Laura,
First of all... sorry to hear that your mom is going through all this...BUT... surgery is the best thing for her. My dad just had his lobectomy at the end of June. He is feeling pretty good now, just started to actully. He was only in the hospital for 4 days, and felt ok after they released him. He developed some air and fluid in his chest that was trapped, and this complicated things. The actual surgery went well, and if not for the complication, he would have recovered much much faster. My dad was pretty much able to do alot for himself after surgery. He had trouble driving because of the position he had to be in was painfull, he definitly layed down alot, but as far as everything else, it was painfull but "doable". I hope your mom recovers quickly, and if you have anymore questions, feel free to post them or even PM me!
Jamie