I had surgery on a Wednesday and I returned to work the following Monday. I didn't have any problems. I also had the hernia repair. Make sure you drink very slow and small sips.. I found that room temp drinks were much easier to tolerate with the hernia repair. I had pain for 3 days from drinking cold Water in big sips and too fast.. once i slowed down and caught on to drinking room temp water the pain went away.
I think its based on the person. Some people go back to work in a couple days and some people a couple weeks. Honestly for me it was better to get back to work and get into my routine. I felt much better then lounging around at home.
Good luck to you.