Totally with you on the idea of her making an informed decision (i'm a third year medical student), just wanted to add my positive experience so she can see that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel from having surgery!

to be honest when i had my op, i had the best guy in the country as one of my consultants, so maybe i was lucky with my surgeons!

let's hope that someone can lessen her pain, its not nice to have back pain!