surgery for ACL and natural healing

Context: vet said 5 year old Australian shepherd Catahula mix could heal on his own and take anti-inflammatory meds but will develop arthritis. OR that we could do the TPLO surgery. We are stumped at what to do since both options are on the table via our vet. She asked us to consider both options, conduct research and regard the research she sent us as well.

I’ve read a lot of folks saying surgery was great. Can I hear from some folks experiences who did not do surgery?