Christmas has passed and the grandkids all had fun opening their presents. Christmas is somewhat low key here in Chad. New Year's is the main holiday. But it is getting "cold" down in the low 60's. This past weekend has been busy with maternity cases. The doctors at the other hospitals in Lai and Kelo apparently were not working even though there are a lot more of them than of us. I think there are about 6 doctors in each place government hospitals but they are on salary and no incentive to work and are not mission oriented. We had 7 c-sections this past week about equal from each place with one being our patient from before. Two were for ruptured uterus, one abruptio placenta with severe bleeding, one for placenta previa with severe bleeding, one for ecclampsia and baby with severe hydrocephalus, one for severe small baby but good baby, and one for prolonged labor but got here too late and baby died after delivery. So not a good weekend with only one good baby out of those. We have had a lot of prostatectomies and urethral strictures and bladder stones this past two weeks. Overall business at the hospital has increased a lot this past month with a lot of hernias being done and various other things as well. We have had two large psoas abcesses that we drained. We reduced a dislocation of a jaw. A boy fell from a mango tree and has two broken arms. A drunk lady had an accident on a motorcycle and had an open fracture tibia-fibula which I could have fixed easily with a SIGN nail (an intramedullary rod system that does not require an x-ray to do) but the family took her apparently as usual to the local "traditional healer" (witch doctor) by morning so she probably will lose her leg. Greg Shank M.D. was here the past 3 weeks. He is a surgeon from Lakeside, Ore that has spent 5 years previously in Koza, Cameroon so he knows the language and ways of this part of the world. He has been a great help so I could do some other things. Christian Stoletnly M.D. our surgeon from Argentina is really stepping in and doing well. I still help on some of the bigger cases and my "experienced fingers" still help some in diagnosis. I have been working some in getting a house ready for a new doctor that is coming. Getting the house ready means doing electrician and plumbing work and directing some other work being done. Sara Balensky M.D. a family practice with 1 year OB fellowship will be arriving next week. She has been in France for language school the past 3 months. We trust everyone had a wonderful Christmas and remembering the real reason. Surely Jesus is returning soon as you see all the events that are transpiring. May the New Year bring joy and happiness to all and closer to Jesus and to each other.. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com. Love, Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Blog Dec 25, 2017
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Blog Dec 12, 2017
The ordeal with the rabid cat is over and so far all the kids are ok except now they are all recovering from malaria taking their quinine, Danae is still in the USA preparing for her oral Ob-Gyn boards which will be Jan 8. Continue to pray that the boards will go well. Christmas this year will find us here in Chad with Olen and Lyol, Zane, Addison, and Juniper but Danae will be in the USA. Danita, Edwin and Janelle and families will meet at Janelle's Dec 22 in OKC. It does not seem possible that it is almost Christmas. It is 100F days and in 60's nights so does not feel like Christmas. New Year is more of a holiday here. Dr. Greg Shank surgeon is here until Dec 21. He previously had served 5 years in Koza, Cameroon. We have Christian Stoletnly a new surgeon from Argentina here for one year hopefully more. Maybe I can sort of relax part of the time and do some other projects. Still have maternity to do. The hospital is getting more busy now with more surgeries to do now that rice harvest is about over and people have some money and can get their elective surgeries done. We have a variety being done such as bladder stone, prostate, urethra stricture, abd hysterectomy, vaginal hysterectomy, La Fort procedure, myomectomy, c-section, curettage for incomplete miscarriage, some intestinal resections, strangulated hernia, repair typhoid perforation, repair perforated gastric ulcer, large neck mass, anal fistulectomy, leg amputation or cancer, finger or toe amputation for cancer or severe infection, psoas abcess, large lipoma, lots of hernias of various kinds, and hydrocelectomies. We have something new almost daily for Christian to see. We had one mother die after finally having a live baby after having 5 dead ones. She developed severe heart failure with normal blood pressure and almost no edema except at the end Today i operated on hernias on the old chief from Moundgala which is the village where we have a nice group studying the Bible and this past week they signed a paper and marked off the land that is to be "given forever" for a church to be there. Nice site next to the school and up a little from where water comes out of the ground into a swamp and the "hippo river". The chief is almost as old as I am. He comes to the Bible study and church. I showed the "Jesus movie" in the local language Sunday night there but the devil did not like it. When we got there the security system on the Toyota 4 runner would not disarm so the lights were flashing and the horn blaring, disconnected the battery so stopped the noise as nothing else seemed to work. (It would finally stop after a minute or two so was able to drive it home but still would not disarm but it finally disarmed next day at home) Then it was also market day and there were several that had had too much alcohol and were making lots of noise and fighting and distracting people but finally some were able to quiet them and get them away. The generator and screen and computor worked fine and showed the movie to about 250 people. I don't know how many were able to listen to it. Next time it will not be same night as market day. We only show the first hour (half) the next time the other part. Also broke a lens filter on my camera at the same time. Hopefully no more problems. There are several different groups in different villages that are trying to grow. Continue to pray for the mission projects and for the hospital. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com. Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Friday, November 24, 2017
Blog 23 Nov 2017 Happy Thanksgiving
Our story begins 1 week ago on Thur Nov 16. Olen, Christian (the new surgeon from Argentina) and myself had done rounds on in-patients and were doing surgery and consults. Danae is back in USA preparing for Ob-Gyn oral boards that will be Jana 8. Dolores is calling Olen say that the pet cat named Lucy was acting crazy and would not let anyone through the door of the house. Lucy had scratched Lyol pretty badly that morning and could hardly get rid of her but she sometimes was a bit mean. Then in the afternoon Lucy unprovoked bit and scratched Addison on her ear and neck and back while Addison was on her bicycle. Dolores thought the cat was acting like rabies and had the kids stay away and climb trees and so Olen answered the call and came over and put the cat in a back room where she could not get out and all were told not to open the door. Lucy was pregnant and had kittens Sat Nov 18 but she would not even clean them or pay any attention to them and maybe killed one of the four kittens. Lucy would try to drink water but could not and her condition was deteriorating and not acting her old self. By Sunday she was very weak and died Sun night. Olen was on the phone texting and calling all evening until midnight trying to find rabies immunoglobuin. Could find rabies vaccine but no immunoglobulin. A friend, Ndilbe, in Cameroon said that a doctor there had told him that he could get the immunoglobulin at 0500 Mon and could get it to us in Bangor by 1000. The doctor never showed up then Ndilbe tried many pharmacies and hospitals but ones that said they had it would turn out to be only rabies vaccine. I drove the car with Olen, Lyol, and Addison leaving Bere 0600 and arriving Bangor at 1000. We waited there 4 hours and started towards NDJ. Olen was on the phone constantly all the time. The evacuation insurance wanted to send them to Nairobi, Kenya but Olen found out they were going to use "alternative" treatment not the immunoglobulin so turned that down. Remember that rabies is 100% fatal once you have symptoms and rabies immunoglobulin is the only treatment that is nearly 100% effective. However the rabies immunoglobulin is $3500 per person if you can find it. The SOS insurance found one dose in NDJ for $3500. Also found that the US Embassy had a vial or two of rabies immunoglobulin but they were refusing to let anyone have any as it was "against their protocol". IT was to be only for embassy personnel. They were repeatedly begged to let enough go for a 4 yr American girl that had been bit by a rabid cat on her ear and neck and back and arms. A friend, Josh Knowles, in Kenya found some of the real thing and Danae was about to spend many thousands of dollars to get a private jet to fly Josh and the meds to NDJ. Danae and Olen were in constant communication . A doctor friend in Niger had 2 vials and told the embassy that he would overnight it to them if they would let us have it now. Olen finally about 1600 got on his ER Facebook which has about 14000 ER physicians on it and posted about the situation. Immediately various things began to happen. One worked in the State Dept and some called the CDC (communicable disease center in Atlanta, USA). Many began calling the embassy in NDJ and many were calling their senators and representatives about the situation and even called Fox news and CNN I am told saying how bad it would look if a 4 yr American girls would die from rabies when they had refused to give her the treatment that was needed. The embassy was deluged with phone calls and within one hour the embassy told the SOS insurance people to come get the vial of medicine and when Olen received the message he let out a big hurray and AMEN as we were still on the road to NDJ. We arrived there after 2000. The embassy gave (no charge) the vial (enough for all the kids). Lyol and Addison got their immunoglobulin about 2100 Mon Nov 20 THANKS FOR A LOT OF ANSWERED PRAYERS. Team mission let us stay thee and even gave us supper at 2200 and no charge for the night's room. Tues Nov 21 we drove back to Bere after getting some supplies leaving NDJ about 1230 and arriving Bere about 2230. Much of the main highway is so rough with potholes that 5-10 mph is top speed over part of it. Actually the dirt ox cart roads are better a lot of the time. Tues night Zane and Juniper got their rabies immunoglobulin. They had gotten their first vaccine Mon night from some vaccine obtained from a neighboring hospital. Most of Africa has no rabies immunoglobulin. The only treatment available for most people would be rabies vaccine. Of course part of the reason is the very high cost of rabies immunoglobulin. Thanksgiving is an American holiday but we are having a happy thanksgiving even if we did work most of the day. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. God shut the various doors so that finally we got the required meds given to us without having to pay many thousands of dollars. Again thank you for your support in various ways and prayers Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Friday, November 3, 2017
Blog Nov 3, 2017
We have had a run on intestinal surgery the past 2 weeks. We have had 2 strangulated internal hernias with dead intestine that had to be resected. One had dead sigmoid and dead terminal 1 meter of ilium (small intestine) Also 2 strangulated femoral hernias with dead intestine and a strangulated inguinal hernia with dead intestine. Also a strangulated umbilical hernia but the intestine was still ok. With dead intestine there is often infected wounds. Also had a typhoid perforation of intestine. We also had a new born with no rectum so had to put in an ostomy in the abdominal wall with a loop of intestine. Yesterday we had a perforated gastric ulcer and a appendectomy and 2 c-sections and an ectopic pregnancy with lots of blood lost and a vacuum extraction of a baby. We also have about 60 inpatients to try to see besides the consults etc. Olen and Danae left 2 days ago for the airport for Danae returning to USA for her oral Ob-Gyn boards and preparing for them. She is return here mid Jan. Olen is returning tonight (thur) with the new doctor from Argentina. I hear that back home they don't treat strept throat now but here you better. We see rheumatic fever and kidney problems as sequelae to strept infections also severe cutaneaus infections. Although we do not have proof culture evidence of which infection it is. I just saw my third case of "NOMA" which is a necrosing full thickness infection of part of the face. I'm not sure if it is "flesh eating" strept or what but it is bad. One of them got over it and the defect has mostly filled in. Another one just left so don't know what happened to it. One was to return in Jan for a recontruction team that was going to come but now we hear that they are not coming. The "harmattan" dust was come in so everything is very dusty. Visibility is down to less than a mile and everything gets covered with dust quickly. Harmattan usually does not come until Dec or Jan. Harmattan is the dust that blows in from the north in the Sahara. Probably no more rain until next May. There was lots of rain with flooding then it shut off like a faucet with nothing more since then. I think the rice and ground nut harvest is fairly good this year and hopefully the cotton will be good . They are harvesting rice now all by hand. Lots of work. Grass etc is starting to turn brown. Pray for the Lord's work here. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Blog Nov 2, 2017
IT has been busier the past several days. Danae left Chad today for the USA where she will be preparing for her oral OB_GYN boards . She will be returning mid Jan. Then we will be leaving in Feb. A new surgeon from Argentina is arriving this week. His wife is a nutritionist and they have no children yet. Another doctor family -practice with extra fellowship in OB is to arrive about Jan 1. Our administrator resigned. Olen now is the interim administrator as well as head of AHI (Adventist Health International) for this area. He was doing a lot of the work anyway. Ndilbe our head of the operating room is leaving next week to get further training in anesthesia in Cameroon and plans to be gone 2 years. Olen and Danae plan to leave sometime next year also although their plans for what they will be doing keep changing. There is a a Brazilian surgeon that wants to come perhaps next April or May. Zach Gately just left and probably not coming back. He will be in Cairo. So lots of changes in the works. It is sort of sad for me as I probably won't be doing hardly any more surgery together with Danae but we have had most of 6 years together. She is a fantastic surgeon and very compassionate doctor and has given away lots of money to help various patients and other people. Even though she is OB-GYN she can do about any general surgery also and has done intestine resections and ureter reimplantations in bladder as part of fistula repair. She has done several prostatectomies. I may be biased but I think she is one of the best. Pass or fail on oral boards I know she is very good and am very proud of her and Olen. Papa Danae as I am often called. Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Monday, October 16, 2017
Blog Oct 15, 2017
Today we did a long surgery a laparotomy for a strangulated internal hernia with necrotic sigmoid colon and a necrotic terminal ilium (about a meter) that had to be resected. Last week in the same day we had two cancers that were not resectable. One was to be a bladder stone but turned out to be a large cancer and the other was a nonresectable cancer of the cecum already too far spread. Both patients were teen agers. I amputated the first toe and metatarsal for a dead toe a few days ago. Tomorrow we have another amputation for cancer of the lower leg. We had a huge molar pregnancy that was about size of 5 month pregnancy 3 weeks ago but now the uterus has not decreased as much as it should so she probably needs a hysterectomy. She already has 5 kids./ Yesterday was a long day. I got up at 0600 to go pick up some people for baptism from a group that was only 17 km away but took at least an hour each way. Of course they were not ready to go when I got there. Here in Bere they were having a district meeting for several churches and groups around here. They had a baptism (we had to transport to the river) and Sabbath School and church in the morning (Olen was preaching for church) and also pastor appreciation day and food and cash etc were brought for the pastor. I hauled it to his house during the "lunch break" then there was foot washing and communion in the afternoon which usually takes about 2 hours. Then I took those people back to Delbian another hour each way. It is peanut (groundnut) harvest time so pastor got lots of that. We finished mowing the "lawn" a few days ago. It probably won't need it again before next June or July as dry season seems to have begun in earnest although did get 0.4 inches a few days ago. It will take a while longer before the water holes in the "roads" dry up. Events are transpiring all around the world. Huge shooting massacre in Las Vegas, Nevada. Huge wild fires with lots of deaths in California. Russia is moving tanks and artillery into Serbia (we were there last year). Venezuela is talking war with the USA. North Korea keeps threatening with its nuclear capability. Syria, Iran and Israel are on the edge. Saudia Arabia is getting "defense material" from Russia. A large truck bomb in Somalia. A large hurricane heading to Ireland!!! Who knows what President Trump0 will do besides twitter. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Blog Oct 1, 2017
We have made it to the exclusive travel restriction travel ban club. Trump put Chad in with North Korea, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yeman, Syria, and Venezuela. He dropped Sudan from the list. We think it primarily restricts people from those countries from entering the USA. We don't think it affects us. There have been protests in Chad and the Chadian radio said something about the American embassy being closed but we have checked and it is not true. We hear that there was an incident that a Chadian flew a plane with weapons for ISIS somewhere from Russia and not sure what all is involved so now the ban. There could be repercussions later but don't know. So far as we know the ones that already have visas etc are not affected so our replacements should be able to get here ok. It would not affect the surgeon coming from Argentina anyway. It is not clear what all the restrictions are for Chad yet. Rainy season from almost daily rains has totally shut off the past two weeks so the flood waters are receding. Only one place now requiring a canoe to get from Kelo to Bere. Vehicle travel should be able to go soon although will be deep water holes. Hopefully the rains will not come much more so people can get to the hospital and also be able to harvest their crops esp rice before long. September has been one of the slowest months for a long time for the hospital. It should be picking up before long we hope. We have had 2 with bladder stones, two prostatectomies, a strangulated hernia with dead bowel resection, a tubal abcess and some routine hernias in the past 2 weeks. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Monday, September 25, 2017
Blog Sept 24, 2017
This earth is "waxing old like a garment". Three major earthquakes in a month hit Mexico. Another earthquake hits northern California. Even tremblors in Oklahoma. Cyclone batters Japan. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria devastate the Carribean islands, Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida, etc with severe winds and severe flooding. There have been many deaths in all these disasters. It is hard to imagine 175 mile per hour (280 km/hr) wind and up to 40 inches (101 cm) rain from a single storm. Danae and Olen and kids are all back here now. Danae is trying to spend as much time as possible preparing for her Ob-Gyn boards that she is to take in Jan. Olen spent some extra time with his dad after his mom's funeral. Olen and kids had to take a motorcycle then canoe over part of the "road" to get here. They are doing some home school for Lyol and Zane. We are basically isolated here with no "roads" out. The water is still rising. But the rainy season should be decreasing soon and then it will turn dry. The water table is at the top of the ground meaning that the water is at the top of the wells. We took a ride a little way in a Land Cruiser with Jonathan Dietrick today until the water was hip deep and there were a few km to go on to the main river stream so near the bridge is probably at least 2 or 3 meters (6-10 ft) deep. Hopefully we won't need to go anywhere but that is probably the main reason the hospital is slow because the patients can not get here except by canoe or ox cart. Motorcycles are ferried in canoes to where the water is more shallow. They like lots of water for the rice crop but they say this too much and it is later this year. Mud bricks don't do well either as the water is up around some houses. I'm sure there are some people that die especially in some remote villages because they can not get out. We had a miracle. A volunteer several months (last rainy season) had broken a piece on our only lawnmower then he had completely disassembled the motor and everything and left a pile of parts. While I was home on annual leave I was able to order a gasket set so to make it possible to reassemble the motor but I did not realize that a piece was missing that holds the blade onto the shaft. We found a piece among some other pieces of old lawn mowers that fit. We put the motor back together and the piece that we found that holds the blade onto the shaft. Eureka!!! The lawnmower runs and cuts grass. Apparrently the volunteer did not realize that the only thing wrong was the broken piece that holds the blade on. I can get some exercise mowing grass now. Our Chadian medical student was here last month. Hopefully he saw and learned a few things. He scrubbed with me on a typhoid perforation that we repaired also a strangulated hernia that had to have some intestine resected. Also some C-sections for various reasons. He has now returned back to school. We had a quite large tubal abcess that we opened today. Danae and I have done some vesico-vaginal fistula repairs since she has gotten back. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com. Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Friday, September 22, 2017
Blog Health Care in USA
I see an article about a proposal by Bernie Sanders for universal single payer health care for the USA. To me it makes much more sense than any of the other proposals that I have seen lately. If enough people would write their congressmen and senators maybe something could be done. It should not make any difference whether Democrat or Republican. It should be for the good of the country. Of course it would be opposed by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries which have lots of your money to fight it. Why should we be at the bottom of the industrialized world in health care. We spend two times as much money per person as any other country on health care but what are we getting for it. We are almost a third world country in life expectancy with 40+ countries above us in life expectancy. There were formerly only 17 above us. We are the only industrialized country in the world that does not have universal health care. Part of our problem is the terrible life style eating so much junk food and being too sedentary that so many Americans do. The fast food industry and the pop industry probably kills more people than tobacco. We also need tort reform similar to other countries as well. We need limits or set amounts per case for what the lawyer gets like other countries. The pharmaceutical companies are gouging the American people. Most medicines can be obtained in other countries for a fraction of what it costs in the USA. We have great doctors and hospitals but our system is rated the bottom of the industrialized by the World Health Organization. If one has a major illness, it can bankrupt you for the rest of your life under the present system. One big problem presently is lack of access to health care by millions in America. His proposal basically would extend Medicare like coverage for everyone as I understand the proposal. Several congressional people are backing it and cosponsoring the proposal. Maybe they are finally getting the message that we need a change in our system. The government people especially our senators and congressmen need to be on the same system as everyone else. I would think that most primary care health providers would back this. Again we need to do something about the situation. Post on face book or othe social media and write your senators and congressmen and congresswomen. Everyone can make this a better healthier country if we all work together. Rollin Bland M.D. voter in Oklahoma, USA Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Blog 13 Sept 2017
We are still in the heart of rainy season with rain almost every day. It has rained 8.4 inches (21.3 cm) in the past 2 weeks. It is great for the rice crop but bad if you want to go anywhere. Some of the ground nuts (peanuts) are being harvested also some millet. The countryside is pretty and green just don't want to try to drive anywhere much. Hospital business is somewhat slow this time of year although the census has stayed up pretty well partly because it is difficult to get here and partly no money until harvest time. The pregnant lady that had sigmoid colon and some small intestine removed because of a strangulated internal hernia has aborted as expected but is doing well and went home yesterday. Danae and I have done some vesico-vaginal (bladder to vagina) fistula repairs that so far appear to be holding and are dry. Sometimes they can break down even after a month but hope they do ok with no complications. We had a mid shaft femur fracture a few days ago that her family refused treatment here but took her to the "traditional healer" (witch doctor) instead. Not sure why she was brought in. The "traditional healers" have a lot of power over the people. Spiritism and animism are still very strong. Even some "Christians" believe and practice some of the "traditional" methods to keep the evil spirits away. etc. Danae is trying to study for her OB-Gyn boards that she is to take in Jan. so I am doing rounds most of the time so she can have more time. Dolores takes care of the kids although this week she is recovering from malaria and a "cold". We visited a nomad Arab group with Sarah Sexton, a midwife from the USA, that was visiting here for 2 days on her way to Rwanda and the Congo. She wants to be a missionary to the nomads Arab and Fulani who are mostly Moslem and live with them. We had to take a canoe across the river to their encampment. They were very friendly and some have been to our hospital although the head of the group was reciting his prayers while we were there. They insisted we drink some warm fresh milk from the cows . The milk was very rich. Haven't gone to the "bush church" past 2 weeks because of the high water in the "roads" We hear that a group of 200 that want studies and want to become SDA christians. Pray for everyone that they may learn about salvation through Jesus and His grace. There is a Fulani pastor who became a Christian, the first of his family or tribe. It is very difficult for him as there is a death threat over him because of that. His wife was taken away by his father-in-law and a son was also killed in front of him. It is difficult for a Moslem to become a Christian. He wants and needs more training but needs financial support. He has a nice Nigerian wife now and now a new set of twins. He wants to return to his own people and try to teach them about the love of God even though it may be dangerous to do so. Pray for him Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Blog Aug 29, 2017
It has been an interesting week or so but also sad. Danae, Addison, and Juniper arrived back here in Bere after we drove through the mud and water holes down the "road" to Kelo to pick them up from the bus. Glad they are back. Olen, Lyol, and Zane are not coming back until Sept 23. They are staying with Kermit (Olen's dad) since RonnieLee (Olen's mom) passed away after her long battle with cancer. All the family had gotten there in time to see her before she passed. She was always so energetic and outgoing (life of the party) and will be greatly missed by everyone. The next night after they got back I was up about all night with a "maternity patient" they said was greatly distended perhaps an ectopic pregnancy. When we opened her abdomen discovered strangulated internal hernia with dead sigmoid colon loop and dead 1 meter of terminal end of her small intestine. Her other intestines were greatly dilated. Resected the dead colon and reconnected and resected the dead small intestine and reconnected it. We don't have fancy staplers so everything is sutured by hand somewhat tedious. She aborted today which was expected. Intestines still slow to function. The lady that we resected her dead 5th finger and metacarpal and stretched out her contracture claw hand about 2 weeks ago is doing well with no infection and with some physical therapy (I have to do it and teach her) I believe is going to be able to have a useful right hand. Also had a perforated intestine probable typhoid that had been several days so the abdomen was filled with dirty fluid and everything all stuck together. Was able to find and close the hole and so far she seems to be doing ok. Was not sure if there was other obstruction or not but she is passed flatus and not vomiting now. Sunday Zach and some volunteers went to Moundou with the little pickup to get some supplies but were late coming back. It was after dark and had rained another inch on top of the saturated ground and full water holes and rice fields and he could not see where the solid middle of the "road" through the water hole was and got off the side into the mud. Ten people from a nearby village were digging and pushing for 4 hours to try to get him out but only got in deeper. The mud was even softer once you got through the semisolid crust. There was almost no phone signal service where they were but finally managed to get a text and part of a call through to Dolores cell phone. About midnight we (Dolores, night guard, and I) went our Toyota 4-runner with winch to try to pull him out. It had a dead battery that Zach had taken with him to Moundou to get a new battery. I had to borrow a battery from Olen's Toyota that I had just charged up a few days before. I had just put on new calipers and pads (that Danae had brought back) on the front and had not finished bleeding the lines but the brakes worked somewhat anyway. My 4-wheel drive did not seem to work but we made it about 45 min to where they were stuck. We finally were able to get the pickup jerked out of the mud. The 4-wheel drive does not seem to be working on the pickup or my 4-runner or Olen's. It was rice fields to the side of the "road" so almost everything covered with water. We got back to Bere after 0100 by being very careful. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Love Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Blog Aug 17, 2017
We have been back in Chad since Aug 3. It is rainy season any "roads" are passable if you have 4 wheel high clearance . We have had 6 inches (15 cm) rain this week so far on this very flat land. It took us 11 hours to get the 350 km (about 200 miles) from NDJ to Bere over the very rough and slick mud and deep water holes. We blew out one tire on the way. We have since found another way that is a little bit faster. The 42 km from here to Kelo normally takes about 2 hours if you hurry. The government "has no money" so nothing is being done to any "roads". We spent 13 days in France, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Monaco on the way back to Chad. We had rented an RV and drove 5527km (about 3316 miles) and saw lots of interesting places including Paris, Chartres, Chateau de Chambord, Nimes (the best preserved Roman amphitheatre), Pont du Gard (well preserved longest Roman aquaduct), Josselin, Carcassone (old walled medieval city with turrets), Mont St Michel (abbey and fortress on a large rock away from shore in high tide), Dune du Pilat (the largest dune in Europe), the Normandy beaches ie. Omaha beach and museum, Giverny (home and gardins of Clalude Monet impressionist artist), Carnet (with alignment of old large stones over 200 years), etc. The big problem was this was "high season" meaning everyone is on vacation and on the road with much traffic everywhere. We spent E400 (about $475) just on toll road fees and about $800 on fuel. France is expensive although the bus and metro in Paris was not bad. While in the USA we went to our oldest granddaughter's graduation from dental hygiene at LLU, California then visited my brother Reggie and family in Denver then to Hot Springs, S. Dak to visit Duane Smith (a friend and classmate of college, med school, and internship) that is not doing very well. We were also at the Oklahoma campmeeting in July. Our hospital census is staying 50-60 since we got back with several long termers that are taking a long time to get ready to go home but Peds and Maternity have been busy. We have had 5 c-sections this week. We have had several still births since we got back. We have had 2 typhoid perforation of small intestine, also a ruptured appendix with bowel leakage and 2 pelvic abcesses. Dr. Debbie Mullins was here when we got here but left 2 days later after being here with Danae almost 2 weeks. Olen and Danae and kids are back in the USA as Olen's mom is expected to expire any time with cancer. I think all the children and siblings are thee. Is a very trying time for all of them as it has been coming on for quite a while. We all take hope that the resurection and coming of Jesus will be soon. Olen and Danae and kids left on the same plane that we came in on so we barely were able to say hello and good by. They barely arrived in NDJ in time because their bus had problems and took 14 hours to get to NDJ from Bere. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Love, Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Blog May 17, 2017
The previous blog of May 7 somehow did not get sent. It has cooled down slightly but still no significant rain. Some days are more busy than others. The hospital census was 60 a few days ago but today was 45. One day we had a prostatectomy, a typhoid perforation of small intestine, a hernia repair, an ectopic pregnancy, and a c-section all in same day. Today we had a laparotomy for a twisted intestine which caused a small part to die which we had to take out and reanastomise and then a c-section on a lady with a very small pelvis and a large baby that we thought was dead but we did the c-section anyway and the baby is surviving and looks ok.. really a miracle. Dolores has had spells of "heart racing" and "heart pounding" usually at night since her episode of a-fib April 8. Usually the rate is 80-100 when her usual at night is about 60. The sensation and rate have been fairly well controlled with deltiazem which we were finally able to get from NDJ (took 3 days). She has an appointment with the chief cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Mandipati at Loma Linda after we arrive there this next weekend May 26. We were going to be at Loma Linda anyway for Rachel's graduation from Dental Hygiene school. Nothing serious is found. Dolores had a cardiac workup Feb 2015 for chest pain which was chest wall pain and the heart was fine. Danae and Olen left our pickup camper at Gloria's (Dolores sister in Riverside) so we will have wheels. Hoping to spend a few days in the desert and mountains on the way to Denver and S. Dakota and finally back to Oklahoma. Olen and Danae are now in the air on the way back to Chad. I think we will finish getting the new pump in the new well tomorrow as we have now waterproof splice for the electric wire going down into the well. For the low voltage 195 instead of 220 we have some new wire that we hope to run from generator to the well shorter distance so hopefully increase the voltage somewhat.
Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com.
Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Blog May 7, 2017
It is still hot and no more rains have come. The green that was beginning to come up has dried up. The low in our bedroom has been 85-93F (30-34C). It gives a different meaning to a hot steamy bedroom. The humidity is up so now a free sauna. So thankful for the A/C in the OR which cools it down to 85-90F. We still don't have the new pump in the well yet as need waterproof splicing for the electric wire going down into the well to the pump. The wire on the pump is not long enough to reach the top. It is difficult to find waterproof splicing in this country. The pump on the new well would greatly relieve the load on the present system that runs almost constantly. We have the new tank on the tower built by the new well. Friday we had a lapartomy on a lady that had a c-section 3 weeks before in another hospital. She had a semiacute abdomen so we opened her. It was a terrible mess inside and a large abcess in her pelvis and left side abdomen with over a liter of purulence. We washed her out and put in a drain. We have had a few breech babies lately that amazingly have done pretty well except for those that come in with the body of the baby hanging out. In two weeks Danae will be back so she can do the maternity cases. We will be going on our annual leave in two weeks first going to Loma Linda Univ. California for our oldest granddaughter's graduation from Dental Hygiene school. Maybe spend a few days in the desert and mountains on our way to Denver to see my brother Reggie and his family and to S. Dakota. to see Duane Smith (a friend and classmate of college and med school. He is not doing well then we have a bunch of appointments for medical and dental etc in Okla.
Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com. Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Monday, April 24, 2017
Blog April 23, 2017 It is still hot season. It was 111F (43.3C) yesterday in the shade where we had our potluck lunch. It is slightly cooler after a few drops of rain last evening. We had rain on the 1st, 8th, and 14th so we thought maybe rainy season was beginning but does not appear that way now. It was beginning to get green in a few places but that may change if we don't get more rain soon. Last year there was not much rain until late May. A lot of newborns get treated with antibiotics for "fever" when actually it may be just heat intolerance. A few days ago we had no water at the hospital. The water pump was not working so went to Lai ( a neighboring town) to get another pump and get ready to pull the other one from the well. That night it was discovered that the wire connectors at the top of the well had been tampered with and disconnected one wire. This was reconnected and presto we had pump working and water and not have to pull the pump from the well. Great relief!!. Don't know if this was a deliberate act or just some kids to close to it. We had a new well drilled 4 years ago in another part of the compound but no pump put in until a few months ago but it does not work so it needs pulled . Last week the water tank on the tower for that well was finished so hopefully will get a pump working on that one so have back up and not work the present one so hard. It presently has to run almost constantly. A lot of people get water from our system as their wells have gone dry also our water is ok to drink direct from the system. We had a big wedding Friday. A wedding here lasts about all day. There is a civil ceremony early in the day then the church part which lasts over 2 hours in the afternoon then a feast after that. It was a pretty wedding. She had 7 bride's maids. The bride is not supposed to smile in a wedding here. So far this month our surgery numbers are ahead of last month. We have had a lot of c-sections for various indications. We took out a thyroid mass last week also a parotid mass. We did a mastectomy for a cancer also a bilateral mastectomy for large gynecomastia which he insisted was causing him problems. We had another man with prominent breast that actually was a large deep abcess. We had 4 bladder stones in one week. One boy had two stones each over 3 cm in diameter. We are healthy and Dolores has had no more major problems with her heart
Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Sunday, April 9, 2017
A weekend in Bere We thought we were going to have a slow Friday but then a girl came in "acute ill" with distended abdomen. We operated and found that she had some kind of retro peritoneal cyst that obviously had been there a long time but needed drained. It had the appearance of chyle fluid and had about 1500 ml of fluid and we put in a drain. Then we had another little girl about 10 that had acute abdomen peritonitis with lots of purulence when we opened her but could find no source for it. No perforation, no lier abces, no pelvic infection etc. We washed out her abdomen and put in a drain and now 2 days later she is doing well. What was it?? Then a "maternity case" term pregnancy placenta previa bleeding so a c-section. Friday evening about 2300 the lights all went out. The generator had quit because someone did not keep diesel in the tank. We got diesel in it then about 0030 lights out again. The battery was dead and was not being charged. Actually we jumped it to start it when the diesel was out. Somehow when the guys were putting the generator back together they did something so that the alternator is not charging the battery and it has to have battery power to run. Somehow they did that to both Perkins generators and one of them had not had a problem before they began doing their thing. So after that I started the little Caterpillar generator and it runs fine. Then about 0100 or a little after when I had gotten back to bed Dolores said her heart was pounding and racing and irregular and "felt as if I am going to die" and did not want to go to sleep. The next few hours checked her frequently heart beat etc and used defibrilator as an EKG (we don't have an EKG machine) and she had atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular rate of 150+. We don't have adenosine or deltiazem or propranolol so I gave her atenolol 50 mg pill (only thing we had) and her rate gradually slowed somewhat. I would check her frequently to be sure she was still alive etc. I had texted Olen who is in Hawaii and we agreed there was not much else we could do except to pray. I was to go at 0600 to pick up some people for a baptism from Delbian a village 45 min away or more. I normally go to a "bush church" at 0730. I got Vadym (a doctor here from Ukraine) to go to those places so I could stay with Dolores. She was feeling better by church time here so we went to church. Then there was baptism at the river after church. She rested in the afternoon. Sometime in the evening her heart converted back to sinus rythm with rate 64. What caused all this??? Maybe took an extra dose of thyroid accidentally or electrolytes off with the high heat or ?? She just had her heart checked out 2 years ago with imaging, stress test, etc, and all was good. At that time she had costochondritis chest pain . After we got back from the baptism (18 were baptized) there was a strangulated hernia to do then there was a repeat c-section that was real mess with rupture uterus and bladder and various adhesions everywhere but baby is doing well then after that there was another repeat c-section with uterus beginning to rupture. Mother and baby are doing well. About 0300 the lights out again. Someone had not refilled the diesel in the little Caterpillar generator. I jumped the Perkins generator and started it (someone had filled the diesel in it) then ran an extension cord from a transformer for 110v out to my chager and put it on the battery for the Perkins and has been running ok with that. I have had to see every patient in the hospital each day also as Dr. Tirmo(the Chadian doctor who usually sees the med and ped patients) has been gone since Wed am to NDJ. We have Vadym and two medical students here. Vadym can do some surgery and had him do some hernias and hydroceles this past week. His main interest is surgery. He is to be in the Moundou center as soon as he feels more comfortable with surgery maybe another week. Dolores is working on mangoes today. This evening a man was brought in with a large hippo bite in his proximal thigh. One side just missed his scrotum and femoral artery although he had bled a lot and the other side took some muscle from his ilium area. We closed the torn muscle and packed the wounds with antiseptic. Hippos kill more people in Africa than lions do. They can run fast even though they appear otherwise. We all seem to be healthy now so keep praying for us. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Love Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Friday, March 31, 2017
Blog Mar 31, 2017 Hotter than ...well anyway it is hot. The humidity is coming up in the 30% range whereas before it usually was 8-10%. The temperature outside is 106+ but also in the OR was at least that. The A/C was not working but yesterday it was cleaned or recharged and it is working fairly well now. It is fairly comfortable in the OR with temp in the low 90's ((we brought a thermometer over) now. The low last night in the house was 91F but it was 99F at 2200. We soak the bed with perspiration so have to keep drinking lots of water during the night. Last night I finally decided to "sleep" on the floor which seemed a little cooler. A lot of the patients sleep outside under the trees and on the ground. How do you tell if a new baby has a fever if the ambient temperature is 106 or more. The only A/C is in the OR. Actually there is one in Danae and Olen's house but we are not using it. I don't want to be too privileged more than the rest of the missionaries. The MCD came today and scrubbed in for a few cases of surgery. He actually has been quite nice so far. He wanted to see what was happening on our "freebie" cases that had been advertised. We are doing lots of hernias and hydroceles for "free" but have to pay for the materials meds and suture so the price can be adjusted somewhat. We have done 24 "freebies" so far this week and have done 30 procedures in the past 3 days. This offer was good for only this week but we will have quite a few that were signed up to carry over into next week before we get them all done. Our surgery load was quite low so we offered free hernia or hydrocele surgery this week only. The price figures out to be about half price. The generators are being worked on. I"m thankful for the little 12KVA generator so we can keep water and lights going. The new water pump is working well so far.. We have got work started on the new water tank on the new tower that was built about 3 years ago by the well that was done about 4 years ago. They are building scaffolding now. The old water tank is really leaking a lot. The tank labor and materials will cost about USD3000. Then we hope to get the old tank repaired etc. We need a new blood bank refrigerator which will cost about USD500. The OR A/C seems to be cooling fair now so that USD500 maybe can wait awhile. The generator work will be another about USD700 maybe more. We are having lots of maternity cases lately. Most of them are normal deliveries but we are also having quite a few that arrive with fetal demise before or after delivery. We are hoping some of our "bush churches" will become churches but will need church buildings. There is about enough to qualify for a shipment of "one day church" materials. They can send materials for 30 in a container. This hot season is only March, April , and May. The rest of the year is not too bad in fact may get down in the 50's in Dec and Jan. Pray for us Love Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
I was going to write this yesterday but found we had no water so had to tend to that before breakfast. Our water pump had quit, apparently burned out or worn out. "We pump many thousands of gallons of water daily. They tell me that people from Bere town are coming to get water because wells are going dry. Our last rainy season did not fill the water table up to near the top as usual. It is a long time before there will be any water from the sky to put water in wells again at least until June or July.. It will take a lot of rain to soak this dry sandy ground again. It is about 108F (about 42C) day and only 85 or 90F (72C) at night. It was 92F last night in our bedroom at 2200. We had a water pump to put in but did not have the proper connectors here or in Lai. We bought another pump and finally found enough of the right fittings to connect it and had to redo the wiring somewhat. That took most of the day. Fortunately no real emergencies came in yesterday. We plan to get proper fittings for the other pump so that when we need it we will have it. There is another well that had not been used but recently had a pump put in it but not connected to the system or to its own water tower tank which is not built yet. We made a connection from that pump ;into our main system so that hopefully now we can have back up system somewhat . We really need the water tank built on top of the tower that is already built. A few days ago our blood bank refrigerator quit so we let them borrow our little one until another one can be bought. Hopefully the blood was not damaged too much. It will cost about USD500 or 600 to replace it. It was about USD350 to fix the water pump. I got word today that our generator has been repaired and will be brought back maybe tomorrow so I will need to spend some time helping or putting it back together connecting back to the motor and the electric system. It cost about USD1000 for that besides our labor for everything. Our hospital census and our surgery load has decreased markedly this month. Revenue is much decreased. Money is scarce as had poor crops and low prices, prices are low for the country. They say there is some kind of problem getting cattle across the border into Cameroon and Nigeria where they usually sell them. We have another lip to repair after a fight with another woman 10 days ago. I saw a huge goiter but I don't want to tackle it unless we have better anesthesia and have Danae here to help and still may not as it is HUGE. We did a mastectomy and axillary node dissection recently and she did well. We recently had a man with severe right heart failure with very distended neck veins and short of breath even sitting up although his lungs were clear but very distant eart sounds . We think he had a cardiomyopathy. We don't have much to work with for cardiac patients. He wanted to go see a "cardiologist" in NDJ. I don't know if he made it there or not. We had a placenta previa recently with mother and baby doing ok after c-section. We also had a retained head with rest of baby hanging out and she walked in. Of course baby was dead. Was able to manipulate the head and extract it without too much problem. We have Staci Davenport MD here on visit and plans to be back long term in less than 2 years from now. Vadym Korzhos surgeon from Ukraine that is to be in Moundou wants to be here for a month or two to get some experience with me before he is on his own. We visited him in Ukraine when we were there last August. We also have two senior medical students here from Loma Linda Univ . Tyler and Melissa Pender. She is interested in internal medicine and infectious disease and he in general surgery. Another doctor Sarah will be visiting here in May and hopefully will come back long term maybe about the time we leave PR. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com Love , Dolores and Rollin
Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Monday, March 6, 2017
March 1, 2017
I was beginning to write this evening then the electricity went off. Our electricity is supplied by our Perkins 28 KV generator which we run 24/7. We have two of them but one is not functioning now. The one that has been running now had to have the generator part taken off ( it weighs about 500 lbs) and taken to Moundou where there is someone who can rebuild them. Now the other one has had to have the generator part have the same thing. Hopefully the one that has been rebuilt will continue to operate all right. Apparrently the life span is about 14000 hours at least that is about when each has gone out. It costs a lot or money to get them rebuilt (about $700) . Tonight the problem was a broken fan belt and a sensor detected it getting hot so shut down the monitor. We took a fan belt from the one that has the generator off and got this one going again so were were without electricity less than 2 hours. We have also an old Caterpillar 12KV generator which we can use if no big items are being used such as AC or blenders but can handle the water pump. The Caterpillar is the one that was the only source of power before the present Perkinss generators were donated 4 yrs ago by Garwin McNielus of "one day church" fame. Since all the new buildings were built there are a lot more lights than there were formerly. When we first came here the generator was only run part time and only used very low wattage light bulbs ie. 5-10 watts and used battery power to run the lights when the generator was not running but would have to run the generator to pump the water to fill our water twoer tank. We would be out of water frequently. Now we have a float switch which automatically turns on the water pump when the water gets below a certain level in the tank. Fuel for the present 24/7 operation costs a large percentage of the budget. Recently the electricity went off early am Sabbath but the problem was the fuel tank was empty and someone had not ordered the barrels of fuel to keep it going . Usually get several barrels of fuel at a time. Our business seems to be slowing a little except maternity is still about the same. We had about 165 surgeries in Jan and 135 in Feb. March will probably be less. We have had lots of hernieas, hydroceles, prostatectomies and urethral strictures, and hysterectomies and some vesico-vaginal fistulas. The fistulas are the most challenging. Danae and I always do them together. Some are repaired trans-abdominally,and some vaginally and some both. We have an ovarian mass or cyst and ectopic pregnanciies fairly often also. C-sectons and sometimes ruptured uterus also. Yesterday one of our patients returned for check up that was very rewarding. She had had a superior mesenteric volvulus with dead intestine requiring at least 7 ft (about 2 meters) of small intestine removed. She almost died following surgery having to have a repeat surgery etc and was very emaciated but now she is doing quite well. She even denied having diarrhea or other symptoms of short bowel syndrome and had gained weight. She is happy and we were ecstatic. We recently had another psoas abcess which we drained and she did very well. We have different kinds of cancers that come too late for anyone to do much for them. Probably the most common are bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, Prostate cancer, Burkit's , etc. This coming weekend is alumni weekend at Loma Linda Univerisity. I graduated 49 years ago from medical school. I plan to be at our 50th year class reunion next year. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com. Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Monday, February 13, 2017
Blog Feb 10, 2017
Kermit and Ronnalee (Olen's folks) left yesterday to return to the USA after being here about 2 weeks. Kermit was doing some auditing and Ronnalee taught some in the new nursing school. They had brought Toby (their grandson) with them. He was sick yesterday probable malaria but seemed better when they left. Olen went with them to NDJ to be sure they were all ok. Olen and Danae and family will be leaving here March 14 to go on their annual leave and get back in time for Danae's 20 yr high school class reunion at Ozark Adventist Academy then they will drive our pickup camper to Colorado for a week of snow skiing then on to Oregon and the western US and will leave our pickup at Riverside, California at Gloria's (Dolores' sister) where we will get it when we fly to Rachel's (our oldest granddaughter) graduation Dental Hygiene from Loma Linda University May 27 weekend. They have a week in Hawaii (a friend gave them free use of a condo). Olen and Danae will be at Andrews University in Michigan May 6-7 weekend for graduation and to receive their honorary PhD then they have a wedding to go to May 14 weekend then they return to Chad. We will be leaving about the time they return on our annual leave with maybe a few days in France on our way to LAX and Riverside. After that we will spend a few days in the western US on our way back to Oklahoma. We plan to return to Chad in July after Oklahoma campmeeting. We are extending our time here from May to next Feb as the need is great and there is no replacement yet. We have said that Feb 15 is our final date and will return to USA permanently more or less. It is possible that I might do some short term relief work some place after that. My 50 year LLU medical school class reunion will be about March 3, 2018 and I hope to be there. We have been busy with surgery with about 50 cases last week but the backlog has diminished a lot so now we are almost caught up with minimal waiting. We had another typhoid perforation of intestine last week which did well also had one with appendiceal abcess. We had a man with multiple stab wounds all over his body including by his rectum. We did surgery and found a small hole in a loop of intestine which we repaired. He died a few days after the incident possibly a pulmonary embolus??. The man had refused to give or loan 1000 cfa (about USD 1.65) and another man got angry and stabbed this man much. Danae and I have done some repairs of vessico-vaginal fistulas lately. They can be VERY challenging. Sometimes we do it trans aabdominally and sometimes vaginal or both. We have also had several urinary retentions that needed prostatectomies and /or urethra dilation. The first skin graft using our dermatome is doing well but the next two don't seem to be sticking. Maybe I need some pointers on making the graft take or something. Thanks for the new blades for the dermatome that got sent over here. Initially it would not work so took it apart and soaked it in WD40 and finally got it functional. Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com. Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Blog Jan 21, 2017
We are in the midst of the busiest part of the busy season and lots of elective surgeries have come in to be done but the maternity business is more now also. There have been a lot of c-sections for various indications and a lot of ectopic pregnancies. Keeping Danae busy. She has had several c-section hysterectomies for different reasons. We had another "torsion dermoid cyst" with hair and teeth a few days ago. We had a strangulated internal hernia with about 2 meters (7 feet) of dead intestine that we had to take out. We had a hemangioma of a child'[s hand that we did. Had to remove her 5th ray (finger and metacarpal). So far it looks ok. Thanks to someone that sent blades for our dermatome so now we hope to do some skin grafts. We have done one so far. Today a woman came in with part of her lip bit off during a fight with another woman.
It is beginning to warm up again but only to approximately 100F and 70'sF lows. The dust is not as bad as it was so the sun can get through more. We are getting quite a few papayas from our trees that we planted by our house. The mangoes are in full bloom. Juniper likes to eat from "papa's" plate whatever he is eating. She eats a lot.
The 17 year daughter of one our local church leaders died this past week with widespread cancer. She had almost died 3 weeks ago as her ereters were blocked but a percutaneous nephrostomy and some cyclophosmide et. prolonged her life a little.
Pray for the newly baptized ones and the ones in some of the outlying villages that want to learn more about the love of Jesus.
Our email are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com.
Continue to remember us in your prayers.
Love,
Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Dec 31 2016
New Years Eve and the drums are beating, probably will be most of the night. It is dusty and has been since the "harmattan" blew in Christmas day. "Harmattan" is the north wind and dust that comes in about this time of year from the Sahara. Visibility was less than 1 km (about 1/2 mile)) although it is better today. The dust shields out some of the sun's heat so temperatures are only about 60F (15C) low and 80+F (27C) high but the locals feel this is cold. The mangoes and kapok are blooming. We are getting several papayas from the trees by our house. Christmas was very dusty. We had a while elephant gift exchange here on the compound and of course there were gifts for the grandkids. We also ate very well Christmas afternoon but the meal was delayed because of a surgery for an acute abdomen. (Sound familiar you medical people?) We had two unusual cases Friday yesterday. One was a 13 yr girl that presented with a few days of severe abdominal pain and no menses yet and had a mass in her abdomen. At surgery a 6-7 cm lobulated mass that was twisted on a pedicle. When the mass was opened we found hair and cartilage, bone and teeth so a "torsion of a dermoid or teratoma". The same day we had a lady that came in with severe abd pain for several days and "constipation" for a week. It was an intussisseption of mid small small intestine with ruptured dead intestine with much bowel contents in the abdomen. Had to do a bowel resection and reanastamosis. Both look ok so far. We also had a Fulana lady that had been bit on her foot by a donkey that she was trying to separate from another in a fight. The lady's foot was badly mangled with a lot of skin missing and bare bones visible. She needs amputation but refused and left to go to the local "traditional healer" (witch doctor). Pray that the love of Jesus can spread and bring peace and that we will be ready for His coming that is one year closer than before.
Our emails are drbland42@gmail.com and dfbland01@gmail.com
Continue to remember us in your prayers.
Love, Rollin and Dolores Bland Hopital Adventiste de Bere Boite Postal 52 Kelo, Tandjile, Chad, Afrique Blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com
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