The surgery was the best thing that could have happened to her, actually -- she'd been steadily becoming more and more debilitated and was practically bedridden, and the doctors had no idea what was wrong. Then she went into the hospital for a checkup one Friday morning, they found a fatty tumor the size of a cigar lying along the bottom section of her spinal cord, and bam, they operated on it right away. It was quite the shock for my sister and me to come home and dad telling us our mother was in surgery! But now she's a-okay and back to her usual busybody self. Heh.

And that's probably really more than you wanted to know. *g* Hope things stay in the green zone for your dad.