Kamy,

Wishing you a speedy recovery! As speedy as can be expected, with an injury like that. 

I recently wrote about a young woman whose very old dog was killed. At the time, I too had a very old dog and I thought I understood enough to make it real on the page. Within a few months, our canine family member died at the ripe old age of 16 1/2. The grief was gut wrenching. Far worse than I had anticipated and longer lasting. When I got to the point that I could think about it without bursting into tears, I went back and expanded and deepened that passage in my book. I understood completely what that felt like. That's not to say that you can't write about what you haven't experienced, but you can apply and expand personal experiences to what you write. Your experience could inform a story about someone who's paralyzed or helpless or, when you've recovered, what it feels like to be ill and then be healthy again. I think losing my constant companion could be morphed into losing a best friend. Not the same, but in the same family of grief. Anyway, excellent point and I hope you're able to use this someday in your writing. 

Densie