In 1994 I went in for meniscus surgery. When they got in there, they found the problem was not my meniscus; rather, a chunk of cartilage had dislodged from my femur from a rock climbing accident I'd had a year prior, so the procedure changed. They cut the damaged cartilage away and drilled four holes one-inch deep up into my femur to provide blood to the area so fibrous cartilage would grow. That was pretty rare, and I would guess imaging technology is a good deal better.

When I went under, they said I'd be able to walk out, and recovery would be quick. When I woke up, they handed me crutches, and I had to deal with six months of recovery and physical therapy.

All that to say, when they thought it was a meniscus problem, they made recovery sound like it would be pretty easy.