Dad's first hernia surgery about 10 years ago went pretty well. I think he said he was only out of work for a few days. The second time a couple of years ago, it was emergency hernia surgery. They had to put him under instead of using local anesthetic. That, added to the fact that he was a bit older (nearly 60 at the time), recovery took a month. He spent the whole time in bed, and couldn't keep anything down. I'm guessing you'll be fine.