I have a What?!?

My name is Marty and I am a Christian. I live in Lancaster Kentucky (40 miles south of Lexington), have been married to Carla for 17 years, and am the father of three children; Douglas - 15, Sarah - 13, and Emma - 10.

My wife, my children and I are members at theChurch@CedarCreek, an untraditional Southern Baptist church a few miles east of Stanford Kentucky. We have been members there for about two and a half years and are very involved in the church life. Actually, we are so involved that we are planning on going on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in June. We are, or at least I am, completely satisfied with the worship, music and people at theChurch@CedarCreek; to the point that I can say without hesitation that this has to be the best Christian church in these United States, no matter the denomination. I am sure you are saying that I am just a little bit biased toward my church and if you disagree because you feel your church is better, well get over it - you are wrong.

Okay, I have given a little background about myself, so now I'll get to the topic of this first blog entry. During the last few months of 2009, I was having major issues with my left leg, to the point that I had to have help walking; at first with a cane and finally with crutches. Due to an issue with Carla's job and us losing our insurance, I had to wait until the first of 2010 to get serious about having my leg looked at by a doctor. Although, I did go to my family physician in early in December for a preliminary work up. I made an appointment for January 5, 2010 and tried to stay on my feet (literally) until then.

Well, finally January 5 came around and Carla drove me, by this time I was not able to drive, to the doctor's office. The doctor has no idea what was going on with me, but he had a plan; he set me up for an MRI on my hip and upper left leg across town and x-rays in the Radiology Dept. in his office. After leaving the doc's office, I went directly to Radiology for x-rays. After the first couple of x-rays I could tell the technician had found something, she seemed a little nervous and I could plainly see it. When the x-ray tech was finished, Carla and I were preparing to leave and the tech unexpected asked if I wanted to wait while the doc looked at my x-rays. Now I am sure the x-ray tech has seen something and we are getting a little worried. We have waited about 25 minutes and the x-ray technician has checked twice to make sure we haven't gone home. Finally, the doc comes and says he wants to discuss my x-rays with us, and in an exam room where we can have privacy (the worry meter is in the red now!).

The doctor is very to the point and says that my x-rays show a large mass on my left femur up near my hip. I have great respect for this guy and when I see tears in the corner's of his eyes, that respect grows beyond belief; I mean, he seems more upset that I am (at least on the outside). But before we get too far into the big "C" discussion, the doctor says that he wants to call an orthopedic doctor and have him look at the x-rays. Carla and I are left alone in the exam room; our first thoughts are to remain calm and pray. So we did just that; we prayed.

After another 30 minutes, the doctor returns and says that there have been four doctors to look at my x-rays (him, the radiologist, and two orthopedic guys). The next thing he says gives Carla and I some comfort; the orthopedic guys believe the mass is NOT cancerous. Hallelujah! Praise God! Praise the Lord! At least that is my inward reaction and I am pretty sure Carla's as well. Here is where I first hear a medical term that will change my life; aneurismal bone cyst. Well, one of the orthopedic guys wants to see me immediately so my doc makes an appointment and sends us on our way to be there in 3 hours. The last thing the doctor tells me is that he will be praying for me; that is so awesome!

Since it is almost lunch time, Carla and I decide to go eat lunch while we wait for my appointment with the orthopedic doctor. For the next 3 hours we begin calling every Christian we know to ask for prayer concerning our (more specifically my but definitely our) news; I do not call my family (14 brothers and sisters) yet, I want to wait until we know exactly what we are dealing with. Carla and I sit at a local restaurant calling Christian friends and praying (and not only over our food) to God for His intervention in my medical situation, but mostly we pray for comfort and piece of mind. We know that God is in control and that gives us great comfort.

Well, that is all for now. Please come back for my next post, 'cause there is much more to this story and if I do say so myself, it is an interesting one. So until next time, I pray that God blesses you and yours.