June 15, 2014

We are safely in Bere having arrived here Friday the 13th. We had 2 surgeries today; one was a typhoid perforation of intestine and the other was a ruptured ectopic pregnancy with a lot of blood in the abdomen. Nice Father’s Day, I think there is a photo on Facebook of Danae and I in surgery today.

After leaving Oklahoma June 1 we arrived in Istanbul the next day afternoon. We had an overnight flight from DC to Istanbul. We had 6 bags instead of the permitted 4 and one of the extra was 70 lbs instead of 50. They suggested at the airport that we pay the minimal amount of $380 ($150 per bag plus $80 for the extra weight) but perhaps we may need to pay more at DC or Istanbul. But all of our bags checked through to Istanbul. We did not leave Istanbul til June 12, but Turkish Airlines let them go through on to NDJ without extra charge when we showed them the receipt from OKC). Kermit and Ronnalee Netteburg (Olen’s parents) were with us from DC onward. We spent one night in Istanbul then we drove a rental car to Izmir (Smyrna). It was a beautiful drive through some fertile valleys with lots and lots of fruit trees and farmland. The cherries and peaches and melons were delicious. They seem to be able to raise almost anything. There are miles and miles of olive trees in Turkey.

We went through Iznik (Nicea) on the way and saw where the Council of Nicea occurred although the church has had to be rebuilt since an earthquake many years ago. Now it is a mosque. We toured the seven churches area of Turkey during the next several days. Our Turkish guide was very good with lots of information that I cannot remember all of. Also Jon Paulien was very good with extra bits about each place and how it related to the 7 churches of Revelation. We also went one day out on a boat to the isle of Patmos which was quite interesting. It is larger than I had imagined it to be, 10 square miles. One story is that John may have gone there as a missionary rather than being banished there as a prisoner. Either way he received his visions and wrote books there. We were in a different hotel each night and had a good bus to take us to the different sites. We crossed the Dardanelles in a ferry then bussed to Istanbul. We toured some mosques and palaces there. Also had a 2-hr afternoon boat ride on the Bosporus, and the last evening in a restaurant that had beautiful evening views of lights on mosques and the bridge that crosses the Bosporus (similar to the Golden Gate Bridge). Turkey is a very modern country with good roads yet has many things that are thousands of years old. The ancient Hittite empire has been proved with archaeological findings which proves that the Bible was correct when it talked about the Hittites.

We left Istanbul for N’Djamena the evening of the 12th. It was over 90 degrees at night and high humidity especially as we got back to Bere but today we had a small shower and wind so tonight is cooler.

We have a lot more in my daily notes or diary also of our trip out west in the US to visit various relatives and see some of the national parks. We have taken many pictures on our vacation but now we have to get back to work. We enjoy all your emails. Some of you we missed visiting but you are in our thoughts. Continue to pray for us.

Our blog is: www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com

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

May 30, 2014

We arrived in USA April 2 and have been busy but maybe not much accomplished.

The first weekend of April we were at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska for my 50 year college class home coming and reunion. We saw some of my classmates that we had not seen for 50 years. Funny how most of them had aged but then of course I had not Ha! It was great to renew some old friendships and see what each other has done in life.

The 2nd weekend we were at home in Jay, Oklahoma and had the sermon in church. During the week we had to get some repairs done at home. The bladder in our pressure tank had ruptured and the pressure switch had gone out for our well pump. Our washing machine had quit. There was a leak in a toilet but only when it was flushed. The air conditioner in the pickup was not functioning even though it had supposedly been repaired the year before but wasn’t. The computer had viruses. The DISH TV receiver had gone out and had to be replaced and the 3 ABN dish had to be realigned. 

 
The third weekend we began an extended vacation down to Texas to see our son and his family then down in the hill country of Texas west of Austin which was very drought stricken but there were a few places with good blue bonnet flowers and Indian paint brush then out to Guadalupe Peak National Park then to Arizona through the Saguaro National Park. More saguaro were blooming east of Gila Bend rather than in the parks and lots of Palo Verde blooming. Then went through Joshua Tree National Park in California but the flowers were not very plentiful but some in the higher elevations. We visited Loma Linda and Riverside, California and stayed with Gloria, Dolores’ sister then on to the California Poppy Preserve by Lancaster, Calif. There were some great fields of poppies and Phacelia but it was cold with snow level down to 5500 feet with a storm that came through at the time we did. In fact almost the whole trip was cold. From there we camped one night at Trona Pinnacles which Olen and Danae can relate to and remember a few years ago. Then on to Death Valley National Park. There were several flowers at the 4-5000 ft level such as Prince’s Plume, several different cacti and others. Then on to Nevada and saw Badallet ghost town and on to Valley of Fire State Park which has many beautiful rock formations which are bright colored sandstone such as the Windstone Arch and the Elephant Arch and the Fire Wave. From there we went to Zion National Park in S W Utah but many people were there so one had to go on the shuttle to get into the main part. We spent more time on the back part at high elevation where the ground was still partly frozen. We camped by a spring on some Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands that was quite nice. From there we went on to Cedar Breaks National Park (the road was closed with snow) then on to Red Rock Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park all in Utah. There was still some snow there but not enough to make the various rock formations more contrasty. We camped just outside the park in some national forest. We went to Capital Reef National Park and drove through and camped in a field of Primrose flowers just at the edge of the Park not a “designated campground” but a very nice secluded spot. We also went to the Devils Garden south of Escalente, Utah and drove on the Devils Backbone where the highway is on a high ridge with drop off on each side of many hundreds of feet. Then we went to the Moab, Utah area and the Arches National Park and Canyon Lands National Park. Our time was running out so we did not spend as much time as we would have liked. From there we went to Denver, Colorado to see my brother, Reggie and his family. Then we went to Winona, Kansas to see some friends (the Headleys) and camped at Monument Rock near there. Then we went to central and SE Missouri to see some of Dolores’ relatives (Aunt Carol Sharon near Sunnydale Academy and Aunt Esther Trial near Van Buren) then home having driven over 5000 miles.

We have spent time visiting with various friends and family around home including Springdale, Arkansas and Ketchum, Oklahoma churches. Time has really gone fast. Some did not get visited and we are sorry for that.

We are leaving Oklahoma on June 1 heading back to Chad but spending some time in Turkey on the way visiting the 7 churches area with Kermit and Ronnalee Netteburg as leaders of a group. We want your prayers as we go back to Chad.

Rollin and Dolores Bland

drbland@sbcglobal..net and dfbland01@gmail.com

Our blog www.weareamissionarybland.blogspot.com

March 19

One man today had many (perhaps a 100) small stones in his bladder.
Many were embedded in the bladder wall and in the prostatic urethra
and were quite difficult to scrape out. Some of the stones were hard
and some were mushy. He previously had had a suprapubic
prostatectomy somewhere and since then he has passed some fairly large
stones in his urine that he showed me. Probably a result of
schistosomiasis which is very common here.

Another one was a 17-yr girl with bowel obstruction saying she had not
passed any stool for 3 weeks. She had a palpable soft mass in mid
abdomen that percussed to be hollow. It was not tender and she did
not complain of pain. Echo just showed a lot of gas in the abdomen.
So we did a laparotomy and found what appeared to be a
retroperitoneal mass being that we had two lymphomas retroperitoneal
that were unresectable the previous day. I kept exploring around
this mass and found that small intestine went into it and that the
colon was empty and found the cecum and appendix were normal as I
worked them out of this mass. Was able to free the final 15 cm of
terminal ilium but still had this thing that was thickened around a
loop of intestine. Some of the intestine felt like intussiception
or a soft mass in the lumen maybe. Finally was able to resect about
25 cm of small intestine (ilium) and reconnect it together Even
after surgery and examining the specimen still not sure what caused
the pathology and obstruction. It definitely was not a classic
intussiception. No evidence was found of abcess or infection.
Whatever it was it was taken out although I had almost closed her with
doing nothing at the beginning but something prompted me to keep
trying to find out the problem and keep probing and try to help the
girl. The spinal anesthetic ran out before finished and she had a
reaction to diazepam or fentanyl and quit breathing for a time just
as she was closed but thankfully no heart problem and was able to get
her going again. Thankful for Olen that came over to help when called. I'll be glad
when our anesthetist gets here in June.

Also saw a man today with some some kind of skin condition that he had
since birth. It look almost like grapes or condylomata or ? all over
his neck and on one side of his face. It is painless and has no
drainage from it. I don't know what it is but I may eventually try
to remove it and put on a skin graft perhaps after our anesthetist
gets here.

Mar 21 We had another ruptured uterus with a dead baby. Mother
had had 11 previous pregnancies so why did she not progress ? Did
she get some IM oxytocin at the "health center" before coming here?
We usually can not get good histories. I also took out a
intramedullary rod SIGN that was put in last June. The man had
chronic osteomyletis. His original injury was a very bad fracture of
femur, tibia-fibula and knee from a moto accidents. It had been
suggested that removing the rod might help get rid of the osteo. I
don't know if it will help or not.

The weather is warming up as it is 107 where we have pot lucks and 98
in the house but they say it will get warmer in April.
Dolores is still doing mangoes to can and to dry.

Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Love Rollin and Dolores

March 18, Hysteria or ???

The "epidemic" of mass hysteria or whatever has spread among the girls
all over the country. During these spells they can spread this
spirit by touching another girl. Then they also thrash around and look
wild eyed and fall down etc. Some have been brought into the
"Urgence" by ambulance. Olen and Danae have spent quite a bit of time
with some of them and their parents. Actually some of the parents
seem to be somewhat understanding. Some of the girls just try to
fake it to get attention but others seem to be really some kind of
psychosis or demon possession. The official government position
today is to close all the schools in the country for the rest of the
week and "let the evil spirits pass." Satanism or satisfying the
evil spirits is always just beneath the surface at least. Most
people wear some sort of amulets to keep the evil spirits from
disturbing them.

The people of Chad certainly need to know the God of love and their
Saviour. Please pray that the right spirit the Holy Spirit can take
possession of the people of Chad. When the Devil is really active it
must mean that he knows that God is going to do something special in
Chad and maybe many people will come to the knowledge of our wonderful
Saviour so the Devil is trying to get possession ahead of time. Very
few people in Chad truly know God. But then how many people in
America really know the Lord? Do you?

Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Love Rollin and Dolores

Mar 17, 2014

This past week has continued to slow down so that we actually have some empty beds. There are always some malaria patients and some that we don’t know for sure what is wrong. Even the maternity area is slower now. I guess 9 months ago everyone was busy planting their crops in beginning of rainy season.

The devil is still active trying to take away from the story of love. We had a man brought in Sabbath that had a fractured tibia and fibula from a car accident; also a big laceration that we stitched, then he was told that he could stay on the gurney that was padded and we would fix the fracture with a SIGN nail the next morning (Sunday). Sunday morning when I was starting rounds I saw that there were a lot of people in this little “private” room and that there was no one on the gurney but the patient was lying on the floor so he could be in the private room. There were a bunch of “native healers” (witch doctors) doing their sticks around his leg and several beside bowing and doing some sort of incantations (maybe prayers) and the patient is now refusing surgery. He was a big chief and had all these followers that thought they were above hospital rules or anything else. I told them they had to leave if that was what they were doing. They did not, so I got Danae involved as her French is better than mine; but they would not pay any respect or attention to either one of us. We got the guard involved and finally they did leave and the patient left on the ambulance and said they would be back to get surgery but he had to do some business at home. Of course he has not come back yet. I’m sure that he never paid anything for hospital or the ambulance. Maybe they will come back after it is all infected or healed in bad position. One would think that a chief if he is so important would want the best care possible, but such is not the case.

There has also been some sort of mass hysteria among the school age girls in school. They would have “convulsions” but not lose consciousness and one would touch another girls then she would have these spells also. Olen saw some of them in the “Urgence” and everything was normal except they way they acted. When told they would be admitted to the Peds ward they would be all right and walk home on their power. I understand that there were so many involved that they closed down the schools in town. Some were suggesting that it was demon possession or some manifestation of Satanism. It is possible but they would also respond to painful stimuli appropriately.

We had another perforated gastric ulcer Sat night which seems to be doing ok so far post op. We also had another cancer of the bladder a few days ago. We continue to have the usual hernias and hydroceles and abcesses. We may not get much over a 100 procedures for this month.

Kermit (Olen's dad) is here for a week helping Olen with administrative stuff.

Addison and Zane both have malaria and are taking meds ok and doing ok.

Phone is 235-914-532-26
Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Love, Rollin and Dolores

Mar 10, 2014

On Monday we had another patient that had severe necrosis of neck
almost down to trachea and esophagus but also around her mouth and a
large area of her scalp and her breast. I debrided a lot of it on
Tues. I don't know if she will live or not. The "fly index" was
pretty high. "Fly index" is the number of flies around a patient
that is very bad or has a lot of rotten tissue such as rotten leg or
other areas. The chance of survival is not very good if the "fly
index" is very high. You may remember a previous patient that had
necrosis so badly that air came through his neck and water came out if
he tried to swallow and we had placed a stomach tube. He finally
went home basically to die; but 2 or 3 wks later he walked back in
appearing much improved and eating and swallowing. Miracles do
happen. This lady needs a miracle also. The fish bite man of last
week that had so much rotten tissue of his hand may actually lose one
or two fingers although part of the hand has no skin. The last two
nights we have had a strangulated hernia each night.

We had Rich Carlson from Union College, Lincoln, Ne. He came in Fri
and left on Sun. He was visiting during Spring break some of the
student missionaries from Union that are in Africa. We have one here
from Union. From here he was going to Guinea then to Zambia. He is
a coordinator for the SM's and just visits some of them. He was a
classmate of my brother Reggie at Union graduating in 1973. He got
to observe and participate with a strangulated hernia surgery on Sat
night.

There is a lady out in a small village that we had thought might be
helped with some l-dopa for her neurological problem that seems to be
perhaps from basal ganglia or cerebellum with her poor coordination
but she is alert and oriented. We have been seeing her each Sabbath
afternoon and giving her some medicine that was suggested by Dr. Dirk
Wonderlich, a neurosurgeon from Germany when he was here but it has
not helped. The medicine is not available here but Dr. Reinhard
Wonderlich (Dirk's dad) brought some when he came recently. We
also told Bible stories while there. They don't know anything about
the Bible such as who was the mother of Jesus but one did know that
Jesus was the Son of God.

Dr. Reinhard W (a Ob-Gyn) brought a bunch of equipment and some
hardware for orthopedics. It is very useful. A wound vac and a
bipolar and monopolar coagulator. Dr. Wolfgang (a hand and foot
surgeon in Germany) also came with Reinhard and Hanne, his wife.
Wolfgang is even considering becoming a long term missionary.

Dolores has been busy drying some mangoes. We have a large screen
that is sitting in our house and with the high temps and low humidity
things dry very rapidly. There is an overhead fan to circulate the
air. Lyol and Zane like to snitch fruit off the screen. Everyone
is healthy except I have a "cold" with a runny nose and some aches but
that is the way my malaria started last time so I'm starting malarone.

Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
phone is 235- 91453226
Love Rollin and Dolores

March 5, 2014

Less than five weeks from now we will be seeing some of you at the Union College alumni weekend. I notice it is being extremely cold in Lincoln, Nebraska lately. Where we are now it is cold if it gets down in the 60’s F. 

For the first time in several weeks or months our surgery backlog is caught up. Dec was 145, Jan was 202, Feb was 174 procedures. That is including some minor procedures. Hopefully it slows down at least after March so Danae does not have it too rough while we are gone on annual leave. The numbers have been increasing each year over the previous year.

We had to amputate a little 8 yr old boy’s arm at the shoulder because it was dead from the mid humerus down. It apparently had had a tourniquet tight around the arm; I’m not sure what the initial injury was. The same day as the boy came in we had a lady come in with a dead baby with only the head out. It had been dead some time as it was smelly and material oozing out of its head. Danae was able to manibulate while I pushed etc and we finally got it out. We have another man with severe infection and lots of dead tissue of a hand and forearm after a fish bite a few days before. He may need an amputation at least part of his hand or mid forearm. I’m not sure yet. It had pumping artery from a finger which I had to ligate. We had another bladder stone and another cancer of bladder. Another man had severe infection of scrotum and necrosed testicle that had to be removed. We had a large abcess of liver that presented as an acute abdomen after it had ruptured. We cleaned it out and drained the abdomen; it is doing well one week post op. We had two perforated terminal iliums from typhoid this past week but they are doing ok except one has a wound infection which is not very surprising.

There is a lady in a village way out in the bush that has some strange neurologic problems but not sure what. Our German neurosurgeon was here in December and thought maybe related to Parkinsonism or some other basal ganglia problem. She has problems with balance and twitching and getting into grotesque positions. We have tried some l-dopa not max dosage yet but no change yet. The med was brought from Germany as it is not available here. The lady was found by Gary Roberts on one of his outreach trips. Danae did a nice story about Moses while we were at the village. They had questions about a few Bible names. They did not know who the first woman was, nor who the mother of Jesus was, nor His father. One person knew that Jesus was the Son of God.

Many people are very needy physically and spiritually. Pray that somehow the knowledge of Jesus as Saviour and soon coming King and Redeemer can be spread into all the world so that Matt 24:14 can be fulfilled.

Our emails are drbland@sbcglobal.net and dfbland01@gmail.com
Our phone 235 91453226
Love Rollin and Dolores