How did men survive this?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

19th century medicine.

Many didn't survive.

Had modern medicine been available, the death toll from the US' "Civil War" would have been significantly reduced. Most soldiers died from infection instead of just the wound.

I recall reading an old article from The Lancet where the patient asked to just be allowed to die, because the surgeon couldn't find his appendix- obviously not under anesthetic. I spent 3 weeks in the hospital for an appendectomy, mainly because it was improperly diagnosed by a Navy Corpsman. In all, it was 6 weeks from the time it "leaked" until it was removed. And then I had another surgery 4 days later, after I went into shock. Not sure what pointy object was still in there...

I had chronic pain from my appendix but x-rays never showed it as being enlarged. I finally wound up in Balboa for "exploratory surgery" when I couldn't stand any more. They found the appendix was "retrocecal", tucked in behind the large intestine. Nobody had looked for it there, they thought I'd been born without one. One month in the hospital trying to control that infection.

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I almost passed out just from reading this and I’m not even a guy.

“In the 19th century, to break a stone from their bladder, men had to pass a nail through their penis and then use a hammer to break it into pieces small enough to pass through their urethra. The was performed without anesthesia until around 1846.”

What happens if the bladder stone is not directly above the urethra opening of the bladder?  Wouldn’t this procedure risk rupturing the bladder?

They would wait until urine flow stopped or was greatly reduced, so the position of the stone would be obvious. If it's not blocking the duct it wouldn't be an emergency.