The sorry, sad thing there is I live in the Chicago area and have access to excellent hospitals: Rush Medical Center, Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola. The orthopedics in our area were all educated at these fine institutions and I shouldn't *have* to go outside of here wouldn't you think? My doctors however (and my PCP), have adopted the 'it takes a year to heal, just give it time' approach after a 15 minute visit where my xrays are reviewed and hands on exam.
One very good reason for going out of your area is so you can get a completely independent opinion, from someone who won't be influenced by your current doctors. In the same area, even if the surgeons don't work together, they could be golf buddies. Your second opinion needs to come from a surgeon who has no contact, either professional or social, with your current surgeons.
It's not just in Chicago - the reluctance to do anything before a year is up is very common. You might met it at the Mayo, too. It's based on sound principles. Very often, problems do cure themselves with time, so waiting for a year (which is the normal time for complete recovery) can stop you from having unnecessary surgery.
The other reason is professional courtesy. No surgeon wants to be perceived to be "stealing" another surgeon's patient, so they tend to wait until a year post-op, by which time many problems have sorted themselves out.
I can report that I can stand on my leg, my ROM is excellent 135/0. I CAN walk, but it isn't without a lot of pain and again, prior to that 'pop' on 1/13/20 I felt I was on a path to recovery. I had this ropey-tendon moving over the knee feeling since the first surgery and while uncomfortable it didn't cause pain. NOW I'm having serious pain. It moves around, but the epicenter is the area with the pop. and the ropey-tendon area. What a mess.
I also had that feeling of a tendon passing over my knee with my first surgery. As time passed, it gradually went away. I think it happened because the surgery corrected a degree of varus that I had and the ligament had to alter its length to accommodate that. As time passed, the ligament adjusted, and I no longer felt it.
What might have happened to you is that putting a thicker spacer in your knee could have made it so that the ligaments needed to stretch a little bit more and before they'd had time to adjust to that, one of them tore a little bit.
If that is what happened, it may be that the ligament will heal, given time. If it doesn't, it may need to be repaired.
If you do find a surgeon who will give you a second opinion, it might be a good idea to ask for an MRI, to establish the condition of your tendons and ligaments, before getting involved in more surgery.