[at-l] Dutch Treat

[athummingbird at hemc.net (athummingbird@xxxxxxxx)]

Hello

I just wanted to update our friends here about Jan's (Dutch Treat) condition
and upcoming surgery.  Thank you to the folks on this list who have sent
messages and warm wishes to him.  He has been suffering for so long and,
finally, we have dates for his surgery.  To those who may not know, or
remember, Jan seriously injured his back in January and did not have medical
insurance at that time.  He had been laid off from his technical writing job
for several months before that and, after many futile attempts at obtaining
another position, he tried his hand in another field and started his own
deck building business. He was injured building the second deck.

We had hoped that Jan would be able to have some kind of micro or minor back
surgery.  We just returned from another long trip (4.5 hours each way) to
Augusta, Medical College of Georgia.   Jan had already had MRI's and
numerous other tests.  This last trip he underwent extremely painful
proceedures where they applied electroshocks to his nerves for a couple of
hours.  Later that day we again met with the Neurosurgeon for the results.
We were told at that time that his surgery  will be a much more involved one
than we had anticipated. Jan is in so much pain and the tests showed that
his discs have gotten much worse and all of the discs are involved in a
severe degenerative process.  This is a "risky" surgery, according to the
specialists.  He saw three different ones this time and they all agreed that
this was the only way to go.  It is a large open back proceedure involving
putting in titanium rods and screws.  He will be in the hospital at least 4
days and have a long recovery period.  He goes back to the hospital on
October 28 for the pre-op, blood banking etc.  Then the surgery will be on
November 20th.

This has been a very difficult period and I have had little time to read
much on this list.  They are selling the cabin we are leasing and we must
find another place to live before his surgery.  We had planned on staying
here and, next year, moving to Sylva, N.C. where my oldest daughter will be
practicing by then.  But now we are forced to find a place quickly.  We have
no idea where we will end up or how we will move.

So.....friends on this list...please keep Jan in your prayers and send him a
cheery e-mail or note if you have a spare moment at athummingbird@hemc.net


Hummingbird