Heel / Calcaneal stress fracture recovery?

Hi all,

Short version: Anyone out there recovered from this condition? If so, what was your experience, treatment, etc.? Any info you have will be greatly appreciated.

Long verson: I've battled what I thought was plantar fasciitis for a few years now. Living in a remote part of the world far away from medical specialists, I just lived with my self-diagnosis doing my best with stretching, PF boots, etc. While I was home for a few weeks, I happened to be talking to a relative of mine who is an sports medicine orthopedist (shamefully I didn't know exactly which field she was in until just a few months ago). Anyway, she convinced me to drop by for an exam. Next thing I know, I'm in for a bone scan and it confirmed her suspicion... I have a stress fracture of the calcaneus, or heel. I had actually stopped running for a couple of months before this due to the extreme pain after upping my mileage in prep for a marathon.

She put me in a walking boot for 6 weeks, which I wore very consistently. I may have taken a few too many steps out of it right out of bed and right before bed... and that may be part of my problem. Anyway, 6 weeks later, the pain is back just from every day walking about. I did have a major tire malfunction on my bike 3 days out of the boot which required me to walk about 2 miles. An hour after that incident the pain was back.

A couple of weeks have passed since that walk and the pain is still there. In all honesty it doesn't feel any different than before. It's not constant pain, and sometimes I can even take steps pain free. But an hour or so after a walk, the pain is there. I really believe I should have been on crutches for a few weeks and then in a boot for several more weeks.

Anyway, my plan right now is to put myself on crutches for 4 weeks, then back in the walking boot for 4. Any more than that and I will likely have to miss my one big triathlon of 2011.