I’m writing a novel that is set in 1915 England in which one of the major characters, an otherwise healthy 15-year-old girl gets appendicitis. Unfortunately I am having trouble with my research. I have a background in the medical field and have had an appendectomy myself, but I have no idea what such a condition was like back then when medicine and surgery were still taking their baby steps.
I’ve tried googling things like “appendectomy history”, “appendectomies in 1915”, to no avail. The things I need to know are:
-how was appendicitis diagnosed?
-what was the treatment of choice for mild appendicitis vs perforated appendicitis?
-what was the survival rate for surgical intervention in mild vs perforated cases?
-how large was the incision and where was it located?
-what type of anesthesia was used for pre-med, induction, and maintenance?
-what was waking up from that type of anesthesia like, in terms of mental clarity, confusion, paralysis, etc?
-were patients intubated or did this not come until later?
-did patients receive IV catheters or did this not come until later? If so, did they receive fluids during surgery?
-what was given as post-op pain meds?
-how well did doctors suture back then?
-how well were sterile fields and instruments maintained?
-was skin shaved and aseptically prepped prior to surgery?
-was there an anesthetist whose primary job was to induce the patient, maintain the patient, monitor vital signs, provide pain meds as needed, and recover the patient, or was it pretty much just a surgeon flying by the seat of his pants?
-what parameters were assessed to ensure the patient was doing fine under anesthesia? Did they check heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate, jaw tone, eye position, muscle relaxation, etc?
Anybody know where I can find this info?
Thank you so much!