oral surgery is cake.
REal surgery sucks...a lot. I had a bunch of stuff fixed in my shoulder, and it was the most painful 3 days of my life.  none of the pain killers really helped, only taking small hits from my pipe kept the pain at bay.  It took 3 months before i could even begin rehab in earnest.
though major shoulder surgery is supposed to be the most painful surgery.
ACL is gonna suck because, while not having an arm is bad, not having a leg is truly debilitating
but, it is worth it in the end, as the joint will be stronger for it.