Hi Callahan, I'm like Wingy, I have percutaneous leads, my first procedure December last year he struggled to put 2 leads in and they kept me in hospital for 4 days, I had very little pain tbh. I had a revision of the lead this year in September and it was repositioned and the 2nd lead finally threaded. I was incredulous at how much it hurt. BUT, the pain was worse because they had to do a fair amount of cutting and tugging due to the first lead not having been in the right place. Don't panic, the pain goes fairly quickly and honestly, within 10 days it was a distant memory. Practice BLaST and truly you will be ok, take your pain meds as and when you need them, and if in hospital, be sure to press the buzzer and get your pain relief that you have been written up for, don't let the nurses control what you need to have, you know your body and what pain you are in.
I'm making it sound worse than what it is, you will be ok, yes it hurts, any procedure hurts. But it will pass and you will be better for it. To put into context, labour pains or bowel obstructions hurt far worse.