Oh and one more thing you should know... If you are having the surgery due to a blood clot, which I suspect you are since you are a pitcher, your doctors will probably put you on blood thinners (Coumadin) for while afterwards and they wont allow you to participate in any sports where you can cut or bruise yourself - which can cause dangerous internal bleeding - but you should be able to go to the gym and run to stay in shape once you get the okay from the doctor, but it adds a little time to the whole recovery.

Another thing I wish I had known when I was recovering - they have you on a ventilator during the surgery which really effected my breathing when I started to try to get my heart rate up when working out afterwards. Make sure you use the breath measuring device (I dont know what the real name of it is) when you are at the hospital right afterwards to build up your lungs and it also helps with avoiding phomonia, which is the real reason they have it there. But when you get home and can lay flat on your back take big deep breaths for about 5 minutes twice a day. Seriously, about a week and a half after surgery I went for a walk, just a walk, and was panting like I had just run a sprint! So, I wished I had known...

Have some button up shirts to wear when you get home - its hard to get a t-shirt on! And last but not least shave your legs and armpits really well before you have the surgery - you wont be able to do that again for awhile.

Again, best of luck and keep in touch.