I had the same surgery back in 2009. I went back to work after surgery about 10 days post-op, but parking really close to the door. I did a lot of icing post-op to reduce the swelling and started physical therapy about three weeks post-op (for about a month total) to work on restoring function. I was able to start cycling about three weeks postop just to restore some range of motion - no resistance. I felt pretty normal about two months post-op, but probably tried to do too much too soon as far as jumping/impact and that set me back a few months.
Currently I still have some limitations in full range of motion on that knee - I can't sit back on my heel on that leg. Running is out due to impact - I'm good for maybe about 200 yards before I have pain. I've developed a real love of outdoor cycling
. I'll occasionally snag the edge of the remaining meniscus on deep squats/lunges which takes a few steps to shake out, but then I'm good to go again. I do have some pretty severe arthritis in the bone around the area of the meniscus surgery because of the length of time I had the tear before surgery (years), so I'm bone-on-bone in that knee (I'm also 51 years old). Overall, I'm happy I had the surgery - without it my activity was pretty limited - now I'm able to do pretty much anything I want with minor modifications (and running wasn't a real love) - avoiding torquey exercises on that knee, high impact and really deep moves.
Hope that helps!