Angela,
Good luck next week! I just got home today. I'll be a bit honest, it was so much more painfull than I expected, but gets easier each day. Bring lip balm for the couple of days you can't have anything to drink (from after surgery until the next day when they check for leaks) and I liked having my little single serve things of crystal light (the little packets you add to a bottle of water), to help get all the water in. And a baseball hat or something, because you can't shower. They did let me use this shower cap thing that had shampoo stuff in it that you don't rinse out, but your hair starts to look pretty yucky by the time you go home! I wore a baseball hat when I was walking the hallways, in the room I just didn't really care. They give you botties to walk in the day of your surgery, I took them off because they itched me, and I ended up with a much nicer pair once I got on the regular floor. The nurses are great. I will be thinking of you! It looks like Tara will be on the same day as you, that will be nice because you guys can walk together. Good luck! I don't want to scare you about the pain, but when Kym called me in the hospital I said I was very unprepared for how much pain I was in, and she agreed, I think it is like having a baby, you soon forget and no one really said how bad it was! They give you a morphine pump though, use it when you need to!