janewhite1

For the first week or two, you'll probably be in an open splint, so the foot is immobilized, but the incision gets enough air to heal. Presumably, the cast will be a hard plaster or fiberglass thing up to your knee, like you'd get for a broken bone. (Recovering from fusion is, pretty much, just waiting for bone to heal, after all.)

The proper name for a "boot" is a CAM walker. That is a device with a hard plastic frame around soft padding that holds your foot immobile. Might be described as a soft cast. It's rounded on the bottom, so you can walk by rocking off the bottom instead of moving your ankle. Very important: If you do not have comfortable shoes which are about 2 inches high, get some. I used hiking boots. The boot's sole is thick, and if you walk in one high shoe and one low one, you will start messing up your hips or back. I don't know if he'll put you in a calf-high one or a knee-high one.

Regarding crutches: They are evil. My mother had a broken foot and a frozen shoulder at the same time, and they just gave her crutches. She simply didn't leave home for a month. Look into a "Turning Leg Caddy" or a "Rolleraid." (Those brands are good, a similar-looking product from Invacare is an accident looking for a place to happen.) You might need to use crutches anyway during the "gradually weight bearing" phase, though.

Pain management: They got a lot of good drugs out there. At your pre-op visit, surgeon will generally give you a prescription for painkillers that he thinks appropriate, that you can fill in advance and have waiting for you at home.

Also, you want compression stockings for after the cast comes off. They really help with the swelling, especially once you start walking again. You might want to wear them for a full year.

When he says a year, that means a year to be really right. It'll be mostly right in less than half that time.

Physical therapy: Probably lots.

Oh, where are they taking the bone graft from? Your hip? If they are, you might not be able to use the turning leg caddy for the first little while.

Still, you aren't going to move much for the first week anyway.