| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Chambéry, France, to her relatives, regarding short time left to spend in Chambéry; passports sent to Lyon for stamping; she has a tight schedule of treatment for her last fortnight, involving making some of her patients walk without developing limps; she could stay and finish them properly, but by then another batch would be halfway through; she is curing around ten a month; Viallet is giving her concern - he had number of arm wounds, and the muscles had been neglected while plaster had been kept on for five months to help the bones rebuild; he declined an operation involving the insertion of calf bone, as he had seen it fail before, or fail at one end and not the other, or work for six months and then fail; everyone is concerned that her departure means the end of any hope for him; he has already lost one eye; all the soldiers are of the manual labouring class to whom fitness is essential for their livelihood; the French do not feel that the Italians ('the macaronis') are worth massaging; Legendre, with a sprained ankle, and Rochepeault with a broken leg, both left yesterday, cured; Legendre had wonderful legs; Matthieu's foot is at last improving; the Abbé has discarded his crutches but has sticks; he has had frequent injuries in the past and must have a weakness in his bones; Montheil has died, before his mother could see him; he was too frail to fight, though he had started quite well; he had three vertebrae full of pus and it was expected that his spine would break; he was treated wonderfully by the staff; his parents live in the Auvergne; there are fewer wounded now and though a convoy was expected, it must have gone elsewhere; outing with the men for lunch beside a lake - badly organised. [Letter breaks off without signature] |