My husband was in a car accident several years ago. It took two years to settle with the insurance company for the guy who caused the accident. My husband didn’t need surgery, but was out of work for several weeks with a broken bone in his lower back. His car was totalled, the medical bills were really high, and he didn’t make any money while recovering because he owns his own business (no sick or vacation pay).
He did make a full recovery, has a small scar on his forehead and a much larger scar on his head that is only visible if he gets his hair cut too short. We settled with the insurance company for an amount that seemed impressive until the hospital and the attorney took their cuts (of course). Still, we put a nice downpayment on our first house and had enough left for renovations.
If you don’t feel that your lawyer is doing a good job, you should be able to fire him/her and find a new one. Did you sign some kind of contract with your lawyer? Just don’t rush things, document everything from the doctors, keep track of bills and lost pay. You’ll probably have to be able to prove how much pay you’re losing so make sure you can produce income tax records and/or pay stubs. You’ll probably also need a lot of patience.