A new doc sounds like a smart move. Obviously an underlying infection never really went away. Non life threatening conditions are like dented fenders that aren't pretty but the car still drives. Bone surgury is like pounding out the dents and takes longer.

npr mentioned how paying keen attention to posture can be restorative like bringing the lower back forward. Its not Yoga but can go a long way to take away muscular skelaton stress. Putting hands on knees when you stand up is multiplying stress on the joint.

A trick to determing ones age can be done by timing how long a person can stand on one leg.
The time goes down rapidly with age.
Happy Autumn and may your dents be few.