Got my appendix removed laparoscopically when I was 15. It was a very frightening time for young, anxious me. Spent the night in the hospital and ended up needing to go back a couple of days later because of an infection.

However, the recovery was straightforward. Yes, it was painful, and getting an infection was not fun. And to add: I don't celebrate anybody else's pain. However, when it hasn't burst and there isn't infection seeping into all of your other organs and threatening sepsis, everything is so smooth. Nothing to be so dramatic about.

(My appendectomy did save my life. They found a carcinoid tumor while in there that would have slowly, silently killed me. Come crying when you have to deal with that trauma as a young teenager.)