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With the recent addition of some weekly newspapers to my reading area, new readers are wondering why I occasionally relate a Wisconsin adventure. About 13 years ago, Betsy, my wife, sat up in bed one morning and announced that she wanted to move to Wisconsin. Two of our three daughters and their families live in the Madison, WI area. Though Betsy certainly deserved to live wherever she wished after tolerating me for all these years, I was horrified. In desperation, I offered Betsy and the girls a compromise. Wagner would remain our home, but we would downsize our SD home and buy a second home in Wisconsin where we would spend 4-5 months of the year closer to family. The deal was made.
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The liver is one of the most amazing but underrated organs in our bodies. We cannot live without it, and, unlike the kidney, we cannot bypass it with a dialysis machine. Lose your liver and you lose your life.
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Catfish & stink baits – It’s messy but worth it.
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If you have read either of my books, A Dakota Rod and Nimrod or The Dakota Nimrod Grows Older, both available through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, you know that I believe that anyone who likes to hunt should experience a western elk hunt. There’s one big problem – affordability. Other than waiting years to draw a bull elk tag in a choice area and then paying a hefty license fee ($692 Wyoming), along with approximately $10,000 for a quality guided hunt, the hunt is too expensive for many hunters.
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I’ve been spending a lot of time talking with patients about the COVID-19 vaccine. Sometimes we celebrate being fully vaccinated. Some patients are skeptical about how serious COVID-19 infections actually were. And others are not convinced they can trust the vaccine.
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As I much enjoy experiencing my 80th year, I think it only natural to ask myself, “If I had it to do over again, is there anything I would have done differently?”
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I was sitting in my beach chair on vacation soaking up the sun when I overheard the couple next to me sounding concerned. They were throwing out lots of big medical terms but were very confused and said that they did not understand anything that they read on this MRI report. I turned to them, apologized for eavesdropping, and introduced myself as a physician. I offered to “translate” what the radiologist report said, and they gladly accepted.
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I am occasionally asked, “Roger, what’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever caught?” The question got me to thinking. In August 1999, Tom, my son-in-law, and I were fishing for catfish beneath the first island below the Ft. Randall Dam at Pickstown. Around midnight my line snagged on something and I thought I’d have to break it off. When it finally popped loose, I reeled in a buffalo vertebrae. I could tell it was buffalo by the fin on the vertebrae that was from the hump area.
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