67walkon, sorry to hear about your accident.
This happened to me about 12 years ago, after a mountain biking 'incident'. Though I was only young!!
, about 41yo.
Exactly the same, no loadbearing for 8 weeks. I also had a lot of soft tissue damage, particularly around the hamstring area. I think this was actually more painful. Bit by bit I got back on the bike. I set myself some small goals and then as I got confidence and strength, the goals and achievements increased. I remember lying in hospital wondering if I would ride again and set myself a goal to ride a particular event (about 100km) later in the year. When I got to finish the event, I finished with tears in my eyes. I was really surprised how emotional it was - it had been a tough road getting there and now I was really going forward.
The mental part was tough initially. But the goal setting in small steps helped. My accident happened on a high speed descent, so this was the area I had to work hardest at to mentally recover. This took quite a while, but another thing that helped me was working on my technique.This lead to greater confidence.
I never really went back to mountain bike riding (just occasionally, and very slow down hills) but took up road riding. I find that if I keep fit, my weight down, and ride regularly, I have had a total recovery. In fact, I've done 8 rides, 1000km or greater since.
Believe in the surgeon's hope (it's great you got a specialist). I understand part of the journey you have in front of you. Keep moving forward, but don't overdo it.
BTW: I think the 8 weeks non load bearing is the toughest time because it seems like you're not going anywhere.
All the best