I haven’t been well over the last few months, but it all came to a head two weeks ago, and I ended up in hospital for two nights. Now I know why I’ve been struggling to write—well, struggling to do anything actually. I have acute cholecystitis, an inflammatory condition characterized by retention of bile in the gallbladder. In short, I also have gallstones.

My attack happened at the worst time for me because I was powering through my new Regency, A Kiss of Lies (I’m at 55k words), I was in the middle of revisions for INVITATION TO SCANDAL, and I have had to miss the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference.

 I’m having my gallbladder removed in a small operation on 26th August and I can’t wait! Your health is so important, and when you don’t have it, you realise how lucky we are to live in the modern era.

 While I’ve been lying in bed feeling sorry for myself, I started thinking about illnesses that can have devastating effects but because of modern medicine are relatively easy to fix. Then it struck me how much pain, suffering and death would have occurred in the period in which I write, the Regency era. What would it have been like in the Regency times?

I thought about common operations, that if not treated, can kill or make your life a living hell. I’m not talking about the big ones like cancer etc, but ailments that can now be very easily treated. I came up with

Appendicitis – The first true appendix operation was performed in 1886, however there is evidence a few occurred as early as the mid to late 1700’s but most patients died from complications and infection.

Endometriosis – uterine adenomyoma and endometriosis were described around the turn of the 19th century but no operation or treatment was available until the mid twentieth century. Women would suffer terribly and die early from infection due to untreated lesions.

Gallstones – In the early 1800’s they knew what gallstones were and there were many ideas on treatment, including cutting them out of the gallbladder. Of course, once again, infection would often result in death. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that gallbladder removal began.

All of the above are very easy to treat and usually involve an operation – now mostly done by laparoscopic surgery. Not many people die from these operations in the western world. But in the 19th Century, almost all would be potential killers. Infection was the main killer along with complications. You were a brave person to allow anyone to operate on you in the Regency period. Often ‘surgeons’, if that is what you could call them, used operations as an excuse to experiment or advance their knowledge of the human body.

In romance books we can make the Regency period sound so romantic and inviting. I suspect real life was very different. Illness and disease were rift and the smallest infection could kill you.

I’m often asked if I would have liked to live in the Regency period. Thank goodness I didn’t or I’d likely be dead by now. I suffered with endometriosis and now gallstones. Think about it. What illnesses have you had, that in the 1800’s,  would probably have lead to death.

It’s a scary thought. How many of you might not have survived? I for one, am grateful for modern medicine.