Hi, I had a VATS...video Assisted Thoracic Surgery. The surgery didn't take long, like 45 minutes. A person is usually in the hospital for 4 days and you have a drainage tube for 2-3 days PO. One may have nerve pain, I think that was the worst for me and the fact I can't take narcotics as I throw them all up. I don't do well with Tylenol, etc. either. They really don't want people to throw up and have that go into your lungs. I also had a particle lung collapse while in the hospital. One day I had 6 x-rays! So it was probably more painful for me than others...as they had to keep any pain meds at a minimum including Tylenol. After I got home, I sporadically took Tylenol or Ibuprofen for pain as needed for about a week. I had to get off those too then as my stomach couldn't take it any longer. Took about 4-6 weeks before I was feeling more myself again, I had lost more weight and my labs were all messed up and took that long to get back to eating again, etc. Hope this was helpful!