She'll have to grin and Bear it once she's back on line, apparently! The use of a bear came up on the other thread because having a pillow or a stuffed toy to squeeze and stabilize the muscles around the surgery site really helps if you have to cough or sneeze.

This is the story I told about my mother's bear in the other thread:

When my mother went to the hospital for a large surgery (can't remember which one, she had several) there was a woman in the bed next to her who loaned her a teddy bear. "It helps to hug it tight if you have to cough," she said, and it really did. When Mom got out of the hospital she bought herself a good teddy bear about that same size and named it Betty, after the wonderful woman who loaned her the first bear. And in her will, she left that bear to my sister's best friend's cat, because the cat used to always curl up with that bear when my mom was cat-sitting.

SRS