Can I get a hells no?

Went to have my knee checked. Apparently I have patella inflammation - Chondromalacia to be specific.

My right kneecap is inflamed on the underside, causing a rougher surface that rubs on the tendons of my knee leading down from my quads, causing twinges of pain only when it bends a certain way in a fluid motion. Walking is fine, most things are fine...just prolonged bending or going up stairs or (the worst) pedalling my bike will cause random twinges when the bits of my knee that are not supposed meet rub past each other. A few fridays ago I tripped while running. A very minor fall, but I scraped my knee and hit it a bit. It's not clear if this or just randomness was the cause...but now my knee is sore...sometimes. I'm mostly annoyed as there is nothing I can do about it really. I can try and ice it and take antiinflammatories like advil, and try and find exercises to strengthen my quad muscles, but mostly just not do anything that hurts it until I feel better...at least 2 weeks. Then I can start back slowly, and in the meantime do things like swimming (we'll see) to increase strength and try to find some therapeutic exercises for my knee. Apparently women get this a lot for whatever reason. I've tried to do lots of stretching...apparently not enough.

I've learned a bit about the knee in my internet explorations...amazing little joint actually. When you go up the stairs, it takes a pressure of twice your body weight on it. When going downstairs? SEVEN times. Crazy huh? All that and it's just a little cap and some tendons and a little pouch of fluid. No wonder it gets a bit sore sometimes...
I'm trying not to be bummed out. I was just getting back in decent shape and I don't think I was overdoing it, but perhaps I'm trying to do what I'd like to do too soon...this year I've been pretty slack compared to other years so I'm surprised I would cause an injury this year. It's the sort of thing that only happens when you're active...perhaps the inconsistency this year was the issue. Or the tripping-who knows?

It seems that I should be finding certain exercises to strengthen muscles so that this doesn't happen again. I'm on the hunt for some physio exercises to strengthen my quads and hamstrings...I'm going to a music festival in a little while and I'd like to be able to dance by then.

I'm only 35- I'm too young for this...