Do you have any ability to move your ankle up and down at all? Not neccessarily stood on it, but lying down say. If it is a strength thing then it is reasonable to postulate that this might return with training, but if there is no movement at all (muscle is de-innervated) then it may be that surgery is neccessary. Has anyone mentioned what sort of nerve injury they think you have? Have the terms Neurapraxia or axonometsis been brought up? I would think that your injury falls more under the neurapraxia category meaning that once the obstruction is delayed then recovery is very likely within weeks. The difficulty is that whilst there is disruption and potentially a stopping of blood supply to parts of the nerve, these have the potential to degrade throug ischemia. I think this is why your consultant wants to get in there quickly to minimise the risk of permanent damage to that nerve. I think unfortunately it is a very difficult case to advise on, and a lot of it is going to come down to you and your beliefs about your treatment.