I was just talking to a guy today (I’m at a conference) and he is 65 and has had six back surgeries. He said after the last one, he has zero pain, so I guess it was what I would consider successful. I am guessing that if someone has had nine back surgeries, each one was presented with the hope or the promise of a better quality of life, thus, the person (or the patient, or the patient person LOL) decided to try one more time. Before they knew it, one more time, one more time, one more time became nine.