Hello!
Your consultant is absolutely right when he said tibia fracture will take time so you have to remember to consider lifestyle changes while you work.
There will be pain and inflammation and you would need to take intermittent pain killers. Avoid putting full pressure on the injured leg and also limit physical activity to the minimum.
After couple of weeks your pain will decrease and also go for a follow up visit and an X-ray to know if your tibia fracture is healing properly and based on the results you can proceed.
Complete recovery with no pain and proper gait will take at least 6 months from now if your bone heals.
Take care!
I broke my ankle/tib/fib over two YEARS ago and still have problems with pain, weakness and even swelling. I did not have surgery on mine, so your healing process could very well be quite different from mine but it's very possible that you will have problems at least for a long time, if not for life. The rod and screws could be adding to your pain/limp as they are a "foreign" object in your bone and just from the stress of them being put in during surgery. The decision to remove these would have to be between you and your ortho surgeon - I know some of them do remove them after proper healing, but others prefer to keep them in place, not only for added support to the previously broken area, but also to avoid a second surgery for removal.
Best of luck and I hope you get some relief soon.