That's not good about the pain, but pleased you have a date for your op. I would definitely get a stick in the meantime to help you, I know it certainly helped me with my mobility. Again be aware of posture if you can, as I definitely damaged my other knee from transferring all the weight to that one from my dodgy one , also I had hip pain as I wasn't walking correctly. I did find acupuncture helped with the pain though. So where am I now - well it just continues to get better and better. I have not needed any pain killers since my op, I no longer need my stick, I actually like walking, love my swimming, occasionally go to the gym and look forward to days out now, I can wear my heels again - in fact physically life is good, so much better than I could have expected. I know that not everyone will get the same results as I have from losing weight and it's not miraculously been cured, but boy it's a good 80% better if not more. I do have a lot to be thankful for to my knee though, as when it was super painful that's when I went to the doctors and I remember saying to her that I know I need to lose weight and was there anything that could give me a kick start. Her reply was " had I ever considered WLS" - she referred me the very same day. Even if you don't get the results I got in respect of pain relief ( even the professionals told me that it wouldn't be a quick fix ) hopefully you will be so much fitter to endure an operation, but do keep positives because sometimes things turn out so much better than expected. Xx