GOSHEN -- Bob Lundberg bears a one-inch scar from a surgery last month that left him using a cane and wobbling on it for balance.

The 89-year-old will be celebrating the holidays without the big toe on his right foot. It was amputated because of poor blood circulation and blocked arteries. But Lundberg is lucky he didn't lose more.

"I'm happy they didn't have to amputate the leg," he said. "That would have been a whole other ball game."

Lundberg's problems started a year ago when he scraped his toe in the shower. It bled for a few days, then finally formed a scab, but the scab never healed because of his poor blood circulation. When he was in the hospital being treated for heart disease, the toe turned black, he said.

He was told he'd have to have the leg amputated near the knee.

"There was no other option for him," said Dr. Naseer Nassar, an interventional cardiologist at Goshen General Hospital.

Lundberg's artery blockages proved to be in a tough spot to treat. The further out on the limb a blockage is, especially in the legs, the harder it is to treat, according to his cardiologist, Dr. Mark Smucker, medical director of cardiovascular services at Goshen Health Systems.

"Everybody had given up on his leg and we believed the only option was to amputate (the leg)," he said. "Amputation is a huge problem for anybody. Even to think about it would make you sick."

Lundberg's case allowed three specialists to work closely together -- a cardiologist, a radiologist and a surgeon. The doctors used new kinds of drills, stents and balloons to open the arteries in his legs and increase the blood flow.

Doctors at the Goshen hospital have performed similar limb-saving surgery on two more patients like Lundberg since his procedure last month. All three patients were in their 80s and were given only one option: amputation of the whole limb. Typically patients who have blocked arteries like Lundberg's also can have diabetes, renal failure, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

"We've decided to make a commitment that we're going to help these patients," he said, noting no one knows how far in the longterm Lundberg's and other patients' arteries will stay clear.

But Lundberg can continue riding an exercise bike at his Greencroft apartment daily, and will be able to visit his daughter's house today using his cane, not a cumbersome wheelchair.

"We know he's not going to live forever, but our goal is to make him comfortable," Smucker said.