hey frog---have the surgery yet? Dont assume the PT will be THAT much trouble, you never know! I myself (total newbie) had planned to start A licensing this summer until i re-injured an old injury after 15 min of tunnel time. My shoulder had been so tired it just ripped out. Anyway, grounded this summer and had surgery 7 weeks ago. So far rehabbing it has pretty good, been going for 2 weeks and have ALOT of motion back. But still have some issues with external rotation--ie, there is no way in hell i can get into box position, YET (i will make it!). Anyway at my PT there is a girl who had the same surgery, same day. and she is really struggling. Point is--you never know how PT is gonna go. But having it done was a much better option than being at 10k feet and have an arm behind me out of the socket!
I had been really nervous about not being able to get into the sky after this, and felt it may result in being permanently grounded. The posts throughout the forums have really shed a positive light on recovery, so i hope ill be able to get things going again. Just gonna be a process thats for sure. Best of luck if you go under the knife--keep us posted!