I had the mesh surgery done 20 years ago. I think they called it the Trendellenberg procedure. They used staples to close the incisions. For the first week there was a lot of pain. One thing I noticed is that if I even thought about sitting up or moving, I would get zinged with a sharp pain. I was apparently unconsciously tightening my abdominal muscles in preparation for the move.
If you live in a fairly small town or city, I recommend doing a little research and going to an well experienced surgeon in a larger city. They get a lot more practice at surgery of a specific type. A botched hernia surgery killed my father-in-law. The local surgeon unknowingly nicked the intestine and the local hospital didn't do anything for 30 hours or more. They only sent him to a hospital in Spokane when he was going downhill from sepsis. By then it was too late to save him. You want a surgeon that has done hundreds of these operations.
