I had mine late December 2022. Are you having reconstruction? I did and i will say the nerve blocker was so good and three sentinel lymph nodes removed i had little real pain. Both breast areas are wrapped tight, and you unwrap after 2 days. There is swelling. Brusing is crazy but all of it heals after a few weeks. the thing that was annoying were the drains. I had NO IDEA there were such a thing as drains. You are not supposed to raise your arms, they will show you exercise. Also, the more you move the more fluid your body may produce. Those drains need to be drained a couple times a day, and the liquid measured. You need the amount to go down daily to have those drains removed. The first surgery my sister came to help me for 9 days. One drain had been removed before she left, but i had one still. 11 months later i could do it myself completely. For the drains, they are lengthy, so they make waist pouches that you can google online that the drains on each side are contained in. You do not want them caught on stuff. Google that too. Something amazing, is that when the drs office removes the drain the body will close the small hole the drain needed, and it seems like instantly.
I slept on the couch. I have a number of small pillows and other squishy pillows. I had one side removed 10 months before along with my ovaries and fallopian tubes. The pain across my stomach made the breast discomfort minimal. But the couch allowed me to slide on and off. I will say the breast area was numb. The lymph node removed side has feeling today. Little numbness. But for a couple years little by little it got feeling back.
Different hospitals give you different bras. I think the one i got were Dale ones. Within a week of that 2nd surgery i developed a hematoma which required a 2ndsurgery on one side to clean it out. A chance of infection. Then a month or so later, i developed fluid in a pocket behind my breast. Not good. I needed it aspirated twice. I went and bought a bigger sports bra and padded it up. Tight and padded. No more fluid developed and the "we are going to have to place a drain" threat ended. So, check on bras. Again, if you are not having reconstruction, you can put going flat in the subject line above as many women do that and can answer those questions.
I trusted my surgeon and plastics drs and at 3 years all is good.
Way more then you asked for but my experiences that were nothing i knew about prior to breast surgery.