how long after surgery should you be in pain? When can you return to work. (mesh surgery)

This must be answered by your surgeon. Hernias differ, jobs differ and patients differ,all contributing to the time-line for recuperation and pain levels. More importantly however is the fact that surgical repair techniques (with mesh) and surgeon experience and skill levels also differ, at times quite significantly.

Here are our "GUIDELINES" (for resumption of activity following routine hernia repair (for our patients following our repair method, in our hands). Even these may vary somewhat from patient to patient.

I heard of some people driving a car the next day after surgery and some walking for 1 hour the same day after surgery.