Bob, Sorry you're having a rough time but things have a way of working out.
If you haven't already, I would STRONGLY suggest that you get a second and maybe even a third opinion on your wife's back before she has surgery.
20 years ago my wife had a bad bike accident. She hit a curb, flew over the handle bars and landed on her chin. It broke her jaw in 3 places and several years later we found out that the accident really messed up her neck. The pain was horrible and she was willing to do just about anything to help it stop. She ended up going to a spinal center in northern California and the doctor said that a simple fall or car accident could paralize her for life, and she needed to have surgery immediately which involved what they're telling your wife, fusing the vertebra in her neck with pieces of bone from her leg. She was all ready to go for it when a woman friend of ours who's husband was a doctor suggested getting a second opinion which we did with a neurosurgeon. That doctor told us that surgery wouldn't help, and he simply suggested yoga and medications to help with the pain. It's now 20+ years later and my wife takes her pain meds with a patch under her arm every three days and it keeps the pain in check without any side effects from the drugs. She runs 5 miles a day and has done a great job raising our three kids and continues to do so to this day.
I'm not saying that it will work exactly the same way for your wife, but before she goes under the knife (which could possibly make things worse) you both should talk to a couple different doctors for their opinions. Back surgery is a very big deal and I would tell anybody to only do it as an absolute last resort.
Good luck!