Good morning and welcome to Mayo Connect. I'll second what Colleen said, things look like they are moving along very quickly for you. When I got home I could walk, talk and shower. I was very very tired and needed to nap a lot. Not to be boring but everyone is different so it depends on the extent of your surgery how much care you will need post-recovery. I've had two lobectomies, one including robotics, and recovery was much easier.

During surgery chances are your pain will be controlled by something called TEA: Thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) is considered to be the gold standard technique in pain management, usually recommended to be the first line after thoracic surgery. It provides better pain relief than opioid PCA treatment and permits a faster recovery. After that is removed then you will have to talk with your surgeon regarding pain control.

Some people don't need pain control after they are released from the hospital. Can you explain to me what you mean by pain meds don't work well for you? For your 7 prior surgeries was this also a problem?