Went to see the surgeon yesterday. 

BIG guy. Very nice and very knowledgeable. Was comforting to hear that he has great experience doing these: about 100 per year. Discussed a number of things including what type of ligament to use. Patellar tendon, Hamstring or allograph. Patellar tendon is the weakest, and the Hamstring and Allograph are about the same. Interesting to note that with the allograph, you don't have to recover from their taking that away from you leg. He said that in most cases they recommend this for people who need to ambulatory quicker. ( I like that) or older patients. Also the allograph, since it is a harvested  part, has no preference for blood type etc. so this is a good option, and most like the one I'll take.  Downside: cost, as always. 

Recuperation is still a bit of a mystery to me as yet. I still don't have a good idea as to what the first steps will be after surgery nor who I should schedule physical therapy with. I'll find this out in the next couple of days. 

Good thing. He said that the pain and recovery for someone who has had this a second time is quite a bit less. This at least with his patients. Perhaps it's his technique. 

Asked about information on the other knee, (left) as it is growing a little more unstable and I'm sensing pain in it. My suspicions are that the meniscus, which I have about 50% of and the knee cartilage are beginning to get thin. His response was that there are now remedies today and more on the horizon for this situation. (Great stuff)  Artificial replacements, donor parts and new techniques that should be able to let the knees go on for a long time.  One of the techniques that was interesting is that they can insert metal strips on the contacting surfaces to help the wear factor on the knee. This would seem a temporary situation as eventually because of the number of cycles the knee goes through, it would eventually wear out. The more appealing was the artificial meniscus and cartilage that is grown on scaffolding  that is placed in by surgery. If this remedy wear out, a new one can be placed in again, no problems with drilling and metal in the knee. Very interesting. 

Ok. the next step is the prepare for the surgery aftermath. 1st order of business is to find out what the first couple of days are like and what I should be doing. In the meantime, back to the exercise routine.