I did the Amazon ice machine too - a little less than $200 and it made a difference in that you could keep it on the knee longer because it did not subject the skin to as cold a temp. as some of the other modalities. The surgeon used the sub-vastus approach on both of my knees which is considered a minimally invasive approach but he does utilize a 6 or 7 inch incision which is fine with me - anything that allows him to visualize the internal components better is fine with me! Different knees respond differently and some variance in recovery times-degrees does not mean that all is not good. I just did PT and I might have pushed it a little more than usual - but if it is sore tomorrow I will just back off a bit the next day.