Im very sorry that better options were not available. Its not an easy decision at all. Every situation is different but I do see similarities between mine and your mothers with this decision she has to make.
In 2009 I went thru something similar. It was my third round of OC in 3 years. My doc explained my chances were slim and that I should "get my affairs in order". I went back and forth on if I wanted to precede or just let nature take its course. I had children who depended on me and I figured its best to prepare them to go on without me than to die in the OR. When I had made up my mind to live the weeks or months I had left to the best of my ability, the members here changed my mind. They begged me to reconsider and asked me how I could quit before I even tried to beat it. That stuck with me and I decided in my situation its so much better to try to get thru it and live with the collateral damage than to not be here at all. That was 6 years ago.
My surgery was to remove my bottom L jaw bone. It was over 10 hours. I also had complications which left me disfigured. After such a major surgery to an area that already had radiation, I had to wait for a year to have more surgery. I will be honest and tell you my recovery was not easy at all. After a 2 month hospital stay, I finally went home and still was not in the best shape. I had visiting nurses for months, 8 months of IV antibiotics 3x daily and numerous HBO to help healing. It took me a year before I had any stamina. I had more bad days than good ones during that year. But even though it was hard to do, fortunately Im still here to tell about it. The threads of this are buried somewhere on the forum. I cant get thru reading all those posts without crying. Seeing what my son would post while I was in the hospital brings on the waterworks.
When you discuss your mothers options with her, explain that chemo will not cure her. It may work for weeks, maybe even months, hopefully for years. From what Ive seen of patients who have fast recurrences like your mother, its that in some patients this darn disease is very resistant to treatments and when it comes back it comes back with a vengeance. If she already had bad experiences with chemo then that option might not be a good one for quality of life.
There are a few clinical trials listed. Im sorry but off the top of my head I dont know if your mother would be a candidate for any of them, but please check them out. Im also enclosing a link to the government website where the trials are listed. Just because her regular doc doesnt have one doesnt mean there isnt one that might help her.
Wishing you and your mother all the very best with this difficult decision.
Several Clinical Trials under the OCF forum's General Section Clinical Trials website 
