RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. A bouquet of flowers can really brighten up a hospital room. But it's hard to top the combination of a warm get well soon card with cold cash. After his hernia operation, Joseph Amorese opened up a card from his dad. Inside, a scratch-off lottery ticket that turned out to be worth $7 million. The surgery kept him from celebrating too much, but Amorese told the AP he was jumping up and down in his mind. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.