It is interesting and scary how our minds can be. I also suffer from anxiety. Sadly when it comes to mental health there is no one way to make things better. That is still one of the hardest things I have had to accept. There are a lot of tools out there, some of which others have already mentioned (breathing, mindfulness, exercise, distraction and medication) Since our minds are truly unique to each individual it takes that extra time, patience, and trying things over and over again to learn what works best for you.
For me it depends on the anxiety. When it is mild I could just notice that my jaw is clenched and I know that I need to do some controlled breathing, and some relaxation. When I start shaking, I need to move. When I am all up in my head, I need to first learn what is going on, and use some CBT skills on like challenging my thoughts (ex. feeling like I am letting someone down and challenging that to understand that it is just my interpretation and not facts) and once I do that and they still are persisting then I move on to some distractions. And then there are some attacks where I do have to turn to medication. But I do remember (and still get frustrating even today after 10+ years of trying to understand it) that it was so hard in the beginning for me. It is not like breaking a leg and you put it in a cast and it heals. You basically have to retrain your brain, by putting in the work.
I do hope that you can get some more tools to help you. And talking things through will also provide you with some ideas on where it is coming from. Add not feeling well physically doesn't help either. I do hope things go well for your surgery
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