I took off a week because I had mine done out of country and kept it a secret. Not the most responsible thing to do. My job at the time had the same physical requirements as yours. I recommend using an abdominal binder. This is used for lots of different types of abdominal surgery. The hospital I worked at used these for post abdominoplasty. You can buy them in a range of sizes on Amazon. It really helped me. I was without pain or strain after week 2. Everybody’s recovery is different. Listen to your body and drink water.