Helping dad decide on surgery

My dad is 76. He’s in good health overall for his age. But he has a major back issue that has been a problem for decades. When it flares up it leaves him not bed ridden but not able to live fully - he can’t walk long distances, has trouble sleeping, and pain meds make him a little “out of it”. This lasts maybe 2-3 months and it prob happens once a year. Or sometimes there are shorter flare ups that aren’t as bad but last a couple weeks.

He prob should have had back surgery decades ago.

Anyway he had a flare up recently and this may be the worst one ever (involved an ambulance ride…we are in the us)

So now we are like 6 weeks into this flare up and surgery is being discussed again. But if he has the surgery we are talking probably a year to fully recover.

Is that worth it for a 76 year old?

I mean…I hope he lives a long time and many of his family members did live into their 90s…but I also want to make sure his remaining years have quality not just quantity.

What do you think he should do - have the surgery? Or say no to it.