That sucks! I had a meniscus tear like that which was borderline for needing an operation. I did a bunch of exercise/PT leading up to ski season and was able to get my knee muscle built up so that I didn't have much pain while skiing. It was weird because I'd ski fine all day then my knee would hurt like hell in the tear spot on the drive back down. To this day I still get some pain in that spot after skiing but I never ended up needing to get the operation. Hopefully yours goes this route too.
I tore my ACL and meniscus in 2002. I was 19 at the time. The doc repaired my ACL and said he pinned my meniscus back down because he thought I was too young to get a meniscal transplant. He said it probably wouldn't hold long term, but that it would hopefully get me through a few years before I needed one. He was not optimistic that it would do well during ski season.
Anyways, 20 years later and it is still holding. I still wear a knee brace for stability on that knee. I don't know if it helps the pressures on my meniscus or not, but it can't hurt. Sometimes, that knee still hurts like hell in that spot the meniscus tore. But, like you, it almost never hurts while I am out skiing, running, etc. Only after, and usually nothing a good soak in the hot tub doesn't fix. Here's hoping I can go another 20 before I actually need to replace it.
Of course, now that I've said that it will probably blow just walking to the bathroom tomorrow.