My 83-year-old mother has two compression fractures in her spine due to osteoporosis. She is being treated with calcitonin injections every other day and pain meds. She has been doing this for over a month and the pain has not improved at all. She is in bed almost all the time due to pain. The orthopedic surgeon recommends continuing on this regimen for at least another month. He says that kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty don't always work. She is getting so weak due to inactivity and pain and I am very concerned about her. How long do we wait before going ahead with surgery and also how effective are these surgeries?