alt Hacker NewsI suffered a very similar break playing soccer. ER surgeon asked if I fell off a roof. 3 metal plates and 15 screws later I was non-weight bearing for 14 weeks. I lost almost 5 inches in circumference from my left thigh while waiting to put weight back on that leg.
My post-break recovery has not been as good as yours sounds. Almost 3 years later and I rate my ankle at 75% of what its sibling is capable of. I had follow-up surgery to remove one of the plates and clean up scar tissue, and _that_ surgeon was appalled at how long I was immobilized.
Anecdata and all that, but my personal experience says waiting for weight ain’t it.
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I wonder how and when they choose to remove plates, vs. leaving them in. They left mine in, and when I originally asked them, they mentioned that there was significantly more risk in removing it than leaving it in.
20 years on, and it's still hanging in there.
What's your leg circumference at, now?
Mine is also smaller, due to patella tendinopathy.
Sorry to hear about the outcome on your leg, I am sure you've tried lots of things to beef up your muscle. Just looking at my two legs I can still see a slight difference in calf thickness.
One thing I didn't appreciate is that in a break the bone is the easy part, but getting the muscle back or preserving it is the hard part.