TPR Appeals

I know a lot has been written here about appeals but I was wondering how long this usually takes. TPR was granted in 2013. For some reason, bio mom's attorney did not send in his brief for a year after the tpr. I think he kept requesting extensions and getting them. Anyway, tprs in our state go straight to the supreme court of appeals. It was on the docket for review in July. We still don't have a decision. I have noticed that some cases on the docket after ours already have rulings. (Although those weren't tpr cases.) We were assured early on that the court of appeals tries to give priority to youth court cases and should have a decision fairly soon. We are still waiting. Anyone else who has gone through this, how long after the case got on the docket did it take to get the ruling? I guess I am wondering if it is bad news that ours is taking so long. And if the original judge's ruling is affirmed, is there anything else they can do to fight the tpr or is that pretty much the final say?