Doing better than expected by the hospital team's standards, but OMG the PAIN!

I love the HP quote in your signature!  

One of my biggest problems actually was that my dr. gave me 20 pills, and to take them on schedule meant I had enough for 2.5 days only. That's why I had to get them refilled :) Tylenol didn't touch it.

I think either a lot of people forget about their pain right away or for some reason others are more "tender" as my mother puts it, but I think we're not expected to be in so much pain. When I woke up in recovery the nurse was startled because I was hurting so badly and she ended up giving me two doses of morphine. This is the first time I had any kind of surgery, though I've experienced pain before--including steroid shots in the spinal column and hip joint and the preceding back pain. This was something else entirely! It absolutely does get better.

Something that helped me a lot was two big pillows: a large wedge to go under my torso and a slightly smaller and differently shaped one to elevate my legs. I discovered this position when I was in the hospital two weeks out dealing with an infection, and it helped a lot. Eventually I was able to sleep with legs up but torso down, which was a great relief also. I ordered the pillows from my hospital bed, and was able to then adjust position with torso up, legs down, vice versa, or both up. Previously I was very uncomfortable propped up on a big mound of pillows and gradually sinking as the bed pushed away from the wall lol. My in-laws also lent me a small recliner after week one, but bed with the wedge pillows was even better.