U's captain Luke Prosser hopes an injection will end his injury nightmare.
He has been out of action since November last year, and had hoped to be back in action for the U's at the beginning of the season.
Discomfort in the knee during pre-season training scuppered that plan and a second operation, to shave a piece of bone from the kneecap, was needed at the end of July.
The recovery time from that surgery was to be about twelve weeks, but with Prosser gearing up for a return, there was still some pain.
Speaking to the official website, he explained: "I was stepping up my training but was getting some pain in the knee.
"The specialist had it X-rayed and said it could be a bit of irritation in the fat pad behind the kneecap, a shorter recovery, or that the back of the knee hadn't thickened up enough to take the workload, a much longer recovery.
"I've had a steroid injection in the fat pad that is intended to take the pressure off the knee but it will still be another couple of weeks or so before we can start work again and really see if it has done the trick.
"If it doesn't, it could be another twelve weeks for me and that would take me into the New Year so I'm doing everything I can to make it work.
"I could be out running soon, or out of action until January - we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and wait and see.
"The positive thing is that the surgeon said that the knee is strong and both ops went really well, it's just taking time to get completely right."