On the knee surgery front as the owner of two artificial knees (after throwing the discus in high school and college, what was I thinking?!?!) as crazy as it sounds, if you can tolerate it, @PNWexplorer, do some muscle strengthening exercises - your quads and hamstrings especially. Even ones that you do sitting in a chair will help with that after surgery recovery time. And in the mean time, ice is your friend. So sorry to hear you have this ahead of you, wishing you the best of luck!