I've had two inguinal hernia surgeries one on each side. The first one hurt like you wouldn't believe, if I so much as twitch it felt like someone was sticking a soldering iron inside that whole region, not good. And then I sneezed once, I blacked out and started to have nightmares about sneezing or coughing. I really didn't start getting around until about a week after the surgery even then it was painful. Now the second surgery was totally different, I had very little pain, didn't even take pain meds, and was up and getting around by the third day, I even felt well enough to drive a little. I asked the surgeon why the first one hurt so much the second one didn't? Response was that's just how it goes, sometimes it hurts bad, sometimes it doesn't hurt much at all, just depends on the nerves and exact area where I cut lol.
My advices for the first 5 days don't do much at all even if the pain is not that bad. If it does hurt like hell, you simply won't do much lol. Make sure to have plenty of pillows, sleep on your side. If you sit down on the toilet don't push at all and make sure you have something to help you get up from the toilet. Drink plenty of water.