I put a 1 mm hole in one of my rotator cuffs a few months before leaving Korea. It took a while through DoD medicine to get it surgically repaired but when I did, it was night and day. Pre-surgery, my shoulder was basically locked up with very little flexibility. I spent 2-3 weeks with my arm in a sling to recover and then had to rehab the shoulder. Do NOT skimp on the rehab exercises. I did to my eternal regret but I am back to about 95% of my pre-accident flexibility.

The surgery itself was painless. I think I was at the hospital mid-morning, they checked my vitals and verified I hadn't eaten anything. They knocked me out, performed the surgery, and I woke up on a bed where they had me rest a bit more to make sure there were no lingering effects from the anesthesia before I got to drive home. Got home and had a simple dinner (not much you can cook with just one free hand). I had been warned about the sling so I prepped the house where I didn't have to move anything around.

Humorous aside: as luck would have it, my mother, sister, and sister's kids arrived for a visit a few days later when I was more mobile but still in a sling and on convalescent leave. That was good, someone else could cook -- but the first dinner Mom made was steak ... I looked at it on my plate and my sister started laughing when she saw me staring and realized I was thinking there was no way I could cut into the steak with one hand. Mom asked what was up and I replied, "I haven't had to have you do this in about 35 years but ..."