What hit me when I was watching a TV show about anesthetics in the old days: A woman is about to undergo surgery and the doc says “Drink this.” She asks if it will kill the pain and he says, “No, it will help you bear the pain.” Wow.
Infection afterwards? I think that’s where “The operation was successful but the patient died.” quote came from. This was in the days when surgeons stropped their scalpels on the soles of their shoes.
Up at Ft. William Henry in NY, they had an archaeological dig of the military hospital (ca 1755). Remember the phrase “Bite the bullet.”? They really did. Among the artifacts were lead musket balls chewed flat as the poor devils underwent an operation. Talk about tough times.
I watched the Russian version of WAR AND PEACE (1966)last week. In the third episode, during the battle of Bordino, an officer, awake, has his leg removed by surgeons, and is offered what appears to be probably vodka to endure the pain.
In the Civil War, it was common to remove an arm or leg than try and repair the damage done by a bullet. Too many woulds, no pain killers except whiskey.