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