Mother and Mother in law

Recently my 84 year old mother unfortunately had the middle finger of her left hand amputated due to a blood circulation problem. One day, shortly after my mother's operation the phone rang. It was my wife's stepfather sounding pretty agitated. He told me that mother in law had been rushed into hospital the night before with some sort of virulent infection caused by a splinter she received whilst gardening the previous day. He said her arm had turned black and she was on various drips, and was in a bad way. After some days treatment in the hospital it was decided that my mother in law should have an operation to remove the middle finger of her right hand!