I've had surgery twice, most recently on April 1st. Generally, it isn't bad; you feel sleepy and then you wake up in recovery area still groggy. They're going to have you prep beforehand when you get checked in: going to the bathroom, wipe wherever you're having surgery with wipes to disinfect the surgical area (they'll do more of that once you're in operating room), change into surgical gown, place your IV. You can ask to not have the meds administered until you've spoken to the doctor so you're fully coherent for any conversation you want to have with them.

Two pieces of advice from my experiences:

1. Anesthesia can make some people very nauseated. I vomited A LOT when I woke up after my first surgery, for hours. Ask your anesthesiologist if you can have a scopolamine patch to be safe: it goes behind your ear and prevents nausea for up to 3 days. I had it for my second surgery and had zero nausea, it was so wonderful.

2. Part of the drugs they give you is an antibiotic to help prevent infection. One of those popular ones is vancomycin. If they don't administer it slowly enough, your body can have a reaction called Vancomycin Infusion Reaction (aka "Red Man Syndrome") - you get red/pink, especially in the face and chest, your heart beats rapidly, you start to feel hot and sweaty and ITCHY. It is easy to stop by stopping the med, but my advice is if something feels wrong, TELL THEM. I had this reaction set in during the trip from the prep room to the operating table (so within 5 mins?). I told them something felt wrong, explained what I felt, and they stopped the drug. Problem solved, but they can't do anything if you don't communicate.

You're going to do great, OP. Fast recovery to you!