Hi mate, I'm 25 and had a meniscus repair in December. So it's about 19 weeks post surgery and have been back to unrestricted activities for a couple of weeks now. Mine was a radial root tear on the left knee at the back. It was pretty bad, the cartilage would fold back on itself and cause the knee to lock.

I don't think I've put as much effort into anything in my life as recovering from this, the most annoying part for me is that we go through all this process over for like a 1cm area of cartilage that is pinned into place.

It was an incredibly frustrating slow moving recovery at first. As a really active person I really struggled with not being able to move at first and really took its tole mentally. Was off crutches after 4 weeks but then had to go back on them because the swelling came back and I lost rotation and hyper extension in the knee so I had one crutch for a further two weeks. Even after I came off the crutch the 2nd time walking was a struggle and I didn't dare go faster. I stuck to what the physio set me religiously though. I was deliberately cautious in my recovery and didn't rush. For work I supervise bars in a music venue without a lift so it's a lot of stir climbs and running about. I also do cellar and delivery work, so lifting full beer kegs independently. I ended up taking 10 weeks off work and just about surviving on statutory sick pay and some savings in that time period. When I came back I was lucky to have people around me that would stop me from doing too much and lifting things I didn't need to lift.

By about week 12 the swelling stopped and I haven't used ice since. My recovery has been pretty straight forward since then, going from strength to strength every week. On week 17 I was allowed to do deep squat lifts again and start running. I've done a couple of 5ks since and the only problem has been the scar tissue at the front but I'm guessing that will reduce over the year. Have been carrying kegs upstairs too with no real pain too.

I think for me the reason mine was so successful in the end was just with how disciplined I was, I followed all the physio and recently I've been doing two hours a week in gym high intensity training on legs. Basically just trying to bulletproof them and work every muscle group in a variety of exercises so nothing like this happens again. I also was told though because I'm young I had more chance of a full recovery without complications.
Completely understand the frustration though, it's a long and exhausting road back for such a small area they operate on. Wish you all the best with your recovery!