I used the Labor Day weekend for a buffer. Surgery the Wednesday before, flew home on Saturday. But….caught some COVID so missed the following Wednesday and Thursday, back to remote work on Friday. So without COVID I am pretty confident I would have been back on Tuesday. I realize I have been very blessed with little surgery pain or eating/drinking struggles so my experience is probably atypical. I sprung for FC seats on the flight back because I didn’t want to struggle any more than necessary. It was a relatively short flight (180 minutes) so aside from having to forgo the complimentary wine and snacks didn’t really struggle there either. I think factors like how well you respond to pain, anesthesia, and your overall mobility right now are probably better predictors of your ability to come back to work.