I have had ankle surgery, but was from a fall and a bad break. For mine they implanted a plate and screws to hold in place. Now I am speculating but is it a ligament repair they are doing? I know he has done well with his back surgery, so the challenging part would be what type of weight bearing he will be doing or if he will need crutches or a walker while it heals. Because of my arm and neck issues, I couldn't use crutches so they packed it well enough so I could weight bear inside the walking boot, and the boot was one with more straps to support more pressure. All of that was decided before the surgery. Now as far as those first few days, getting up was a nightmare with pain, when I would step on it. Like everything the more I did it the better it got. They will block it out so for the first day it will be completely numb, and sometimes you can get almost two days out of those blocks, if enough are given. I have had other foot surgeries and always elect the blocks over generals. The blocks are localized at the foot level, although sometimes they will do a block at the lumbar and just hit the one leg completely. Good luck and hope it all works out.