My rotator cuff surgery required the insertion of a pin and hook. The pain after the surgery was pretty rough but not much worse than the pain of trying to live with the injury.
I've had lots of people tell me that their results were only 75% recovery of full motion, but my surgery gave me back 100% range of motion and ability. My surgeon's name is Ronald Zipper. He is in North Kansas City MO. He wouldn't cut me until he was sure he could give me an acceptable result. There are other doctors out there that are scalpel happy. Get a couple of opinions before you do anything.
It was 8 weeks from the date of my surgery untill I went back to work.
Good luck.
Thunder