by Mr. Emerson is significant. Talk about hope. It is the essence of which we speak.

"Our chief want is someone

who will inspire us to be

what we know we could be."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

How about that? A could be in the making. I like that a lot.

We seek a savior who dispenses hope. We seek someone who will come along in our lives and say the magic words that we all long to hear. Those life-giving words of esteem and good will.

Oprah said it so well on her last televised show.

"I've talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common: They all wanted validation. If I could reach through this television and sit on your sofa or sit on a stool in your kitchen right now, I would tell you that every single person you will ever meet shares that common desire. They want to know: 'Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?'

They all had hope. Hope that someone somewhere would recognize them as valid and worthwhile individuals. Hope that they were living a life of significance or could live a life of significance.

Oprah goes on to say. "Try it with your spouse. Try it with your kids. Try it with those with whom you are in a relationship. Validate them. 'I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me.'"

That action alone gives a person hope. Great hope.
I remember a story Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

One day he walked by a man standing outside his office building. The gentleman was holding a sign begging for a handout of any kind.

Rather than give the man money, Mr. Carnegie looked him over and finally commented, “My goodness. You surely have tied your shoelaces nice and neat."

Mr. Carnegie thought no more of that incident.

The next morning Mr. Carnegie's secretary announced that a gentleman was there to see him. Dale showed the gentleman into his office, who was dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a fresh shirt and tie and shined shoes. And his hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaved.

The man began. "Perhaps you don't remember me but yesterday I was standing outside your office building begging for money. You walked by, looked me over, and then commented on how nicely my shoelaces were tied. You wouldn't have known this, but I had already decided that I was going to go and throw myself into the river unless I got some kind of sign that somebody somewhere might still care about me."

He continued.

"Your words gave me hope. I reasoned that if I could do that one thing of tying my shoelaces neatly then perhaps, I could still find other things I could do with success. I decided then and there that I would clean up and make something useful of myself. You gave me hope in those few words, Mr. Carnegie. Thank you."

I think Dr. Seuss might be onto something with this memorable quote.

"A person's a person,

no matter how small."

~Dr. Seuss

~Every person should have
  a chance to have hope.
        ~Every person has worth.
                ~Every person needs
                  some kind of recognition
                  that they exist.

I want to be a dispenser of hope. How about you?

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

God Doesn't Have Stubby Arms

 God Doesn’t Have Stubby Arms

In what situation do you find yourself today? No matter where you are, God’s arms can reach you and lift you up.

This is ONE strong and encouraging thought.

~Are you soaking in an alcoholic stupor? God can reach you.
~Are you so in debt you can’t find a way out? Call out to God.
~Are you in relationship conflict with someone? Let God help you with a remedy.

Regardless of the human predicament in which we find ourselves, God is still able to reach out to us and bring deliverance and help in our time of need.

I was reminded of this verse last week when a close friend of ours came for a visit. Leanne had been studying this particular verse in her women’s Bible Study group.

And the Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” Numbers 11:23

This concept of God is a strong part of my own personal God-concept. However, remember this important part of the equation. We have to call out to God for help and we have our own part to play in this work of deliverance.

That is, perhaps, the part we sometimes want to skip over, and yet it is true. Are you and I willing to do our part along with God reaching down to do His part?

At present, I am recovering from having my toes amputated on my left foot. At the seven-week mark I am doing well, and it is because God is reaching out to me AND I am doing the smart thing of eating better, bringing my medical numbers down into proper range, losing weight and moving about as my scars and body allows. No one can do that for me except me.

I’ve recovered from divorce. Of course I felt God’s presence with me in those dark moments, however, I had to do my part and do the acts of recover from those painful experiences. I had to read books, talk with trusted advisors, and set my mind on a future with hope in the middle of the pit in which I found myself. And God’s arms were continually reaching down to me and pulling me along.

I hope you are finding God’s arms to be long enough for whatever predicament you face in these days.

He truly does have strong and long arms!

Internet Church Blog Site

P Michael Biggs Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

You'll Get There ... Maybe Today

You’ll Get There … Maybe Today

Oh my … the possibilities found in this one simple phrase.  It is full of “what ifs” and “great hopes” and “optimistic outlooks”!

This title speaks of hopes and dreams, of wanna-be goals and good thoughts about our future. 

Are you a dreamer?  Then, perhaps, you’ll arrive, someday, maybe today, on the doorstep of your great ambition. 

Could it be today?

It could be.  Yes indeed. 

I hope you keep dreaming of “Someday I’ll”!

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Seeing Your Worth

Seeing Your Worth

I hope by now, you are one who can see your

own worth and good traits.  There are plenty of people with whom you rub elbows and they will gladly tell you your faults, weaknesses and lesser qualities.

We learn to tune them out.  And we learn to tune in to our strong forces within.  What CAN you do?  Of what are you fully capable of performing?

We could choose to listen to our negative mind and believe we are worthless, of no value and have no redeeming qualities.

We could, you know.

Rather … we want to hold a loftier image of ourselves.  We want to believe in the good that lies within, the capable and the useful. 

I AM are two powerful words we need to latch onto, for what follows those words matter.

I AM …

~Stronger than I think

~Good at math

~Good at writing

~Resilient

~Capable of most things to which I set my mind

What is your I AM motto?

See it.

Believe it.

Practice saying it.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration