It has been two weeks since John Smoltz had season-ending shoulder surgery. Two weeks with a lot of pain, very little sleep, and not much at all in the way of the big-picture questions being answered.

The biggest one being, of course, will Smoltz ever pitch again?

The 41-year-old iconic Braves right-hander doesn't expect to know until after spring training whether he will be able to come back from his fifth right-arm surgery — the other four were elbow procedures — to continue as a major-league pitcher. But he said he's still determined to try.

"There's been no reservations since I had the surgery and there's been no dimming of the desire," Smoltz said Tuesday between rehab sessions at Turner Field, his right arm in a sling with a cumbersome padded device supporting it against his body.

It's painful just to listen to Smoltz's description of the work done by Dr. James Andrews on his worn-and-torn right shoulder.

"They anchored down the labrum with six anchors. I guess they're screws," Smoltz said. "They shaved a little off the bone. They went in and fixed what they could of the biceps, fixed a little bit of the rotator cuff, and then kind of tightened up the area."

The procedure and recovery have been so difficult, Smoltz said if he had to choose between another "Tommy John" ligament-transplant elbow surgery or this, he would take the Tommy John, without question.

But pain is something he can deal with. He's used to it. It's the uncertainty of his career, his future, that's a new concept.

"It's the awkwardness of, when the season ends, not knowing what you're going to do," said Smoltz, who has 210 wins, 154 saves and 3,011 strikeouts, all with the Braves. "Obviously there's no contract, no certainty. And we don't know the [return] timetable."

The Braves seem certain to bring him back, though they haven't addressed that issue publicly.

"I realize I won't be able to fade away on my own terms," he said of his comeback bid, "meaning I realize at some point I'm going to have to say, 'This is it.' "

That point where he would call it a career would probably not be until after spring training. He can begin light throwing in four months.

"I don't know when that time would be," he said. "Barring a major setback, I think it would be a long time. Optimism can last a lot longer in this realm than it would in a scenario that says, 'If I'm not at this point in spring training, [end] it.' "