My son had almost no pain at all after his surgery, but his tendon was harvested from his forearm. In fact, the threw his pain pills away after the first day, didn't feel he needed them any longer! His surgeon removed the bandages after the first week and put him in a range of motion brace that allowed very little movement that first week, and took the stiches out after the second week. He was allowed to gradually increase the range of motion over the following weeks as long as it was comfortable and without straining to do so. Actually, his physical therapist was the one who increased the brace's range.
One thing that we found that really helped was to rent a "Game Ready" icing machine to use after his bandages had come off. You would use the Game Ready several times per day for a couple weeks, and it is thought to speed healing and reduce discomfort. These machines pump chilled water through a sleeve and also compress the area to help reduce swelling and move excess fluid out of the region. You can rent one through any prosthetics company, we got ours throught Hanger Prosthetics. Your surgeon would need to write a prescription for the icing machine to have it covered by insurance.
Son's surgery was last September 27th. He returns to the field next Tuesday, trying out at catcher for one of our local jucos.