Great advice on so much.
Forget the ice packs. Use the ice machine that delivers continuous pain relief that you can wear through the night.
The amount of differences in physical therapy & surgeon's opinions on PT is very disconcerting. You recommended gentle heel slides... my PT pushed me pretty hard 3x/wk. I'll never know if that is what contributed to my need of an MUA at 11 weeks, as I couldn't retain the numbers they got me in PT. My knee didn't look that swollen- but I would remain at 90* and couldn't flatten my knee past 7-8* by my 6th week checkup- a non-functional joint. I worked very hard at home as well. Ditched the crutches early on...
I utilized 5mg oxycontin an hour before PT for quite awhile as it was so painful when they would bend or flatten me.