NJ, that sucks! The upside, however, is that you you're still 18-plus weeks out from your permit date, so you have lots of time to make the go/no-go call. I would not automatically defer the trip a year at this point. Continue your PT, keep the rest of your body in shape, and see how the ankle performs as you eventually move back into a hiking boot and hit the trail again (not "hit" as in last time though - please).
You may find that 6-8 weeks out the ankle feels good, you're carrying equivalent weight to your Whitney plan with no trouble, and you have a high level of confidence that you're ready to tackle the mountain. Of course, it's possible that may not be the case, and you feel it's not do-able - but you've already demonstrated that you're healing faster than the norm. You have no reason to believe that won't continue through therapy and your return to training, right?
Your hike is set up nicely for your situation: 4 miles with a heavy pack the first day and 2 miles the second day. That second day 2-mile hike will be done very quickly, so spend a lot of that day acclimating at TC and resting. Have some marmot stew for dinner. The 10 miles on day 3 will be the longest, but your pack will be much lighter. You may find the last day the toughest - hiking 6 miles downhill with a heavy pack and a potentially protesting ankle. Presumably you'll be using trekking poles? There's only one correct answer to that question.
Either way, give it more time - at least another 8-10 weeks before you even think about running up the white flag for 2011. Ten weeks from now still leaves another 8-plus weeks in which to finalize your trip if you decide to move ahead with it.
