Patients will be recruited up to 21 days prior to the day of surgery. Preoperatively: A full preoperative assessment will be completed. Preoperatively, patients will be instructed on the proper use of the verbal rating scale (VRS) for pain and nausea scores. Patients will be randomized by a computer-generated scheme to receive prepared infusions containing either dexmedetomidine (4grams per milliliter or propofol (10 milligrams per milliliter) intraoperatively. The study drug infusions will be prepared by study personnel who are not involved in the assessments. Patients, medical personnel other than the anesthesiologist, and outcome assessors will be blinded to treatment allocation. Only the anesthesiologist administering the treatment infusion and medications intraoperatively will be aware of group allocation.