Well, it was a little complicated .. in that along with a complete break at the ankle, I “shattered” (that was the doctor’s quote) all the bones in my left foot. I too have a metal plate on the outside and two screws on inside of my left ankle.
Because of all the broken bones in my foot, I was not allowed to be on crutches .. because on crutches you jar almost your whole body. The doctors didn’t want to risk the fragile state of the foot itself. It was more than a week before I was even allowed to be in a wheelchair by myself. Usually, the Rehab ladies would bring a chair and take me to the exercise room, or the shower. Otherwise, I was in my room with my feet elevated.
The other issue for me was a hyper-strain on my right ankle. I stepped in a pot-hole in a parking lot. It pulled the muscle so bad that my right leg was completely numb on the outer right side of that right leg. Basically, I could not walk until almost 3 weeks after the accident.
However, I was back to work in 3 months .. which my doctor seemed to think was a miracle in itself.
The worst issue was the swelling every time I was on my feet for more than an hour. Annoying. However, it is much less of a problem now .. and the only remnant for my right leg is the outside of my right thigh does get slightly numb when I’ve been standing (like in the kitchen cooking) for a fair amount of time.
I can understand the hospitalization then. You required a good bit more work than I did. I only had one metatarsal to reconstruct.
And having both legs out of action make mobility a real problem.
Did you get to experience the ‘joy’ of having pins pulled out the ends of your toes a few weeks after the surgery? In my case, that actually caused more pain than the surgery.