I remember being in pain. My abdomen hurt quite a bit, and taking a full breath would cause pain, so I was taking half breaths and muttering and groaning. There were 2-3 (maybe 4) people around me - I believe in the recovery room. Things were hazy, like being half in a dream, but the one thing I did know was that I had pain. It wasn't scary pain for some reason, just "this hurts!" type pain. I don't think I was "with it" enough to think about anything negative. People were holding my arms (I wasn't being held down, but they were trying to comfort me). I heard nurses talking in concerned tones between each other but wasn't trying to make out what they were saying, I was too focused my my discomfort.
I remember a nurse saying something like "we'll get you something, don't worry" a few times, and I also remember dropping a few f-bombs, the way you would when you stub your toe really bad and pain is radiating through you. Then I remember waking up again a bit later, so apparently they gave me some meds that put me back out. Later, I noticed a shot in my left shoulder had been administered at some point, and if I had to guess I would think they may have given me a shot of dilaudid right in the arm at that point to chill me out. I don't know though, never double-checked. Didn't even notice the shot had been given until I was home that night and saw the needle mark and felt the tenderness. Either way, it worked like a charm.
The next time I woke up everything was pretty cool. I was uncomfortable, but the way you would expect after surgery (i.e. if you lay still you are OK, if you try to move it hurts a little). My wife was brought in and they asked me if I was thirsty. I was very thirsty (a side effect of narcotics and opioids) I wanted water, but they wanted me to have something like apple juice or soda. I opted for ginger ale ... but that was stupid because it just made me thirstier (I am not a big soda drinker anymore). They also wanted me to eat some food, and I opted for crackers or something. The good news is that the food went down without much of a problem, and overall I was already feeling MUCH better about things. The worst was over.
After an hour or two they had me go to the bathroom. I had some extra time in the bed because they had to give me extra dilaudid. I was worried that the bad pain would return once the meds wore off, but in truth, they never did. The surgeon later told me they probably had just moved me in the bed and that caused me a bunch of pain (or I moved myself too much coming out of the sleep), which caused some short-term pain.
My surgery took all of 20 minutes supposedly, and that is funny considering I spent a few hours "prepping" and several hours in the recovery room. I think we left around 1 PM to go home, with my wife driving and me asking her to avoid the potholes :)
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