This Week in ROTARY NEWS
On Wednesday Noon, September 5th, President Jerry Weber called the Wagner Rotary Club to order. Rotarian Laurie Kidd gave the blessing in which she gave thanks for the past Labor Day Weekend and the safe conclusion of many activities.
Guests for the day were Jordan Weber, local PA at the Wagner Community Hospital, who was invited by Bryan Slaba and Dana Woods, Shop Manager at C&B who is our newest Rotary member and will be inducted soon. Jeff Doom also brought his wife Julie to lunch as part of his program.
Pianist Laurie Kidd challenged the members to sign the song “Smile” without the music book and the club gave a rousing rendition from memory.
Rotarian Ken Cotton delivered the Membership Minute by asking the members if they knew of the significance of the number 711? No one responded so Ken proceeded with the story of Room 711 which was the birthplace of Rotary. The old Unity Building in Chicago, Illinois was where Paul Harris had invited several of his friends and professional associates to discuss the possibility of beginning a Rotary Club. The room was used for many years until the building had to be demolished. The Rotarians dismantled each part of the room and preserved it by placing it in storage. In 1994 the room was recreated at the Rotary International Headquarters where it is open for viewing to this day.
Becky Brunsing drew the lucky ticket, and everyone held their breath as she tried to pull the Queen of Hearts from the remaining few cards. She drew the Jack of Clubs to everyone’s relief. $19.00 was collected from members which brings the grand total of the Queen of Hearts drawing up to $860.00
Sec/Treasurer Patty Frei counted two misses on the Henke Team and only 1 miss on the Frei Team for a total of 13 to Henke and 20 to Frei.
President Jerry made the announcement that the aluminum can trailer is getting full and we should think about making a trip to Mitchell with the cans. Linda Soukup asked for help in taking the plywood sheets off the trailer that was used in the Labor Day Parade. The Rotary Club won first prize in the Church/Organization division with a float named “Candyland”.
Jeff Doom had technical difficulties with his equipment, so he presented Roger Wiltz as his program for the day.
Roger gave his presentation on his recent experience with Deep Brain Stimulation. He recently underwent brain surgery and first off, he thanked everyone in the Wagner Community for all the phone calls, cards, and get well wishes.
About 20 years ago Roger began experiencing a numbing in his legs and a tremor in his hands. It kept on progressing and he eventually was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. He was diagnosed with two different ailments; peripheral neuropathy and the tremor was caused by a disorder in the brain. He was sent home and was told that he would be back when he could no longer deal with the tremors. Adding to his discomfort was a diagnosis of melanoma cancer in his shoulder which was deep and required several surgeries.
Roger returned to Mayo Clinic early this year for examinations. Deep Brain Stimulation has been around since the 1990’s. He had several different kinds of evaluations lasting up to three and half hours. At the end of the testing he was a good candidate for the procedure. He was informed of the usual complications that may occur during surgery; but was also required to make his own decision as to which hand he would like to see the tremor being diminished in. He eventually chose his right hand as he uses that the most.
Deep brain stimulation is a procedure that requires three different types of surgery. Each one can take from three to five hours. The first surgery was to place a plastic form on the top of his head. This was a painstaking procedure as it must be just perfect. Four nails made of titanium were then screwed from the form into his head. He was not conscious for this procedure. The second phase of the surgery was drilling a hole right in the middle of the form that had been placed on top. Roger was fully conscious all the time for this surgery as he had to be able to hear and follow commands from the doctors. The third phase of the surgery was placing a battery deep in the middle of his chest. There is a wire with an electrode that comes through the center of his brain and another wire that goes down his neck, through his left shoulder and across to the battery in his chest. He has a “clicker” which has several controls as well as an off and on button. He can turn the battery off at night which will make it last longer. Immediately after the surgery the doctors hooked him up to a laptop computer and programmed the device.
The results of the surgery were immediate. His right hand no longer had a tremor and he can do many things that had become a serious problem for Roger. He is in the process of trying to regain his strength now. The doctors informed him that he would be very weak for 10 months. He is trying to walk every day and get his strength back.
Roger asked Jeff Doom to come up and he gave Jeff his control and told him to hit the Off button. Within 10 seconds Roger’s right arm was shaking and Jeff hit the on button and the tremor ceased. Club members were very interested in this informational insight to a topic that not many of us are familiar with. Roger commented that his quality of life is so much better and the time spent experiencing the procedures was well worth it.