My mother is undergoing open-heart surgery this morning, so if you could point any spare health-ma you might have lying around her way, I'd appreciate it.

She's had a murmur in her heart her entire life, which apparently was due to a bad valve. About a week and a half ago she had to go to the ER with severe shortness of breath. They did a catheterization to check on things, and decided that the valve needs replacement. Then they sent her home for a couple of days to give her time to fret about it all. She just wants it to be over.