Agh. Poor Chicago. I loved that town way back when I visited. Not sure what it's like there now... aside from brutally cold.
Wow. That went fast... the time between your friend's surgeries. I'm going to have to back track to see when the first one was done. Good news that he's happy with the result and good luck to him with the second procedure. It may be routine, but it's scary (to me anyway).