My friend has had two nose jobs (the first one made the nose look like an onion. a lesson in itself already...). The first time he would out of it for a while, was in bed for at least a week. I think he was in a fair amount of pain as well. However, the second operation was not at all the same. He was out of hospital the same day, and came out drinking the next night, he said he just felt fine. I suppose the differences in recovery time will have been dependent on the type of operation, time etc.
If you were really serious about this, I'd maybe look at the advertisements at the back of magazines like Cosmo and Marie Clair, they always have adverts for Transform Medical Group and the like. You could speak to someone who would be able to tell you exactly what you'd need to have done (which might put you off... all the breaking bones etc...) and the resulting pain.
A lot of people are against plastic surgery in principle, but I've always thought that if you've got the money to go private and you think it'll make you happier than you were before, then there's no harm in going for it.