You should not look any different.  All surgery is internal now via an
endoscope.

I had surgery last December and will be having a second next month.  My
doctor told me that it would take two weeks before I would be ready to go
back to work.  Because of the way the holidays worked out I was actuall off
two and one half weeks.  I felt bad the first week (but not unbearable).  He
had warned me that there would be little improvement in how I felt the first
week and he was right.  The second week every day I felt some better.  You
should talk to your doctor about the recovery.  My doctor had done about
1500 of these surgeries and pretty well knew the drill.  You want someone
that has done a lot of these.  He also told me that I would need to sleep in
a recliner during the recovery.

I really could not sleep for more than an hour or two during the first week,
it gradually improved over time.  In my case I was surprised how much the
surgery helped.  Good luck
Bob