I was in quite a bit of pain when I came around from surgery and the day after, mainly from my main incision. It wasn't horrendous though, I would liken it to doing a really intense abs session at the gym, but after the initial morphine they gave me, I didn't take any more pain relief in hospital.
He sent me home with codeine but I just used Calpol for the first few days and I have been pain free since - until I hiccup, which is quite an unpleasant feeling! I keep forgetting I had surgery so recently though, I feel so well.