How much did it hurt?

Obviously everyone is different, but for me in the hospital i'd say it was between 2-6/10. The most pain came from changing positions in bed and getting out of bed...thats just a given from having any abdominal surgery. Splinting with a pillow over the abdomen always helps. For me the worst pain was the pain in my shoulder/collar bone area. This is referred pain from the CO2 used to fill the abdomen during laparoscopic surgery as it pushes against the diaphragm. The shoulder pain I had kept up intensely for a few days, but hasn't been a problem since then. I kept using the oral pain meds maybe twice a day for the first week, but that was it.

Like others have said above, nausea was a bigger issue for me than pain. The IV nausea meds in the hospital were good, and then when I got home and only had pills that I had to crush...that was bad. I had to resort to suppositories until I finally got the good stuff (dissolvable pills) the next day.

I had a very good experience with my surgery. No pain, no nausea or gas. This was my 4th surgery and what I've learned from my past surgeries, you need to communicate to the nurses how you feel. If you're in pain or nauseous let the nurse know. Its very exciting and I'm sure you'll do well. Good luck.

I had surgery on 3/31, and I have never had gut-rending pain. I had a pain pump with my IVs for the first day and did use it, but more because I wanted to avoid even the slightest twinge of pain so that I could concentrate on resting and healing. Now that I am several days out, I have only taken two doses of the liquid pain meds I was prescribed, I just haven't felt the need to take anything. I do have some gas pains, but that's not something I'm going to take narcotics for. I feel some muscle soreness when I bend over to try to reach above my head, but nothing terrible. 

You guys have been very reassuring. I appreciate all the responses. I have about 6 weeks until surgery and I just don't know what to do with myself! 

Gosh, I was so nervous. But, for me at least, it was really not that bad.

The worst was coming out of anesthesia, when I was super nauseous. Once they got me some anti nausea meds, I felt a lot better.

It was uncomfortable, more than anything. Moving was fairly awkward, I had to sort of heave myself out of bed. I was not shy about using the pain pump. I think I was on the pain meds until day 5 post op. 

But as people have noted, everyone's experience is different. I had a very easy recovery. The hospital stay and the weeks afterward all sort of feels like a blip, now.