Hi Karl
I understand the fear about returning to your pre tpf activities. I am going through my second round of tpf (right knee about 10 yrs ago, and did the left on 6 August). I can tell you from experience that this does heal and you will be back to normal – it just takes time and patience. Fear is the biggest battle, every time you twist or feel pain, the brain puts you into a bit of a panic mode of whether or not you have injured the knee again. First time around, I was back to good activity levels in about 7 months, and able to do everything in about a year – skiing, dirt biking, hicking, climbing, and so on. At about three yrs, I didn’t even think about it anymore. When I had the second accident last month, the old injury held together under extreme stress (1200 hundred lbs of horse on me). So, that is pretty good testimony of just how well these injuries do heal. It is also handling all of the workload now as my right knee heals, without any complaints. Have patience, and don’t let worry hold you back. You will be good as new again, just sporting a bit of extra metal 🙂