| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, Valence, to her relatives, regarding heavy snowfall; it is rare in Valence and has prevented the milk delivery; some was sent down from the 201 for Pinet and Cortill who need it for their treatment, but the nun and Amelia have to go without; she has some condensed milk for her cocoa; Mme. Soureillat has been taking advantage of her in going out and expecting Amelia simply to be at the hospital when she wants her, so today Amelia went out instead; visit to the Hôpital Général to see Lemoigne; 'three months ago a shell caused earth to give him a blow on the wrist. The dislocation was considered merely a strain and neglected at the time. Here two plasters compelled the blood to make its own exit locally, but eventually Dr. Mollin has had to amputate, as the bones were rotten in the wrist-joint'; he then caught a chill on the operating table, which seems to have developed into pleurisy; Mme. Soureillat is keen to stop Amelia from visiting their old patients so that she can visit them herself; visits to Girou, Moret, and Witzewski, the Polish patient who speaks only English; his Polish comrade speaks only German and was a victim of the railway accident, with multiple leg fractures; 'he too worked as a miner in Essen-on-the-Rhein and escaped to Holland'; award of military decorations first recommended two years ago; tea arranged at the 201, but Amelia willing to stay at the annexe to look after Pinet; Mme. Soureillat is among those being decorated; the Commandant made the presentations; he was at the siege of Strasbourg in 1870; Mme. Soureillat was reprimanded for being late and for not bringing Amelia with her; baking cakes for the patients as well as Dr. Michaud and Mlle. Vernaz at Chambéry and Hergaux, her ex-patient who has sent her butter; the nun was also excluded from the invitation to the tea and was cross at not receiving a decoration, though the list had been sent so long ago that she had not been there for very long at the time; summons for Amelia to speak to the Commandant; this turns out to be the news that she has been proposed for a decoration, to include her service at Aix-les-Bains and Chambéry; operation at the annexe on Mme. Soureillat's brother-in-law, troubled with a fatty tumour in his neck; the annexe is a compromise as he refused to go into a clinic and wanted it done at home; anaesthetic administered by Mlle. Edith Breynat from the 201; two other tumours on the chest and opposite shoulder were also discovered and removed; the nun was not told of the operation and was cross; the doctor afterwards showed Amelia the dissected benign tumours; Mme. Soureillat's continued capricious behaviour; Ballou has left for the 'centre' [at Bordeaux?] where he will be fitted with an artificial limb; he was accompanied by an infirmier from the 201; the amputation was a result of complication of tuberculosis of the bone. [Letter breaks off without signature] |