@flachon3 Hello and welcome to Connect. I have been through an ordeal with my ankle too, not a fusion, but I had a bad ankle fracture with surgery for fixation. I had many days of elevating my leg because swelling increased the pain inside the hard cast. Then when you have the appointment and they saw off your cast, your leg is probably smaller because of not using the muscles, so it will be weak. There was a lot of skin to slough off with scrubbing, and that made the skin tender for a bit. Where the iodine was used, the skin was hardened, but also sloughing off. I remember some of the stitches hurt when they were pulled out, but that was over fairly quickly. My surgery was also at Mayo, and my surgeon asked me to start weight bearing by just putting 25% weight on my foot for the first week or 2, and then increase to 50%, then 75%, then 100% etc so when I came back for the next followup, I would be at 100% weight bearing. I was using one crutch with the weak leg for awhile to put partial weight on it and taking a short step, so my good leg could come to the rescue. It will hurt, so just do this in small doses as you can tolerate and don't plan on events where you will need to do a lot of walking. By now, you should have excellent skills in how to rest, relax and baby your ankle. It will take time for the swelling to subside, and it was months before my ankle returned to a more normal size compared to it's partner.

It's been 4 years, and my injured leg isn't as strong as the other, and I've worked on the muscle imbalances that cause tightness from compensating. There is a weak side of the leg from the way it was injured, and the stronger side puts too much pressure on it causing the tightness, So when I work that out with massage to equalize the muscles, I am now walking without pain, and the weaker side is trying to catch up and rebuild endurance.

Recovery is going to be slow and maybe a bit frustrating, but you'll get there. Your surgeon will give you instructions, and I agree, Mayo rocks! I had spine surgery there, and a few years later, the ankle fracture, and my spine surgeon gave me a good orthopedic trauma surgeon who fixed my ankle. The ankle hardware bothered me, so after a year and a half, I had the surgeon remove it.

Good luck with your upcoming appointment!

Jennifer