It is amazing how quickly life can change! If you had told me three weeks ago that big changes were coming, I would probably not have guessed what it would be!
Saturday, March 20, the first day of Spring, was looking to end up as a great evening of fun and fellowship with our friends, Steve and Cindy Kearney from Denver. I had just finished playing piano at a local assisted living facility around 2pm, and was just about to head to Gardner to spend the weekend with them, my parents, and my brother Michael and his family as well as some other people. I received a phone call from my mother telling me that Michael had been taken to the hospital with a right leg that had collapsed. I turned my car north and headed there. To make a long story short, Michael was discovered to have Osteo Sarcoma in his right femur. The cancer had eaten away at the bone, and had finally broken on the Saturday as he went to walk up to a birthday party.
At first, we were in denial, hoping it was simply an infection or a hairline fracture left over from a fall he had in October...such was not the case. It was a dark Monday morning after Dr. Kim Templeton told Shawna and Michael at KU Med center, that it looked like bone cancer.
The good news was, all the testing showed it to be confined to the right leg. A whirlwind ensued as Michael went to surgery for a biopsy, and two days later, faced a life altering surgery- an emergency of sorts to amputate the right leg...you can only imagine the sadness one might've felt to see Michael wheeled from the emergency room with only one leg remaining. But, he is still with us!
After nearly two weeks in the hospital, he is at home, and preparing to move into their neighbor's ranch house this week.
Through these past 2.5 weeks, Michael has shown over and over that God is real and in control! His life has been an amazing testimony to so many! Over 100 different family and friends visited him while he was in the hospital. Not to mention the phone calls, cards, emails and Facebook messages. The presence of the Lord was very real to Michael and Shawna throughout this difficult time.
Now he faces upcoming chemo therapy just to make sure any cancer cells which might be floating around undetected, don't remain.
Here is a pic of him on Easter Sunday...he looks great and is depending on the Lord to carry him through.
A line from the hymn, "All the Way My Savior Leads Me," came to me in this difficult time which says..."for I know whatever befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well." I don't fully understand that, but I do believe that somehow, this situation is well! Nahum 1:7 tells us that the Lord is good! I believe that God is good, He does all things well, and through all of this, He has a glorious plan! He has already been glorified and know exactly how to turn this situation into goodness!
