I agree with the others on your friend talking to her Dr.
about sewing. It is VERY important that she follow the
professionals advice and not us NON professionals.
Now some information about how I personally handled
that same exact situation with neck surgery not once, but
TWICE!
I have 1 titanium plate, and 4 screws in the "front" side of
my cervical (neck) the first surgery. For the second surgery
done in Jan 2009 I have 2 titanium rods with screws on the
"back".
For both surgeries, but mainly with the first how I handled
the sewing was to set my machine up on a surface that was
higher then the most comfortable chair I could sit in to sew.
As I had seen someone else mention that they set the machine
up on a "slant" this was a BIG help for me.
But the MOST important thing that I found worked for me was
SLOWWWWW and easy! not spending more then 5-10 minutes
(MAX) at a time. No matter if I was sewing or cutting.
Yes it was a slow going process but it was the only way for me
to help curb the desire to sew. But mostly what I did was go to
fabric stores to look and touch fabrics and see all the notions on
display.
Even though it has been over 3 years since my last surgery I am
still having more "issues" than I would like mostly with the nerve
pain and muscle spasms. But that is neither here nor there, but it
DOES limit me many days to doing NOTHING with my sewing, fabric
or cutting.
I wish your friend the best of luck in her recovery, tell her DO NOT
over do things and DO NOT push herself to the limits of pain once in
bad pain it is much harder to get out of it.