Recuperating people report that you are more than likely to have these common reactions:

*Impatience, thinking you're not healing fast enough.
*Strong and strange emotions, like depression, anger, sadness, fear- things that you haven't felt in years, or maybe ever.
*Increased emotional sensitivitiy, even rawness at times, taking everything personally- the weather, the news, the moods of family and care givers.
*Reluctance in asking for the for the help you really need because you don't want to burden others any more.
*The need to make lots of resolutions about things you'll change if you get the chance, or else do differently or never do again. Bargain-making with God, your family, yourself.
*Boredom beyond description.
*Near obsession with what's going on in your body, watching the movement of every gas bubble for fear it is another heart attack or the growth of something ugly.
*Rerunning all the low points of your life, especially your failures and all the rotten things you did to others.
*Discovery that your closest relationships are strained.
*Blame and even hatred for yourself or your illness or accident.
*Being haunted or obsessed by the worst moments of your accident or illness.
*Asking "Why me?" over and over and over again.
*Feelings of violation, of having been stripped, exposed- cut open and ripped off.
*Feeling absolutely ecstatic, overwhelmed with gratitude and enthusiasm for life, just happy to be alive. And in the next moment, feeling desperate and sad, lonely and hopeless.
*Refraining from sharing your pain, feelings, and questions with others, even those who can help. Wanting to keep everything, or at least something, to yourself.
*Sensing that you are out of control. And not liking it!
*Wanting to be a good patient by being brave, not complaining.
*Being so confused and worried that you just wish you could turn off your mind.
*Liking the specialness, the caring, and the attention you recieve from your family, friends, and nursing sttaff when you are laid up.
*Being secretly glad that your illness or accident has given you an excuse to rest, or to not go someplace or do something.
*Deep remorse or guilt for how neglected your health or for how you "set yourself up" for this accident or illness.
*Thinking about dying. Feeling scared. Wondering if your life has made any difference so far. Avoiding painful thoughts.
*Wanting to blame your spouse, your boss, your job, anything...and especially anyhigher power you many have believed in, for allowing this terrible thing to happen to you.
*Suspecting that if only your doctor were more knowledgeable, he or she could tell you what to do to get better faster.
*Resenting the health and good fortune and smiling faces of others.
*Feeling as if whatever you are going through today is never going to end or change.
*Wanting to cry, or scream, or something- but not being able to.
*Feeling old beyond your years.
*Being embarrassed by your weakness.
*Having a short memory span and a short attention span.
*Sensing that you're not "doing it right," that somebody else would know how to be sick better than you do.
*Being anxious that you are wasting time.
*Wishing you could pray or be more patient or virtuous, and yet not being able to change.
*Imagining the worst. Fantasizing about all the things your doctor is not telling you.
*Entertaining thoughts of suicide.
*Sensing that something bigger and stronger and more ultimate than you has the upper hand in your life.
*Finding that your mind is repeating negative, engery draining messages over and over again.
*Feeling stiff and sore all over and wishing you could exercise more.
*Fearing the unknown.
*Developing an awesome respect for the body and a fear of how powerful it can be.
*Being afriad to eat or drink or move for fear of doing damage to yourself.
*Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of conflicting data about nutrition, exercise, and other aspects of healing that you come across.
*Expecting other people to read your mind and know what you need, so you don't have to ask.
*Feeling disappointed at who isn't concerned about you, who doesn't reach out to you at a time like this.
*Wanting to isolate yourself, to just crawl into a hole and heal the way an animal does, without having to ask anything of anybody.
*Feeling bad because your visitors are tedious and you hate to ask them to leave.
*Having difficulty sleeping at night.
*Trying to do too much too soon.
*Feeling like you're babying yourself, and not liking it.
*Sensing that nobody else really understands what it is that you are going through- not your mate, not your doctor, not your nurses...nobody.
*Thinking that if only this had happened at another time you would have been able to handle it better.
*Resenting the suddenness of this change of life circumstances. Feeling the injustice of it.
*Losing your sense of humor. Taking everything very seriously.
*Waking up in a panic, thinking about things that never bothered you before.
*Living in fear that the same thing (accident, heart attack, illness) could happen at any moment again.
*Recognizing that this could be one of the most valuable life expereinces you've ever had- but being unsure of what to do about it.

-From "After Surgery, Illness, or Trauma" by Regina S. Ryan