I had pretty major oral surgery, although it was different than yours. Mine had a year's worth of prep work from an orthodontist, as well as a year's worth of recovery work.
I had mine done at a hospital, under general like yourself. They cut both upper and lower jaws completely through (and off), re-positioned them, and then wired them back into place. I was wired shut for six weeks after the surgery, and had two days of hospital time immediately following it. I'm not sure how major yours is, but I can give you a rundown of what happened for me.
I was a little nervous about being knocked out, but that part was pretty easy. When I had my wisdom teeth out, they used an IV in my arm to do it, but at the hospital it was just some nasty-smelling gas mask. I remember everything beforehand - mostly just a lot of waiting. The mask didn't go on until I was ready to go to sleep. They told me to take a deep breath and I was out.
When I woke up, my wife and mom were there, and I was awake for about a minute to wave, but that's about it. I guess they then moved me to my room, where I was just up and down all night. I hadn't felt any pain yet, just tightness from swelling I suppose. Whenever I woke up, it seemed like a nurse was already there, and usually asked about my pain; "On a scale of 1-10, how much does it hurt?" is what I remember most. Once I got above a six, I'd get a shot of Demoral and be asleep for another few hours. My hospital time was spent sleeping, and peeing from all the damn fluids they pump into you.
After the first day, I was much more coherant and just starting dealing with recovery, and trying to eat with a closed mouth. I'm sure yours will be different from here on out. My surgery lasted for about 4-5 hours if I remember right, so the first day was just filled with sleepiness, but not much pain. After I went home, I just took some tylenol w/codeine for any pain, which only happened a few times. I heard it can make you nauseous, and I didn't want to puke while wired shut and choke (I was pretty paranoid). My guess is that it'll hurt a bit more, and you'll swell a bit more, than your wisdom teeth removal, but not a whole lot more. They'll give you some good stuff to knock any pain down anyway I'm sure
About the only side effect, which they told me about beforehand, is a small amount of parasthesia in my upper lip. Basically the nerves never reconnected right or whatever, and I'm numb there now. It doesn't happen often, and usually comes back within a year or so (although it can take up to seven years I've heard). My surgery was about 2.5 years ago, and it's still there. At first, it felt like novacaine with a fat upper lip, but now it feels pretty normal. The only time I really notice it is eating and shaving.
Hopefully that helped some. I'm sure it'll be different for you, but for me the worrying was worse than going through with it. I found other problems besides the pain that pissed me off much more. Now that it's done, though, I'm glad.