Many years ago (early 90s?) I looked into a job in Antarctica. The job stipulated that you had to preventatively remove your appendix prior to your tour of duty to avoid exactly this situation. I believe they also wanted you to replace your dental fillings (replacing the metal with a composite substance) to avoid problems caused by the cold (I assume).
It was all rather irrelevant to me in the end since I discovered that at the time the British Antarctic Society did not accept women (I believe this has since changed).
That is crazy. I don't think I would have the stomach for that myself, but I guess being a surgeon already would help.
I remember a related story of and Aussie medic imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp successfully removing the appendix of a fellow prisoner with only a shard of broken glass.
Personally, I just hope I am never in a position like that.
I can't remember if it was mentioned in all honesty. There's no real reason that the incision need get infected if they were very careful.
If I remember correctly the medic sterilized his instruments, himself and the patient with alcohol or some sort of solvent.
I have a friend who lived in the Yukon (north edge of Canada) for many years. He slashed his leg open with a knife accidentally while working one day, but he was a day or so away from medical care. He just cleaned it and then sutured himself up using a needle and dental floss. He eventually got to a hospital, the doctor told him he had done just fine!
When I was a kid in Wyoming, a couple of cowboys moved a few bulls past our house, onto mountain range. Bulls are slow when they're not upset, and they were having some fun with one of the bulls, jumping from their horses, onto the bull's back, and back again. (Probably held on to their saddles, just in case the bull took exception, they could pull themselves back on the horse)
Anyway, one of the bulls got tired of it, and gored the horse, spilling intestines out. Not sure how far they protruded, I wasn't there. The cowboys stuffed the intestines back into the horse, and used their pocket knives to poke little holes into the horses skin along the edge of the wound, and then pulled hair from the horses tail and threaded it through the holes, holding everything together.
My dad being the closest vet, our ranch is where they ended up. I can't remember if my dad saved the horse, but the cowboys sort of had a balanced day. Stupid in the morning, ingenious in the afternoon.
Sure, but an appendectomy implies that the appendix itself is inflamed and infected, right? Seems like it could easily spread to the blood. Not to mention working near the intestines, that are full of bacteria as it is. Sounds like sepsis city to me.
Then again, like you said, he could have just been pouring alcohol on the whole thing the entire time.
"Ines Ramírez Pérez is a peasant woman living in rural Mexico. She had no medical training, but nevertheless performed a successful Caesarean section on herself: both she and her baby survived"
This leads to a related question. Assuming you're in a situation where it's your best option, what's the best way to kill yourself without tools? I assume dying of dehydration / exposure is not particularly enjoyable, and a set of circumstances might exist where it would be better to get it over with...
(See below for the link to the guy that cut his arm off to avoid dying. I don't think I would be able to make it through the bone, so I would like to have this option filed away in case I need it some day :)
Sheer amazing. I wonder how his vitals would have compared to a regular appendectomy? Were his vitals concurrent with an appendectomy performed so late (literally the day before it would have burst), were they better because he was focused on the task at hand, or was his vitals worse? It's a shame we'll likely never know and there'll likely never be another auto-appendectomy performed.
It was all rather irrelevant to me in the end since I discovered that at the time the British Antarctic Society did not accept women (I believe this has since changed).