Puffin--what a mess---you must get so tired of all this stuff!!! It does not help if your doc is hard to reach.
Swelling is a complex issue---I do get some swelling if I ski on my left knee for two or three days in a row. I have adjusted my activity level and so try to ski every other day---and of course, that does not always work.
When I know that I am more active and the knee might swell I do a few things---I wear a compression stocking. If you have trouble fitting into the women's sizes, try the men's. The stocking do seem to help quite a lot, they are worth the aggravation of wearing them! Also, I use Aspercreme---I am not sure you can get that in Sweden. It is a creme for the joints which has aspirin in it. I cannot usually take aspirin since I have asthma--but the creme does not bother me since it is not absorbed systemically. Finally, I go home and just go to bed with ice and elevation for the knee. It is a pain in the neck--I am tired of lying in bed, but I keep a good book on the bedside and sometimes watch old "Call the Midwife" PBS series.
Most of all, I think you are going to have to be patient. You already know that you have more issues with swelling---and you are still only one year out from MAJOR surgery after almost three years of inactivity.
What shoes do you wear? I find that my Birkenstocks or Dansko work best for me. Also, have you tried Nordic poles for walking? My husband has some balance issues--he has heart disease. He finds that the poles really work for him.
Finally, I hope I have not added to your stress. Sometimes suggestions just seem like more work! Most of all, I think time will help all of this. Most docs are reluctant to give you more than one cortisone shot every six months---it sometimes weakens the tendons and muscles---so I don't think that cortisone will be a savior for you right now.
I am an impatient person---I want to be better now. Also, I have had to accept that my left knee is not going to ever be normal---that is normal as though I were 20. Instead it is a 70 year old knee that has had 8 surgeries on it. I do not have pain and I can ski although not every day. Most people would ask--"Why are you complaining?"
but, it is hard for me to accept imperfection. I feel that since I exercise and take care of myself, everything should be perfect!!!
For you---your weight loss was partially muscle tissue that needs to be rebuilt. Right now, since your muscles are not strong, you have to put your weight more fully on the joint---you are depending on it to hold you up. Once your muscles get stronger and help hold the joint in place, I think there will be less swelling. For now--do you do quad sets? That is when you tighten the quad muscle and hold it for 10 seconds. I used to do them forty times a day.l
It is frustrating, but your joint cannot take much in the way of exercise---no wonder you have balance issues---your poor muscles are still not fully functioning. Take it slow and easy. quad sets, leg lifts---David, one of our members got together with Jamie and developed a great progression of exercises:
Exercises for TKRs: do-it-yourself exercises from basic to advanced
You will have to stay with the basic exercises until your muscles wake up. Frustrating? Of course. But, relax, things will happen in time. Right now you are doing more than you hoped to do----another year and you will be further down the road---Sonja did not walk a marathon the first year after her surgery either. Nor did I----one year after my surgery, I used to be so tired when i came home from skiing that I would go right to bed. I felt that I could not live like that---and now, I don't. You will move forward just like we did----slowly but surely.
Sweden
However he is *very* hard to track down - the clinic uses a system where you need to book a time even to talk to his receptionist 
. So whether I can track him down is another matter. The PT says that if I can't get him in a couple of days to take myself to A&E/emergency room to force them to act
I agree with Kelly. You need to build up your thigh muscles, they support your knee.
You have come so far & haven't given up & I admire you for that.
She is one determined
? 
my youngest daughter took her Swedish compulsory school certificate exam yesterday and I was up for 22 hours only getting to sleep at 4am 
as I had to be at the rehab pool at 11am. However it went ok and I managed just over 2 hours in the pool - approx 1 hour strengthening exercises and an hour of deep water running
. Am also doing lots of quad exercises which are leaving me a little achey
