| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Valence, to her relatives, regarding visit to Mme. Delattre; patient going for a sunbath; 'seven months ago a shell tore all the flesh below the foot of the spine. Macé just escaped being amputated at both hips, but the wound refused to close at the two ends and the cicatrice along the centre was a finger-depth'; Soeur St. Paulin is being very gracious and seems to consider Amelia fit for her duties; description again of a Delbet plaster; with this method eight days in bed is the average before walking again; Dr. Rigal seems to have great faith in massage, and has given her a leg to treat on which Dr. Hauraud wished to operate; 'the sciatic nerve is affected, the leg has no flesh on it and the toes are crumpled'; she might make out a list of her cases for Aunt to show Signor Bianchi in Rome; she now has 24 cases; she has been refused board and lodging at the Hôpital Général as the local doctors want to keep it for civilian cases, though she has been given permission to continue massage for Dr. Rigal; the wounded are to be transferred to Lyon and Grenoble as soon as they can be taken; it will probably all take longer than the Administration says; it is 'ruined by a civil administration which economises on the wrong lines and knows nothing of hospital organisation'; the situation might well suit her nicely, dividing her time between that and the 201; she is under Drs. Rigal and Calvet anyway; M. Draussin, the pastor, thinks she should follow the wounded to Grenoble straightaway, using his influence there to obtain a position and accommodation; she is in no hurry, anyway; Mme. Clerc is happy for her to stay at the annexe as long as the nun and as long as there are infirmiers and Anamites there; the 201 will continue to provide her with meals; if the nun leaves in April Amelia will probably move entirely to the 201. [Letter breaks off without signature] |