This was a while ago now, and it's interesting to see what sticks in my mind. In fact the part that was most traumatic in hindsight was getting a catheter inserted after the surgery. This was by any metric not the most painful part of what I experienced, but the context under which I had it done - scared that something was broken, alone, highly fearful - led to me being in a flat panic, very stressed, and this caused that experience in particular to encode as traumatic. I worry about how I will cope the next time I need one, it seems an inevitability one day.
One thing I try and practice is the Buddhist teaching: suffering does not come from pain, but from attachment to it. My personal experience seems to reinforce that.
You can uncross your legs now, sorry.