What were they going to do? Penicillin did not exist? Doctor probably did not sterilize instruments if and when they came out to examine you oh and surgery was performed while you were still awake.
shareAnd it's not like today where as you may just have a cold.
Back then it would be like, my appendix just burst but I have to complete my shift at the mill.
Hope I don't pass out by the end of my shift.
If you don't work then you don't eat. If you don't eat then you die.
All too often the prairie life is romanticized. The fact of the matter is that you pushed ahead even when you knew it was actively making things worse because anything less would eventually lead to death.