Monty,
I do not post often, but I just had to after reading about your wife.
My prayers are with you.
My Dad has had 7 back surgeries over the last 30 years. He is now 75 years old and does not want any more back surgery.
Last December his pain got to the point where he could not even sit for more than a few minutes and he was just trying to cope with the pain. We had to find an alternative to all the pain pills he was taking that were also becomming ineffective.
We got a recommendation to see a pain doctor. The shots did not work for him, and after a few months of working with the Dr. he had a device implanted into his back to control the pain electronically. He went from an 8 or 9 on pain scale to a 0 or 1. It has been incredible change for him.
The company that makes the device is Boston Scientific . I googled it and found
http://hcp.controlyourpain.com/ . I think this is what they implanted. I do not know what the internal device looks like, but the externals pictured match what he is using.
Just wanted to let you know that there are ways to help with pain other than medication or surgery. Might be worth checking into if she is not wanting to go through another surgery.