Just 48 hours ago I had a bilateral inguinal hernia repair, by way of open surgery (rather than laparoscopic 'keyhole' surgery). Which is to say I was sliced open twice, either side of my lower abdomen, just above the groin. Plastic meshes were inserted to patch up the problem and stop it happening again. This is very routine surgery, but it was still rather traumatic and the recovery has not been a breeze. Still, I made it home within 24 hours and am getting slowly better now, though I'm still very inflexible and pained. I don't know what I'd have done without my wife to help me!
I expect to be off work for another week, and maybe getting back to playing football within a couple of months. We'll see.
If anyone has any specific questions about the routine, I'd be happy to answer them as I found it really useful to have lots of first-hand information before I went into it.