ACL injury

[no1]

I am a 22 year old female soccer goalkeeper. In February this year I was playing in a match and whilst attempting to land from catching a ball my knee gave way underneath me and there was a load popping sound. IN March I had an anthroscopy and it was discovered that I had ruptured 95% of my ACL. No other damage was diagnosed at this time. Anyway I was told that i had three months intense physio before returning to see the surgeon to decide whether reconstruction was an option. I did my physio and worked really hard but the knee kept giving me loads of pain and giving way on me. Again my surgeon put me off surgery by saying I may be able to return to sport wearing a brace as protection for my knee. In september I tried this and it seemed ok for a few training sessions but the pain was still there, the knee was still swelling and on some occasions the knee would give way completely. Anywaymy surgeon has now put me on the waiting list for knee reconstruction but it will take 6 - 9 months. They want to do a hamstring graft. Here is my problem I do not really know whether to continue playing until the surgery wearing the brace or if this would cause much more damage that may not be repairable and also I am in a degree course at University that involves having to take part in Sport and demonstration coaching. Starting in May I will have to take part in everthing at least 3 times a week to get my honours degree and I was wondering If i get my reconstruction in say April which is 7 months from when i went on the list if I will be capable to take part in sporting activity. I realise that it will take about a year to gain full fitness and get back playing but any advice?
I feel the option of surgery should have been taken inh the beginning because I play at the league and national level for my sport and have been told i cannot get back to that level without the surgery?

[injuryupdate]

Agree that in the ideal world you should have been given this option soon after the injury. Only 10% (or less) of athletes in twisting sports like football can survive without a knee reconstruction. If you tear an ACL, the advice normally is to stop playing the sport (change your life) or have a reconstruction (change your knee).

As for waiting lists, in the ideal world these wouldn't exist, but we live in a world where more people need surgeons than we can afford surgeons.

If you can afford it (i.e. have private health insurance) investigate paying to have the surgery done straight away.

If you need to wait, you should avoid anything that will cause the knee to give way more, as this is probably going to do further cartilage damage. Hopefully you can swim, cycle and jog in a straight line.