Smokehouse,

Just thought of something. Travel cancellation policies are pretty inexpensive, I use them all the time. If your surgery does not go according to plan or is too painful or you are too worried about traveling so far so soon after surgery you can make your mind up about cancelling then rather than now. You probably need some sort of doctor's note or other substantiation as proof that you are unable to fly but my experience has been these Travel cancellation policies are legit. Call a couple up and ask the questions. I flew from JFK-Munich-JFK (only 8 hours) about 5 weeks after total hip replacement and with some PKillers and beers was able (barely) to make it in coach for that long. I pleaded for a seat in Business Class to no avail.

Jamerican71 is absolutely correct about the wheelchair assistance but as far as seating goes the first row of Coach is as far forward as you will get. I had requested the bulkhead seat weeks in advance and was surprised upon boarding that my seat was in the middle of 5 seats almost in the far rear of the plane. If it wasn't for a kind hearted Italian woman who agreed to give up her bulkhead seat to me I probably wouldn't have made it

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/

The airline I flew with was Lufthansa by the way so perhaps your carrier to Australia would be more understanding???

Hope this helps,
John