@SunnyDays2, in my generation of my family I have one sister with 2 knee replacements who will be getting her first new hip in probably April, one sister with 2 knee replacements, a brother with two hips and looking at his first knee. My father had both hips, my aunt got a shoulder, my significant other has had one hip, my mother was too old for surgery. I still have my 'original equipment' but have gotten to be cheerleader for all and taskmaster for some. The only less than wonderfully successful was my aunt's shoulder because she was unwilling to do the exercises because 'they hurt'. I watched my neighbor decide he did not need to do the exercises after his knee because he 'works so much I don't need to exercise'. His knee was a bomb and he hobbled because he didn't work through the flexibility exercises. His doc redid that knee and his other knee at the same time and threw him in a nursing home for recovery with mandatory physical therapy and nothing else to do but eat, sleep, do his exercises and watch TV. Amazingly enough, when they released him from the nursing home he was walking quite well. The surgery is a commitment by both the patient and the doctor and it won't feel good, but you push through it so that the outcome is a freedom from the pain.
If you trust the doc to do your surgery, also trust when he/she tells you it is time to do it. If you wait too long the adjustments you make in your walking style pre-op to minimize pain can make surgery and recovery more difficult (bowed legs, rolled over ankles, etc.) If you don't trust the doc to do your surgery, find someone else who you do trust. Most of the time the doc will try a hydrocortisone injection into the joint to alleviate the pain by reducing inflammation. Sometimes it works for a while, sometimes it doesn't. A responsible doctor will not do it very often because it does erode the bone if done many times. Sometimes, though, it is the only relief they can offer when a patient is too old or weak for surgery.