removal of hardware - still painful

Sorry you are having so much trouble, but I am sure you will get more help from the "bones" forum (assuming there is one that deals with this sort of query).

However - I will tell you my experience which may answer your question anyway.

When you have an operation they cause damage to nerves in the skin when they make the incision. Damaged nerves hurt! It isn't just the line of the scar, it spreads into the surrounding skin which has also been pulled about - which results in bruising. Bruising hurts too and can take some time to heal. 

Did you just have the screws removed or the plate as well? Removing hardware from a break is at least almost as traumatic as having it put in at the time of the break and I suspect that the nurses and physios would have provided more warning about the pain than the surgeon did and it was they who told me the fact that often it is worse than having it put in! Don't think I remember seeing the surgeon when mine was removed but I suppose I must have. When you had the break I imagine they provided you with considerable pain relief and you wouldn't have been walking and weight-bearing on it at this stage either. That makes a big difference too.

Before I went into hospital to have the metalwork removed I started taking arnica globules - to please a friend who was sure it would help. It did - according to the physios and nurses on the orthopaedic ward they had never seen anyone with so little bruising post op . Don't ask me why, I was very sceptical but the result spoke for itself. Maybe I'd have been like that anyway, but I doubt it somehow. That might be something you could try - it's alternative medicine but perfectly harmless. Taking the globules would be fine - whether using arnica cream close to a not-yet-healed scar is a good idea is another matter. But once it is fully healed arnica cream is a good way of reducing the bruising, it is a traditional remedy and does work. You may not be able to see much bruising but it will also be there along with swelling below the surface. I bled when I had my flu jab, the doc caught a blood vessel - and it was nearly 5 weeks before the bruise had gone. I didn't use arnica as it didn't hurt but I should have.

I still have shooting pains in my knee if I try to kneel on it where the scar is - and that is after 20 years! There is also a numb area where the nerves were damaged and haven't healed fully - nerves don't always regenerate after being cut and can remain irritable. I do know people who have to have the lining of ski boots cut away to relieve pressure on an old scar when they have them tight enough to ski in.

i had 2 failed Arthrodisis on my right foot and the aftercare the first time was wrong and I weight bore way before time, and the second time, I did exactly as told by a diff surgeon, and my foot was improved but it will never be good. It still swells up and has the most nerve damage and the pain with it. And that goes back quite a few years, like 7-9 somewhere there.

i don't think the advice about "walking a lot" is good, I would have said lots more rest

I spent 6 months in a wheel chair both times, and got overweight which I still struggle with because of inactivity, mainly.  I am on elbow crutches permanently, rather than having the right foot amputated above the knee replacement,......what the... No way, I can live on sticks. And I do much more than any able bodied person, stubbornness takes me a long way.😇

i hope you recover faster than my suggestion, but don't try to rush the foot area, you'll come out worse. 😟