Unfortunately she ultimately passed away. But actually the one thing that gave me real confidence was that everyone I spoke to said that the surgeons there enjoy doing surgery.
Telling me this actually gave me more confidence in them than any other information they could have provided (including survival rates). Surgery is hard, complex, and ethically challenging (IMO). Knowing that a surgeon enjoys what they do just means to me that they are more likely to pay attention to detail (in all forms, including whether or not to do the surgery) and the complexity involved.
To be honest, I would feel significantly less certain about having a surgery done if the surgeon wouldn't tell me they enjoy it or found it _at least_ interesting.
A disproportionate number of surgeons are psycopaths. That might(?) actually be a good thing, and to some I could imagine it being fun. Then again, I don't know if a psycopath knows what fun is so I take that back.
Surgery is cutting an incredibly complex meaty system apart and then sowing it back together. I don't believe for a second that there isn't anyone who finds that fun.
Probably a terrible idea to tell the patient that though.
Given the choice between a brain surgeon who gets a similar kind of enjoyment from it is as I do coding, and one who finds the whole thing tedious and uninteresting, I'd prefer my chances with the former.
Although I'd hope they are a much better surgeon than I am a coder.
Just because something is fun doesn't mean it is trivial.