Cord Decompression- has anyone went through neurosurgery?

My mom has stage 4 with mets to her back. MRI from 5 weeks ago showed cord decompression. She is on steroids and went through course of 15 radiations with little relief. Not only the radiation did not relieve mom's pain, it made it even worse. Now we are in the hospital for a week trying to control mom's pain, but still the pain is strong. We want to do the surgery, but the neurosurgeons are reluctant to perform a surgery because they say that she does not have much time to live. Mom's oncologist and we say that it does not matter how long mom has what matters is that in the months she has left we want her to be with as less pain as possible and be able to move around. If they leave her with no operation, mom will be paralized soon. Has anyone been in this situation before?
Meantime trying to convince the neurosurgeons to take her...
Please share your experience