Heat and mangoes

It is still hot here with highs about 110F and lows of 85F. We had a few sprinkles of rain so now we have increased humidity. Rainy season should be beginning within a onth in fact usually is starting to green up a little by June.

On our way home in June we will be going through Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. It never gets very warm in Iceland so we will probably have to wear all our clothes to keep warm maybe in Norway also. we are planning a trip to Runde Island off Norway coast to see puffins and other birds. We are looking forward to seeing several scenic fjords etc. of Norway. 

 
The number patients in the hospital and surgery has really slowed down now. There are always some malaria patients. We had a little boy with pleural effusion and pericardial effusion which was drained. We plan to take out the chest tube today maybe. We also had a little one year boy with malaria and typhoid being treated for 3 days then had something protruding from his anus and he could not defecate and he was vomiting. He had an intussisseption protruding from his anus that we could not reduce. We took him to surgery and found an intussisseption within an intussisseption partly necrosed so had to resect his terminal ilium and ascending colon and reconnect his intestines. He had high fever pre and post op but I was somewhat optimistic that he might live but he died the next day. Malaria, typhoid, and all this surgery was just too much. We had another leg amputation this time for necrosed diabetic foot.

Dolores is tired of doing mangoes for drying and canning etc. Mangoes are still falling on our metal roof and make a terrific noise when they hit. Now she is making some fruit leathers with mango pulp that she lends up. We have more shade with our house by the mango trees but have to endure the mangoes hitting the roof in mango season.

Our internet is barely functional so hardly ever can get Facebook and things like that but can usually eventually get simple emails.

Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Love Rollin and Dolores
Rollin and Dolores Bland
Hopital Adventiste de Bere
Boite Postal 52
Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Sent from my iPhone

April 15, 2015

It is tax time and in the stock market the bulls have been running for some time and the US dollar has been enjoying high value but we have bulls running here in Chad also. The dollar will get about 600 francs now instead of 500. But we have real bulls. We had two men that had their scrotum and penis almost pealed about 2 months ago one of which was from a bull goring. Now that same man is in with a goring in his chest with a fracture rib and a sucking chest wound which is now repaired and a chest tube in place. His previous injury has healed although quite a bit of scarring but I think his penis will still be functional. We have had gorings in the abdomen but more commonly in the extremities. The bulls and cows here have very large long horns and they are main beasts of burden pulling ox carts and pulling the plows for plowing the fields etc. They tell me that a good bull or cow is worth about US $700 maybe more so a team or yoke of oxen is valuable. 

We have had 3 more vesicovaginal fistula repairs. A large area skin graft of one week ago on a hip and thigh is looking good so far. Maybe I'm learning more about how to make them take. Also about a week ago we had a man with a necrosed sigmoid colon and about 3-4 meters (10-12 ft) of terminal ilium which we took out and reconnected him. Apparently a strangulated internal hernia. He is doing ok now but long term prognosis is not good with that much intestine absent. We have had two empyemas in kids reqiring chest tubes recently. We have a lady with very large central facial enduration so that can hardly see and nose and upper lip very large. It is not just edema as it is quite firm. Inside her mouth is normal. Is it yaws???? (yaws is a tropical disease same family organism as syphilis) We did an AKA amputation on a boy with a huge tumor probably malignant of his knee. His amputated leg weighed about half as much as the rest of him. It probably is not curative but hopefully help him for awhile.

Dolores is still doing mangoes, drying and freezing and cooking them etc. besides watching grandkids and writing emails to a few that write us consistently.

We are also planning our trip home leaving here June 3 and arriving in Copenhagen the same day. Perhaps spending a day or two there seeing castles in Denmark then a bus trip through Sweden to Oslo, Norway spending about a week in Norway then flying from Bergen, Norway to Rekavik, Iceland and a few days in Iceland then on home June 16. Then we have several appointments with doctors such as the oncologist and ophthomologist, dentist etc. Dolores is getting her cataracts done while we are home and of course getting checkup for her CLL.

Thank you to all who have sent money for our autoclave project.
Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Love, Rollin and Dolores

Rollin and Dolores Bland
Hopital Adventiste de Bere
Boite Postal 52
Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com