That's crazy it was like that for 3 years. How bad was the pain these years? Nice birthday gift back in 2016 got you down the rabbit hole.
Discussion
So the initial injury was very bad pain, then after the wound healed, it was only painful after activity like running, hiking, tennis, snowboarding or something with a lot of knee bending. But it basically acted like a hangover for the knee... It has certainly limited my life these past few years but when the doc says there's nothing to operate on, it's tough to argue. I found a different doc and he did the surgery right away.
Skydiving a massive rabbit hole and it can suck people in... I've seen people quit great careers to go Skydive full time.