You will experience moderate to severe pain after surgery. However, you may receive patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), intravenous (IV), or epidural analgesics to control your pain for the first 3 days after surgery. The pain should gradually decrease, and by the third day after surgery, oral analgesic medications may be sufficient to control your pain. Try to schedule your pain medications about one half hour before ambulation or position changes. You will also return from surgery with several IV lines in place to provide hydration and nutrition. The IV will remain in place until you are taking adequate amounts of oral fluids. If the procedure is elective, you may be encourage to donate blood several weeks prior to surgery to use to replace any blood lost during the procedure. Sometimes, the blood that is drained from the wound during surgery is collected in a special sterile container to be re-infused through an IV after surgery (autotranfusion).