Oct 28, 2013

So glad to have Danae, Olen, Lyol, Zane, and Addison here with us.  Addison is so cute.  We drove to N’Djamena Wed leaving here about 0415 and getting to the edge of town about 1115 which was really pushing to get there that fast and then on to the airport at the opposite side of town by noon.   It is only 250 miles but part of it is through mud holes and water and much of the rest that once was paved now has huge pot holes about a foot deep in places.  One place on the main highway had two huge semi-trucks stuck in the mud and barely room between them to get on through.  We did get to the airport before their plane arrived and then waited for them to get off, clear immigration, customs and claim baggage and strap the baggage on the 4 Runner what would not go inside.  We got registered with the police and got a few things to eat and went out to the Lutheran mission hostel for the night and rested until almost noon Thurs.  They were very tired after the long ride with the kids on the plane and spending 2 or 3 nights packing before they left D.C.  Thur we did some shopping.  There are no refrigerators or air conditioners available in the country until the trucks can start bringing things in after rainy season which is ending now.  We left about 0715 Fri and got back into Bere about 1545 with our load. The road is drying some now.  Danae and Olen were happy with the new cement kitchen counter tops and the newly painted house that Dolores spent so much time doing.  

Sabbath was communion in church and then we visited in the afternoon.   Sun after rounds in the hospital we gathered the pumpkins out of their “garden."  Danae and Olen are still trying to get stuff unpacked and put away. They brought some new nice surgery instruments that was given to them from Brother's Brother in Pittsburg and a bunch of suture.   We still don’t have much Ortho plates and screws yet but hoping for some.   Dr.  Dirk Wunderlich from Germany is going to bring in December some intramedullary rasps that should be very helpful.

Monday we had a severe peritonitis from typhoid perforations (six of them) which we repaired and irrigated out her abdomen.  Hopefully she will do ok.  We also had another C-section for CPD and fetal distress and mother and baby appear ok.   We had another complication of Penn shot.  A little boy’s foot necrosed and so I did an above ankle amputation.   The shot was given apparently to close or in the femoral artery.  Previously we had had a little girl that lost her arm from a Penn shot with a dirty needle.  Our nurse “surgeon” did a C-section, 3 hernias, and drainage of an abcess in abdomen while we were gone to N’Djamena.   We have a huge breast mass mastectomy to do but she does not have enlarged axillary nodes.  She previously had a “lumpectomy” 2 yrs ago for a “fibroadenoma." We had another orchiectomy for a large testicular mass today.  

It is nice to have the kids around.  It makes life more interesting.   Also we will be having various volunteers coming in the next 3 months or so which hopefully will help get some things finished on the new buildings etc.   A nurse midwife, 3 or 4 doctors, 2 anesthestists at different times will be coming besides the Maranatha group.

Our emails are: drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com  

Love, Rollin and Dolores