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.

[Losty]

Black stallion>silver stallion

[Anomalocaris]

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?

[Rev. Rye]

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.

And eventually it turned out that the vast majority of those casualties by infection could have been averted by one thing: hand washing.





(Remarkably, this is manages to be a lot more accurate a synopsis of Semmelweis' life than damn near every other biopic made around this time.)

Unfortunately, Semmelweis' success was thwarted by the fact that he couldn't actually explain why this hand-washing regimen worked. While Semmelweis' career languished (note: contrary to popular belief, he was only confined to the asylum in the last two weeks of his life, and he was actually showing signs of legitimate mental illness with possibilities ranging from exhaustion to Alzheimer's), biologists like Pasteur and Lister were busy trying to figure out exactly why that was. Fortunately, they eventually proved it. Sadly, it took until the last third of the 19th century.

[arewethereyet]

19th century medicine.

Many didn't survive.

A point The Knick makes clear in its opening scene:
(note: I hid this because I figured this would be prudent.)

---

---

(Also, not only does the mother die, the doctor with the impressive beard offs himself due to his despair at failing to solve a problem that affects 1 in 200 pregnancies.)

I might have to look for a way to watch this series.

My great grandmother had at least 11 pregnancies.  Two children survived though her daughter had retinitis pigmentosa which she passed to her son, who had no biological kids.  Great grandma's son - my grandfather - passed RP to my aunt though it appears to have stopped there.  All the other babies were victims of medical science not yet being able to recognize/treat the complications from the Rh factor.  I can only imagine that there came a point where you didn't expect a pregnancy to be successful.

[Rev. Rye]

A point The Knick makes clear in its opening scene:
(note: I hid this because I figured this would be prudent.)

---

---

(Also, not only does the mother die, the doctor with the impressive beard offs himself due to his despair at failing to solve a problem that affects 1 in 200 pregnancies.)

I might have to look for a way to watch this series.

My great grandmother had at least 11 pregnancies.  Two children survived though her daughter had retinitis pigmentosa which she passed to her son, who had no biological kids.  Great grandma's son - my grandfather - passed RP to my aunt though it appears to have stopped there.  All the other babies were victims of medical science not yet being able to recognize/treat the complications from the Rh factor.  I can only imagine that there came a point where you didn't expect a pregnancy to be successful.

I have both seasons on Blu-Ray. I managed to get them cheap just in time for Easter 2017. Things might be slimmer pickings this time around, since they're not new releases anymore.

[Losty]

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?

I don’t know. Probably. Seems pretty horrifying.

[arewethereyet]

I might have to look for a way to watch this series.

My great grandmother had at least 11 pregnancies.  Two children survived though her daughter had retinitis pigmentosa which she passed to her son, who had no biological kids.  Great grandma's son - my grandfather - passed RP to my aunt though it appears to have stopped there.  All the other babies were victims of medical science not yet being able to recognize/treat the complications from the Rh factor.  I can only imagine that there came a point where you didn't expect a pregnancy to be successful.

I have both seasons on Blu-Ray. I managed to get them cheap just in time for Easter 2017. Things might be slimmer pickings this time around, since they're not new releases anymore.

Available on Amazon...price isn't bad...I predict shopping in my near future.

Thanks for the suggestion...I hadn't heard of it before.

[AFTT47]

It's hard to imagine the horrors life imposed on us before modern medicine.

I had a kidney stone once. I was certain I was going to die. I also suffer from gout. That is a condition where the liver doesn't process uric acid effectively and the stuff ends up crystallizing in your feet. It's like having shards of glass inside the affected member. Thank goodness for modern medicine which dissolves the crystals. Other medicines dull the pain and still others reduce uric acid in the blood so you don't get the attacks in the first place.

But even in the present, what of people in 3rd-world countries? What of wild animals?

Life is very cruel with the only relief being that which we make for ourselves. What kind of a sick and twisted God would create such a reality for the living, feeling creatures it creates? Certainly not one worthy of anything but utter contempt.

[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.

---

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.