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

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

Can Dark Days Make Us Strong?

 Can Dark Days Make Us Strong?

Have you had dark days recently? Life sometimes has a way of upsetting the apple cart, as we used to say.

Ponder this quote. What does it whisper to you considering your dark days?

“My dark days made me strong. 

Or maybe I already was strong, 

and they made me prove it.” 

~Emery Lord

At this point in life, I’m finding strength and persistence that I never knew I had.

I’m six years past my triple-bypass heart surgery and doing quite well. My blood pressure is in good ranges, I see my cardiologist regularly and he gives me good marks all around.

Over Thanksgiving I began frequent trips to the gym again, and I’m loving it. Remember I had all my toes on the left foot amputated 3 years ago. You would never know of the amputation to watch me walk now.

Dark days haven’t slowed me down. The quote for this blog IS true.

I hope you are proving some things to yourself now that might have been a bygone way of living.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

I Came to Live Out Loud

 I Came to Live Out Loud

Welcome to the new and clean sheet of paper we have been given in this new year. Resolutions will abound. Spoken ideas and intents will be declared. Goals will be posted. Conversations will be had.

And ... We’re off!
Here is my idea for this season of life. 

If you ask me what I came 

into this life to do,

I came to live out loud!

Now I know a little bit about ‘loud’ living. I am a drummer and musician. Drummers are loud. We can’t help it. Oh, we can play soft if we must, like in Ravels “Bolero.” But give me a drum solo moment and I’ll shake the earth. It will get loud.

But that is not what I’m talking about. Nor am I talking about living a boastful, braggadocios life. I’m not a raging alcoholic, nor a rebel-rouser, so my life will not speak in those terms.

Rather, I am an encourager. I am a writer of hope, encouragement, inspiration, and the effects of my work appear in the lives of others. Somebody somewhere may read my words or hear my podcast or read my books and a shift might happen inside of them. They may think differently. They may begin a new action or activity that causes a chain reaction in themselves and in others. And they may go out and change their world as they know it. Now wouldn’t that be something?

The center of my focus, words and deeds will be in these areas. 

~Live a life of grace that is offered to every person, every day.

~Speak words that help and heal, not words that hurt and hinder.

~Become the best version of ‘ME” that I can.

~Use all the tools/talents in my toolbox.

~Allow the God-of-my-understanding to speak through me, as loudly or as softly as He chooses.

If I can pull this off, I shall then look back over this life and say, “I wrung the towel dry. I didn’t leave a drop of my life unused. I really did live out loud.”

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Hope Is Real

 Hope Is Real

Revlon, the fragrance company, makes perfume, but in stores they sell hope. THEY SELL HOPE! Hope for romance. Hope for love. Hope for a second date and more.

Remember the caterpillar? He is going along in life, happy and content, eating plants, a few other insects and living life. One fine day the caterpillar senses a need to spin a cocoon around itself. Perhaps he thinks this is the end. Perhaps, to a caterpillar, there is no hope left, and so he spins and prepares for death.

And then ...

Out comes a beautiful Butterfly. The former caterpillar had little beauty to boast of. This new and improved Butterfly is full of beauty. Hope has come with the beginning of this remarkable Butterfly. Hope indeed.

Richard Back, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull once said, “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a Butterfly.” (Richard Bach)

Is hope alive and well in you? Oh, the outside circumstances may seem dark, dull, and dismal, and yet, what about hope?

Oprah Winfrey was raped at age nine. She is, to this day, a strong and influencing force in our world.

Bill Gates said, “I didn’t even complete my university education.”

Steve Jobs, of Apple Computer fame, said that he slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, and he returned Coke bottles for food and money. He would get weekly free meals at a local temple.

Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair of Great Britain, once told, “My teachers used to call me a failure.”

Remember President Nelson Mandela? He spent 27 years in prison.

Here’s the point. Though we may pass through many difficulties in life, we should never give up because life is not about what you couldn’t do so far. It’s about what you can still do.

Each of these individuals had hope. HOPE! They never gave up. That is important. They continued believing in themselves, their talents, their abilities.

They each had hope.

Dr. Seuss adds this thought: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Do you believe in hope?

Sometimes our hope comes from within us. We have this strong sense of “someday I’ll ...”. Others of us hope we’ll get some outside help. We hope someone will come along and inspire us to be what we know we could be. Ralph Waldo Emerson gave us that insight. This is why the motivational speaking industry is a multi-million- dollar business. They could, in essence, hang a sing that reads, “Hope Sold Here.”

Hope is to cherish a desire, knowing you will have fulfillment.

Hope is a state of being. Even when life sends rain, hope dances in the puddles until the sun comes out again.

A final thought: 

Man can live ...

Forty days without food

About three days without water

About eight minutes without air

Only one second without hope.

(Unknown)

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Your Inner Voice Speaks

Your Inner Voice Speaks

Before he became Randy Travis, Randy was rejected by every major record label in Nashville twice.  Can you imagine that?  He heard more “no’s” than he ever thought a person should hear.

So, what happened in the meantime to turn little-known Randy into Randy Travis, winner of seven Grammy awards, eight Dove awards, and a whole string of other awards and accolades.

Randy believed more in himself than he believed in the naysayers of the music world.  He knew he had the stuff within to become a super star, and he persisted, he honed his craft, he practiced, and practiced some more, until his break came.  He became a super star because he believed in himself.

He didn’t let the “no thanks” and the “we don’t need your type” slow him down. 

He listened to his inner voice that kept saying, “you can do this”, “you have something unique that the world needs to hear”. 

What is your inner voice saying to you about you? 

That is a critical piece of the equation in our search for the top.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

No Small Life for Me

No Small Life for Me

Poet Mary Oliver says this: “I don’t want to live a small life.”

I think about this quote from time to time, for it troubles me if I let it.  So, what am I doing and what can you do to live into your life in a large way?

I’m seventy-years-old now. I don’t have the physical endurance I had at 50.  I sometimes need to sit down for a few minutes to give my muscles a chance to recover.  Some might say I’m living a small life.

But wait … there’s more. 

I can still think.  I can use my brain power to write and produce podcasts.  My fingers still glide over these computer keys, and I can still make some sense of my thoughts of hope and inspiration. 

I could go into a remorseful state, I suppose, and think some horrible thoughts.

If you want a mechanic, don’t call me.

If you want a house painter, I’m not your man.

If you want a plumber, I’d probably do more damage than good.

So, if you want any if those skills, perhaps you’d say I’m living a small life.

However … catch me in my best stride as a writer.  I think I can still put some words together to encourage you.  That is no small thing, you know.  There seems to be a lot of discouragement in this ‘ole world at the moment.  Maybe we need lives large and in full color who can brighten our daily existence.  

That is a good way to live large, if you ask me. 

What can you do to live a large life?  I’ll not speak for you, but allow your thoughts, your ideas and your gifts to rise to the occasion at hand.

Above all, remember this.  The opposite of small isn’t necessarily large.  Perhaps it is reframing this idea into “living a useful life”.

A USEFUL life.  I like that.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes 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

Are You Open for Business?

Are You Open for Business?

What a great opening question ~ Are You Open for Business.

Ann Lamott gives us this idea.  She continues: “So much is given to us. We just have to be open for business.

I believe in the bounty of a person’s soul, heart and mind.  I’m often reminded of this famous quote:  Whatever a man can conceive and believe, He/She can achieve.”

First of all, are you open to receive the ideas that may flow to your mind?  Then, perhaps, you are open for business.

Do you have a craft you are finally ready to show to someone, or take to an arts and crafts fair?  Then, perhaps, you also are open for business.

Is the spark burning inside of you to be a writer, either of songs or prose/blogs/novels/historical fiction?  Then, perhaps, you are open for business.

What we are talking about here is simple – are you willing to take the spark, the seed of an idea, and run with it?  Do you dare do more than talk about your dream?  Will you take the next step and actually become whatever it is you wish to become?

I certainly hope so.  There is no glory in an idea that is kept in a box, or locked in one’s mind and heart.

Perhaps, today is your day to let IT out. 

Go ahead.  Open for business.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration