Q: What surgery did you have? Why did you need it? Isn’t there a less invasive way to manage MMS?

A: I had bilateral tibial and femoral rotational osteotomies.

In less jargon-y terms, this means that they broke both tibia/fibulas and both femurs so they could rotate the middle knee section and realign it, reattaching everything using metal rods and screws. I had all four of these procedures done at the same time because I knew if I did it one leg at a time, it would prolong my recovery (and I feared I wouldn’t be able to make myself go through it a second time). It seems like my concurrent quad-osteotomy situation is not the typical way that this is done, but no one said I shouldn’t do it that way.

They typically don’t perform this highly invasive surgery unless 1) your bone rotation is over 20º and 2) you’ve exhausted all other options like physical therapy, orthotics, and bracing. My rotation was over 30º in all bones and it was clear that I was far beyond those intervention methods both in severity and age. The intention of the surgery was to halt my loss of mobility, with a vague hope of perhaps returning some of my previously lost ability.