How did men survive this?

[Fireball]

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...

You don't like blood, Losty, so whatever you do, don't go look up the "Silver Stallion", the device used to remove scar tissue from a male urethra, caused by VD. I was incredibly lucky that I never got VD, given the amount of raw-dogging I did in the Navy.