For those who have had surgery ... if you look back, are there things that you wish you'd known about before hand? I think i'm trying to find out as much as possible before having surgery and hoping i don't go into information overload but use it wisely instead.

How bad the gas pains would hurt. I thought the surgery would be a breeze but the pain I was in was really bad

Just how bad the pain would be when I first woke up. The first thing I remember post op was thinking I made a huge mistake. That said, I did have 2 procedures - the bypass and he also repaired a fairly nasty hiatal hernia. I think the hernia is what pushed me over the top but man did it suck. I expected pain but just not that much.

That said, I was on prescription pain meds for 2.5 days then tylenol for 1.5 then nothing because I know myself well enough to know that I need a little to remind me not to overdo it.