@jelliott31 Was this a fairly recent accident and you are still healing? Is a knee replacement necessary if the rod was to be removed? Does the rod go through the knee joint itself or around it?

I know sometimes external cages are used for stabilization and I had one on my ankle for the first couple weeks after the fracture waiting for the swelling to subside a little before surgery for ankle fixation. My surgeon also does some surgeries that can lengthen bones or straightens them by using an external cage screwed into the bone in combination internal surgery. For limb lengthening, the patient will adjust a dial on the external cage so it is expanding from the points of attachment and the pressure that exerts on the bone causes it to reform in a new longer shape. This process continues until the desired length is achieved over a period of time. This is also how they can create new bone if bone has been lost through disease. It's pretty amazing, but painful and hard to live with.