Hi sammy,You'll be on an IV with pain meds. I expect (as in my experience) a nurse will take you off the IV and start giving you oral (liquid) pain meds. She told me that she wanted to be sure that the pain med I'd be taking at home would be sufficient and work well before sending me home with it.
The amazing thing to me is that it seems surgeons aren't all that worried. They send most home with the tablet form of pain medication. I guess they figure it's not that difficult to crush and mix with applesauce. Still, it would be nice to get the liquid. I tried, but to no avail. Some here have been successful getting it, so check with your surgeon and request that he write the script for an elixir form.
Actually, you won't need it for very long at all. Be sure to buy some Liquid Tylenol to have on hand. You'll be able to switch to that pretty quickly. That may be why my surgeon wasn't all that concerned. I'm sure the elixir is more expensive. I found that you will soon make it easily during the day with just Tylenol, but you will want to take the narcotic pain med at night, as that's when all the pains are more noticable.
No worries!
Good luck!
Denise