Experienced Arthritics Here?

I was diagnosed with osteo-arth. in my left knee last summer. They told me the cartilage in my left knee was pretty much all gone and meniscus was torn in two. The ortho-surgeon OFFERED to replace the knee and all but guaranteed I'd be back to 100% in no time. That sounded like the "too good to be true" offer we hear all the time so I told him I'd wait until the pain became unbearable. I saw an ad on tv involving injecting a material into the knee to replace the missing cartilage so I checked into it and gave it a try. Two months after my last injection my knee is 99% pain free (the meniscus was NEVER repaired) and I am only waiting another couple of weeks to start running again. I am currently playing golf as often as I can get out with NO problem from the knee. Walking involves minimal pain. They did tell me going in that the injections were NOT guaranteed to help but I had nothing to lose plus insurance paid for ALL OF IT. I go back in six months for follow up and so far so good.