Dog & Torn ACLs - anyone been through it?

Sorry folks, I know there are other forms out there but I'm not registered to dog-specific forums (and hate registering to forums for one or two posts)- this is where I've been doing the most haunting recently so I figured I'd throw this one to you folks.

I've got a beagle-foxhound mix (Bowser B. Bellows - partial Simpsons reference) that we rescued from the Humane Society who's about 5 years old and recently started to favour one leg.. Eventually this turned into a limp and the Vet's since advised it's a torn ACL.. He's in for surgery as I type this, but before they started the operation they noticed that his OTHER leg has at least a partial tear.. I'd noticed he was iffy on both feet recently, so this doesn't totally surprise me.. They don't want to fix both legs in one operation, but suspect that he'll need a second surgery once he recovers from this one (~3 months).. At around $2500 per surgery it's got me cringing (and looking at pulling out of Bitcoin & Litecoin to afford it =/ ).. On top of that, we have 2 kids under 4 who take up most of our time, and helping poor Bowser recover.. Apparently he won't even be able to get up to pee for the first week or two..

Anyhow, sorry for the rant / vent, just shitty times between that and other things and I figured there might be some likt-minded folks out there who've been though this whole mess and might have some thoughts.

Please, no trolling.

Cheers
Z