[Woodcarver] Update on Ol' Don

[SANDIE BURGDORF]

Hi everyone in the woodcarving world,
 
Don and I had hoped to sneak in a trip to The Congress but the doctors have other ideas. Don will be having surgery on his spine to clean out the opening for a nerve to leave the spine. Arthritis has caused the opening to be only 2 mm wide when it should be 1 cm wide. This will occur on June 21st. It had become very obvious to us that Don needed to have this done as soon as possible. He is having a great deal of difficulty with standing and walking since his legs tend to not want to work properly. We have been told this is now a routine surgery but will find out more on Monday after the pre-op visit with the surgeon.
 
On the cancer front - there is no sign of the lung cancer returning. We will be past the one year mark in August and that increases our success odds greatly. The kidney tumors will still need to be removed and will probably be done after the recovery period from the spine surgery. The surgeon is hopeful that he can just remove the tumors and keep the kidney.
 
When we first shared the cancer news, the prayers and support from the carving world were a huge help. Please spread the word that Don is hanging in there and hopes to be back among his carving friends later this year. So tell everyone at The Congress we said hello.
 
Sandie
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