The night before the surgery, I asked the nurse about PCA, and she said that you need to discuss it with anaesthesiology before the surgery, but that this type of operation is not considered too painful, and so they don't typically use it. Maybe I'd get it, maybe not. In practice, I either forgot to mention it at the right time, or never saw any opportunity.
When they took me down for the surgery, I was probably one of the happiest pre-surg patients in history (well, excluding women having babies): I was so happy finally to get to do this.
The first stop was the anaesthesiology floor, where they told me they were first giving me some sedation. I didn't actually want it, but it wasn't exactly offered as my decision. What did worry me was that, even a few minutes after the sedation, I didn't feel any different at all. I didn't miss the sedation itself, but worried that if their sedation didn't have any effect, maybe the "main event" meds wouldn't either. Now, while I would have loved to be awake to watch my own operation, I never intended to do it without any pain management!
In the end, I went to sleep like a good boy, woke up on schedule, and never needed PCA, or any painkillers after that first night in the recovery room.
But I just remembered something else that did happen in the recovery room: I kept reporting the urge to urinate, though I realized that was impossible since I was catheterized. They kept telling me I'd already mentioned that, and it was normal. Each time, though, I didn't remember having already raised the issue.
Overall, though, that nurse was right--this was not such a painful experience, fortunately. May everybody else have the same luck!
Be well, Snoopy