ONE YEAR AGO you did me the honor of selecting me president of the Western Surgical Association. I had planned an active and productive year both as your president and as your representative to the Advisory Council for Surgery of the American College of Surgeons. The Good Lord had other plans for me, however, so that I spent a quarter of the year in the intensive care unit of the University of Chicago. I extend to the membership my regrets for being less than a full-time president, and to our secretary, Dr Jon van Heerden, a heartfelt thanks for his immediate and capable assumption of the duties and chores I had left undone. I also thank so many of you for your calls, cards, notes, visits, and prayers. They worked. And thank you, Lord, for allowing me to return to my family and my profession. There is also a long