Recently I saw a patient who had experienced two consecutive days of pain in his right upper abdomen. I questioned him, looking for clues of gallstones, liver mass, or maybe an ulcer in the small bowel, but his answers did not fit my expectations. The pain was located under his right ribs and radiated into his back, just as I would expect of gallbladder disease; but it was not triggered by eating, and the way the patient described the pain did not fit the profile of an abdominal disorder. Then, a lightbulb went off; I needed to look at his skin.

Did you think I was gone for good? To all eight of you that read these each week (well, when I actually get around to writing them), I am sorry I have been absent so much lately, but I had something I wanted to say this week. A good number of our local high school students will depart for the State Speech Meet after competing at districts in the past week or two.

From March 21-27, 2021 we’ll celebrate National Agriculture Week in Nebraska. It’s a great opportunity to highlight the hard work our farmers and ranchers do to produce high-quality and crops they raise feed families in our state, across the nation, and around the world.

Last week and early this week, things continued to be busy around here. Committees were busy meeting in executive session, trying to advance bills so that senators could decide on what bill they would like to prioritize for the session. Each senator can prioritize one bill and each committee can prioritize up to two bills. Usually a senator does not like to prioritize a specific bill until they know it has the votes to get out of committee because if it does not and there aren’t enough votes to pull the bill out of committee then they have wasted their priority bill for the year. Having priority bill status means that those bills will be heard on the Legislative floor for debate before other bills that do not have priority bill status.

As a primary care physician, I walk with my patients as they face many of life’s challenges. Facing the diagnosis of dementia may be one of the hardest. Any chronic illness involves loss, but dementia threatens the loss of not only ability and independence, but of the very self.

March 7, 2021 Whenever someone is admitted to the hospital, they are asked to stipulate their “code status.” Levels of code status include full code, meaning resuscitate and intubate if required; as well as various combinations of do not resuscitate (DNR) and do not intubate (DNI). In simple terms, a code status clarifies what you want the medical team to do in the event your heart stops or if your heart goes into a rhythm that is not compatible with life.

03/08/2021 Colton Hillin of Holdrege: Leaving the Scene of an Accident; Found: Guilty; Sentenced to 6 months’ probation and ordered to pay court costs, probation costs and all other fines. George Mullowney of Alma: Driving Under Suspension; Sentencing: Ordered to pay fines and court costs.

Since taking office as Governor, property tax relief has been my top priority. That’s because high property taxes continue to be the number one concern I hear from Nebraskans. This legislative session, Senators have a golden opportunity to give Nebraska families the relief they need. Nebraska’s economy has been resilient through the pandemic, resulting in strong tax revenues. This sets the stage for the Unicameral to deliver major property tax relief.

There is some good news on the horizon for Nebraska. The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board met on February 26, 2021 and raised revenue projections for the state. Their projections are what the legislature uses to create our bi-annual budget. The current projections were raised by $204 million to $5.49 billion. This is due to anticipated increases of $65 million in sales and use tax receipts, $40 million in corporate tax receipts, $4 million miscellaneous taxes and $95 million individual income tax receipts. The total projected revenue receipts for FY 2021-2022 were raised to $5.08 billion, which is an increase of $165 million. The following year FY 2022-2023 was increased by $93 million.

Do you know anyone who had influenza this past year? Chances are you do not. Sure, plenty of people had the “stomach flu” with vomiting and diarrhea, otherwise known as gastroenteritis. Some people had colds and others had COVID-19. But cases of influenza this season have been exceptionally low.