Not sure if this helps but was advised back in 2015 needed knee replacement sounds like having same issues as you then in 2021 was told same thing
I just dealt with the pain and continued getting worse went in few weeks ago for my semi annual cortisone injections which is only thing I have found that takes away the pain. After those injections kicked in the pain was relatively gone that’s when decided to move forward with knee replacement I just don’t want to deal with the pain anymore