Hi Susie, and welcome, having just gone through the same surgery when you wake up you feel like you have been hit by a truck. You cant talk so take that writing board! like we had when kids. You will feel like your drowning in your own flem that you cough up. It is scary. I say this not to scare you but you will know its normal to feel all these things. It takes 10-14 days to get out of hospital and each day a drain or tube is removed. The worsed for me was the coughing and flem I could not get of my chest, maybe everyone is different but that was hard along with not being able to talk. I also would recomend limiting visitors to 1-2ish for the first week as with me it upset me and made me cough more and choke up really bad. All of this is normal, I hope I have helped not hurt. Good luck, thought are with you!
Tony