Messages from Laura

Sunday, July 10

From Cindy:

I talked to Liz tonight. Laura had called her and said that their plane took off from LAX and had to turn around and go back because a passenger checked baggage and then didn't get on the flight. When they returned, they found that the passenger was an 80 year old man who spoke little English and was wandering around the airport. So after all of the security checks, they took off again, albeit around 5 hours late. That should put them into Paris around 4 PM Paris time on Sunday.

Tuesday, July 12

Uncle Editor's Note: It appears French computer keyboards don't feature a shift key.

hi family! dad and i are at the airport in paris about to fly to port harcourt. we had a wonderful time in paris. sorry there are no pictures--i couldnt find a place to hook up a usb cable. but if i had sent pics, here is what they would have looked like: al in front of the louvre laura in front of the mona lisa al in front of venus de milo laura eating escargot al eating frog legs laura in front of a monet al infront of a vangough laura in front of notre dame al in front of the eiffel tower thats most of it. i;ll try to send pics when we get to the hospital. lots of love, > laura

Sunday, July 17

Hey everyone!

I am typing this into Word at someone's house and it will
be copied and pasted into an email later. I could only
remember your addresses so make sure everyone gets it
please.

Dad and I made it safely to Nigeria. We have been doing
surgeries all day everyday. I won't be able to write much
or to send pictures until we get back. Dad is keeping a
great journal and taking a lot of pictures that Bill can
put on the website later. My phone doesn't work. We are
having a good time and are with many great people. I have
to go-others are waiting.

Lots of love,
Laura

Saturday, July 23

Email from Cindy:

Laura called me today. She is having a good time and learning a lot. She says that the surgery they are doing is the kind of stuff that would have been taken care of much sooner here. They removed an ovarian cyst the size of a basketball. They are working really hard and doing surgery all day. She is learning how to tie suture knots and close incisions. She says the hospital smells, but she is getting used to it. There are about six other people about her age who are in medical or nursing school and are doing the same things she is doing. Al can't do the quality anesthesia that he is accustomed to practicing and that is stressful to him. The monitoring equipment isn't very good. And he can't find a good spinal needle. Here everything is disposable, but they have to sterilize and reuse the spinal needles. She said that they are all dull and bent.

It was good to hear her. She sounded like she was having a good time.

Cindy