keep hydrated!!!!!
i took a sip of ice tea or water, every 5 minutes pretty much NON-stop for 4 days. The 5th day i didn't, and i do believe that's why the pain was not as tollerable.
Take you pain medicaiton around the clock for the first few days---set your alarm clock and get up(i didn't have to set a clock, i found that i haven't slept real well since the surgery, so that wasn't a problem)
I found the roxicet relieved more pain than the hydrocodone---i went through both bottles.
Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since my surgery and over all my experience wasn't ANYTHING like the horror stories that you will read here.
I lived off of popsicles for 3 days, and introcuded mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, even peanut butter sandwiches, oh and ramen noodles.
Take it slow, but the sooner you start eating soft food, the better off you'll be.
It amazes when i look in my throat to see what it looks like now VS the day ofs rugery..............amazing.