I have said it before ... I will bow out when the gigs - LACK THEREOF - tell me it's time ... otherwise I will "keep on keepin' on" ...

Best of luck with the surgery ... my wife had it done one year ago this past March ... she is doing great ...
I would not think this would be the end of your entertaining career at all ... As long as you are otherwise healthy and do the rehab therapy as prescribed you REALLY should be much better off than you are now ... I had two knees done 14 and 13 years ago and I'm still kickin' - literally ... I had heard that the rehab for the hip is easier than that of the knee and from what I saw with my wife, it is true ... Do the rehab and in no time you will be telling your fill-in buddies to go back to doing what they were doing before they had to fill in for you ...