England seamer Mark Wood says his current target is to be fit for the one-day international series in the West Indies next March.
And the 26-year-old Durham man says he was stunned to learn he had managed to continue bowling despite suffering a severe ankle injury.
Wood has endured very bad luck with injuries over the last 12 months or so and will undergo surgery on his ankle this week.
However, the fractured bone he suffered last month is not related to the injuries which required a pair of operations last winter and Wood is hopeful he will be able to concentrate on his career once he has completed his rehabilitation.
"Unfortunately I am going to have to go for a third ankle operation," Wood told Sky Sports News HQ.
"I have actually broken my ankle - I can't quite believe that is what it is, but I got the news last week.
"I went in for a test where they pump dye into your vein, and it goes round and sees what is happening with your bones.
"It is sort of like a bone scan and apparently mine lit up like a Christmas tree round my ankle, so unfortunately I have to go in on Thursday morning and get this floating bone that I have snapped off, taken out."
It turns out that, although he continued to bowl, Wood suffered the injury while playing for Durham in a County Championship match.
"I think I have been playing on a stress fracture," he said. "It is quite hard to believe.
"I was saying to the physio at Durham and England that it was a little bit sore and then, during the game against Surrey for Durham, it became swollen up like a balloon.
"I said something can't be right here, went for that scan, and unfortunately I have snapped a bit of bone off."
Wood will miss the pre-Christmas Tests in India but could potentially be fit in time to face the West Indies in the Caribbean.
"That is still my target," he said. "It is a long way ahead so I have just got to concentrate on getting this right and getting myself sorted first.
"If the selectors were to put my name into the hat, I would love to be involved then, but that is a long way away at the minute.
"I will just have to wait and see."
Wood has made a big impact on the international scene since breaking into the England set-up.
He took the wicket that won the Ashes for England at Trent Bridge last summer and played in the first two Tests of the subsequent series against Pakistan before he was forced to the sidelines by injury.
He returned to action in the latter part of last summer and played in four ODIs against Pakistan but is now facing more time out of action.
"It is tough mentally, that is probably the hardest thing," said Wood.
"Thinking of the rehab now and getting yourself sorted and going through all those times when you are sat around in the house doing nothing, trying to let it heal. That is probably the most frustrating time of all.
"I just hope this one can be easily fixed, that it's third time lucky, and I can concentrate on the cricket from then on."