Joint replacements can be the best thing - I had my hips replaced many, many years ago and know several people who also have had hip replacements and who are back to moving very fast again. I don't know anything specific about shoulder replacements, but assume that many of the same issues would be relevant. Stay in the hospital a day longer than you think you can - these days, people get kicked out very fast and sometimes, you end up going home in little too soon. Take painkillers as prescribed, every 4-6 hours to stay ahead of the pain and day three after the surgery will likely be the worst (the anesthetic is leaving your body and you're switched to Tylenol 3s instead of the nice morphine). Your doctor will give you the do's and don'ts of recovery, but you can probably expect three months of being careful. My brother-in-law had a hip replaced a couple of years ago and was told not to turn his leg out for three months. However, aside from that, he was back to work after six weeks (two weeks earlier than anticipated), was back to being a full on parent of one and half year old twins around the same time (with the exception of lifting them up, but they quickly worked out other ways of doing things) and only has good things to say about the experience.

Good luck! Please let us know how it goes.