Met with the ortho doc and got decidedly mixed news about the knee.
Point #1: meniscus definitely torn, surgery the only real option so I scheduled it. It's a walk-in proceedure, out the same day, crutches only as needed.
Kick in the nuts: MRI results regarding my previously repaired ACL were mixed, as in they can't tell if it's still intact. Doc's opinion was that it wasn't recent damage if it had happened and that it's always problematic trying to look at structure that has already been repaired. So they'll go in at the same time I have the cartilage work done and take lots of pretty pictures that hopefully show my fake ACL is still there. If not, well, I'm trying not to go there mentally at this point. I'm 15 years removed from the last ACL repair but I still remember how un-fun it was and I was like fit and stuff back then. The joint doesn't exhibit any signs of instability but it didn't the first time around either so here's to hoping.