I had general anesthesia seven years ago, and I don't remember it being that bad. What freaked me out more was the cold operating room and lying on that giant slab of a table with everyone scrubbed up and staring at me. The gradual sleep that came over me with the anesthesia was a blissful escape. ;)

Good luck to him with his surgery. Make sure he gets the happy-making Demerol afterward. Or Vicodin.