ARCHIVED - Famous Canadian Physicians

Dr. Lucille Teasdale

[Full transcript of the last letter from an ill and tired Lucille Teasdale, unofficial translation]

Gulu 17/3/96

Dear Lise,

If I'm three letters behind in my correspondence with you, it's because so much has happened lately. First, after a long remission, I got sick again while Piero was in Italy (he was there for two weeks). He came back to find me in terrible shape: dehydrated, toxic and my weight down to 33 kg. My appetite had completely disappeared and I even had difficulty drinking. For the past three weeks, I have been taking a 1500 cc IV solution to rehydrate myself. Since I am usually [free?] Saturday afternoons and Sundays, I managed to continue without missing a single day of work. I also had a very high temperature (39-40) for a few days and had to start back on the tuberculosis treatment that I had stopped last summer and increase the dosage of cortisone. Fortunately, my mouth is now almost fully healed, and I am no longer running a temperature. But I still have a lot of trouble eating and drinking. Most of all, I am depressed and tired of fighting. Let's hope the feeling passes.

As for the outside world, the rebels returned from Sudan in early February and have been plotting terrible things, worse than what the Arab terrorists do to Israel. They kill civilians and burn huts, sometimes with the women and children inside (every night, hundreds of people come to sleep at the hospital on the veranda, in the courtyards, everywhere). They steal livestock, food and anything else they want. They kidnap 10- to 15-year-olds and either sell them as slaves to the Sudanese Arabs, or brainwash them and turn them into guerrillas. They ambush poorly escorted military convoys, and the soldiers are so terrorized by the rebels that they usually flee without putting up any resistance. That explains how an army of 10,000 soldiers in the North can't manage to eliminate a few thousand rebels. It's an appalling situation. And now the rebels are planting mines along the paths. The injuries they cause are so severe that we have to amputate: last week a nine-year-old lost both legs and an arm.

I don't need any bandages at the moment. In the afternoon, after the outpatient clinic, I usually lie in bed and read. […]

Bye for now,
Lucille & Piero