Frequent lurker, infrequent poster here.

... had chronic dislocations all throughout high school & into college. I tried less invasive measures, but finally had the first surgery about 18 years ago. It worked well, but then I started having trouble with dislocations again about 10 years ago, so had a 2nd lateral release. (The other knee never really had the same problem, but now I have issues with the IT band on the other knee.) Have had no more dislocations since the 2nd surgery, but looking back, wish I had known more & maybe could have avoided the surgeries altogether.

Both times, recovery was pretty easy for me, but I was diligent about doing all of the exercises that were prescribed starting the day after surgery. I wasn't actively cycling at the time of either surgery, so don't know about time to return, but played a lot of sand volleyball & thought I was ready to go back after about 4 weeks (unfortunately, my doctor nixed that & made me wait until 10 weeks post-surgery).

Good luck if you have the surgery & hope you heal quickly!