In my experience, people who go in for hip replacements have such a decrease in the joint pain that the recovering-from-surgery pain is not actually that bad

The pain itself isn't agonizing, but it has severely limited my activities, so some postsurgical pain that can be managed with ice and meds is a welcome tradeoff to being able to function in the world again.

you don't have to deal with putting on pants without leaning forward

Bold of you to assume I wear pants.

I'm not sure you incurred a karmic debt with a slightly fumbled and distracted greeting.

Better safe than out of balance, I say!

recovery from a total hip replacement is easier than recovery from repairing a torn labrum

I can only speak to the first part in that my 88-y.o. aunt and her 63-y.o. daughter both had super beautifully smooth recoveries from their replacements and are thuh-rilled with the pain-be-gone procedure. Having said that, you are younger than both, and I have no idea how long a hip replacement lasts. I'll be interested to hear what your doctor recommends.

My brother in law (who is mid 50s) is having his hip replaced tomorrow! My sister said so far the issue is that he wasn’t allowed his usual painkillers for two weeks pre surgery so he’s been hurting extra bad.

My package which yesterday said I needed to go to the downtown postal center to get it, today got delivered. About 15 minutes before I was going to drice down there. Whew, good timing! Confusing but a relief