<p>My daughter had hand surgery last spring (to remove a benign tumor), and they actually did have to use a general anesthetic for technical reasons. The only real effect from the general is that she felt tired and dragged-out for a couple of days longer than she would have with IV sedation and a local (she has previous experience with procedures done in that way). </p>
<p>Surgery (of many kinds) is usually followed by a relatively short period of considerable discomfort and tremendous inconvenience (your mother may not be able to use her hands AT ALL for a while), followed by the improvement that was the reason for the surgery in the first place.</p>
<p>If your mom can get her surgery done this summer, you might be able to help out a lot during the “tremendous inconvenience” phase, and perhaps that would make you feel better about the whole surgery.</p>