Man is bitten by a snake and survives an epidemic apocalypse. Dies later of appendicitis

Question

The main character is bitten by a snake and afterwards recovers but finds that almost all humanity died of an epidemic.

Finally he finds some people to leave with and becomes a sort of legend but dies of appendicitis.

Answer 1

This is Earth Abides (1949) by George R. Stewart.

While working on his graduate thesis in geology in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Ish is bitten by a rattlesnake. As he heals from the bite, taking refuge in a cabin, he gets sick with a disease that looks like measles, and he moves in and out of consciousness (at one point being approached by two men who flee in fright). He recovers and makes his way back to civilization, only to discover that it has utterly collapsed—most people had died from the same disease.

For the record, he himself dies of old age. His wife dies of cancer, which he first mistakes for appendicitis.

Sometimes, in those grim months that followed, he thought to himself, "This may be merely appendicitis, The pain is in that place. Why can I not operate? I can read the books. I could find out how it is done. One of the boys could manage the ether. At worst, I would only end the pain."