Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I know nothing about it. I do have a friend who is a very enthusiastic and extreme rock climber. He damaged his shoulder - ripped the tendons from the bone in a fall on an escalator in a shop. He did everything that he needed to do, followed the rehab through for about a year. He never regretted taking a year out from his favourite activity and is back to rock climbing again.
Some thoughts spring to mind.
There is always a lot going on that you would rather do.
We are all in a sort of lockdown now, it would be a shame to come out of that and then have to be out of action when everyone else is out and about.
"At your age" - it isn't a fixed number. It keeps increasing. At my age, I think I have only just realised this.
The earlier you do it, the greater the number of pain free years you have left.
A Tyre analogy.
My bike tyres last around 5000 miles. I cannot get any more out of them. I once thought that I had enough tread left in my tyres to do a 2000 mile tour around Scotland. I was wrong. I forgot that tyre wear isn't linear - the last part of the tread wears faster than the first half.
I could have taken the plunge and got rid of the old tyres with nearly 2000 miles left on them. As it was, in the last half of the tour, I was nursing them, trying to make them last the distance.
We didn't go to places that we would have liked, and missed some longer scenic tours in favour of shorter, tyre saving routes. I always wished that I had fitted the new tyres. And now, because of that experience, I always do fit new. Did I make it home ? No I didn't. The tyres became illegal about 300 miles from home. The train fare, the return with car and trailer, the hotel and the return home - in total cost me more than the price of two sets of tyres.
I don't know if that helps. It is intended to, but only you know the full story.
As a doctor once told us - you don't always get to choose !
Whatever - I hope it all works out OK.
