Pain is all in the mind.  It is simply your central nervous system transmitting electric impulses – and as with all things, the mind controls it.  So, theoretically, you shouldn’t need any painkillers or help after giving a kidney… if you are a Buddhist monk.  If you are an average person, who hasn’t spent several years meditating on top of a mountain, you’re going to need all the help you can get.

One of the scariest times, when I was wishing they would give me a little something to take the edge off (and I wasn’t even in any pain yet!) was when I was going down to theatre.  Every other operation I’ve had they’ve given me a pre-med, so I was already drowsy – but I suppose because of the length of the kidney operation they didn’t want to give me anything “unnecessary” – in other words they were saving the good stuff (and it is good stuff.) 

I suppose it is a bit harsh to make someone go all the way over to the operating theatre completely stone cold sober, and to actually make them get on to the operating table, ulp!, but then the anaesthetic made that little scratch on my hand and finally gave me the "joy juice" all the fear went away and I was just left with the beauty of what I was doing, I cried big fat happy tears as I said to Alison, "it's such a beautiful thing".  She nodded, completely unphased, and that's all I remember before they turned out the lights.

In the end I used a mixture of different types of pain management – some of which I only clicked onto much later, so I hope you get to try these out and find the ones that work for you when it’s most useful!