Great posts. Happy New Year to all. My son is 9 months post-surgery. He has completed the long-toss program (although it is still part of the mound program). I want to reiterate what RZ1 says. He is throwing off the mound at 60 feet (at about 75-90%)...fastballs only...starts change next week and easy cutters the following week from 45 feet. No hard cb's until early to mid-February. I have already seen my son experience some bumps. One day he feels great on the mound (just to tick off his old man he threw a couple at 85 mph) with spot location and then on others, he says his arm feels tired and he struggles with location. He has worked very, very hard in the gym and throwing. But, the mental part is the hardest on a couple of fronts.
First, as RZ1 says, it's dealing with the valleys and plateaus. Not every day is going to be better or even as good as the last. Luckily my son has been able to shrug it off and say "well, that's over". He has even repeated steps or backed off a bit if he was feeling sore. I try to provide positives saying "well, at least there was no pain" or "hey, you got the workout in". His doc said that no one sails through the rehab. Listen to your body and stay within limits.
The other "mental" part is the peaks. In addition to dealing with the lows, the player can't get too high about the good days. It's a long, long process and one or two good days does not mean that the player is able to accelerate his rehab. The key is to stick with the program, regardless of feeling good or bad. Just because the arm feels good, the doctors and PT's know more than a 19 or 20 year old kid. So, the other part of the mental game is "patience".
They say 12 months until game ready and 18 months until the player has good command and feel. Remember this so that the pitcher doesn't get too down or too high.
It's a work in process that my son is experiencing.