I guess I'm becoming more of an expert on the subject than I ever wanted to but...

Just finished my first trip in 3 years a couple days ago and did so with one new knee (replaced in February) and one knee that's scheduled for replacement 1 month from today. Might as well send the original equipment out in a blaze of glory, amirite?

Once you hit bone on bone, all the non-traditional treatments are going to fail to provide long-term relief. I know; I tried.  Over the past 3 years my weight has ballooned by 30 lbs. Most of it is due to exercise simply being too painful to do on a regular basis. 1 session of moderate exercise (on an elliptical, no less) followed by 3+ days of pain. I won't lay *all* the blame on my knee...life got pretty busy too, but weight gain plus arthritic knees is a pretty crappy combo platter.

I've taken off a few pounds now that one knee works well. I'm eager for the 2nd surgery and the rehab is not overly difficult to accomplish. I feel I can start getting back down to a much better weight as soon as I get a couple months past the 2nd knee replacement. At least I'll know that if I don't, it's my fault and not my knees fault.

My replaced knee passed the canoe trip test with flying colors.  It really felt good the entire time, no matter the load or the stress.  The other knee is still attached to my body which is about the nicest thing I can say about it.

I'll echo what others have said:  I found myself wasting 3 years of my life by trying to avoid what needed to be done and I was in nearly constant pain and it severely limited my activity level. I'm much happier since I got on a plan to fix the problem and my appetite for physical activity is returning. I'm eager to be able to go full-bore once again in just a couple months and I regret having stalled on getting the problem fixed.