The Schedule for the Year 2011

The meeting date is the third Tuesday of the month and the time is 7:00 pm for food and cases. Noah has observed that we either have to start the Journal (ie, end cases) by 8:30 pm or change the name to Cases Club. Late-comers will be requested to save their cases to after Journal Club. If you are the host, bring a view box. If you do not have one, let David know at least one day in advance and he will bring the Jay Hann-VA Viewbox. If you cannot attend, please email the host at least a day in advance, as this helps them to plan the food. If less than 24 hrs, please call.

November was hosted by Charlotte, and all were amazed at how the children have grown. They are running around and acting cute! The meeting was attended by Noah, Bob, Bill, Josh, Kendrick, Matt, David, and Charlotte. The wine, cheese, salamie, and munchies were wonderful, then we proceeded to the dinner of Persian food: babagaloosh, grilled chicken, ground and marinated lamb, rice, pita, and vegetables. The highlight of the evening was twofold. First, when Charlotte brought out a cake with the number 75 on top, in honor of Bill, and the signing of "Happy Birthday", wonderfully off-key and heart-felt:

The second key highlight was when Josh observed that Bill was as old as the Bay Bridge but didn't need anywhere near the amount of repainting. Bill's response:

We finished the Journal, but again Bob pointed out that we are shortchanging the review articles and should pay more attention to them. The group decided that a December meeting was desired but the Dec 20 date was too close to Christmas. The meeting, for those who want to attend, is Dec 6 with Matt as the host.

October Journal Club report
At the last minute Doug stepped up in a HUGE way, and somehow put together an outstanding JC.  We were at Lake Chalet in Oakland, in a great private room with great food and wine.  Doug keeps upping the technological ante; electronic invitations, and now the wireless projector for images/x-rays.  And it was actually working by the time we started!  Doug has another month to figure out the Bluetooth; then I can see us presenting cases from our iPhones.  What next?  Good attendance;  as I recall, besides Doug and myself, Bob, Kendrick, Charlotte, John, Monty, Becky, Relton and Mat were present. (sorry if I forgot someone).  We plowed through the June journal after several interesting cases.  Thanks again Doug!!!  Noah for the missing David=

[Addendum: I should add that:  In the absence of our fearless leader, Field Marshall von Weiss really stepped up to bat as Journal Gestapo. Noah coordinated an attack on the June journal that was swift, painless, and mercilessly efficient. - Douglas Chin, MD, FACS]

July Journal Club was wonderful, as always. John stepped up to the plate at the very last moment and hosted the meeting at Montclair Bistro. Present were John, Charlotte, Monty, Relton, Noah, and David. The highlight of the evening was our own Noah with the LEAD ARTICLE in the April issue (other than Noah's article in April, we only did the March issue) with his results on his own invention, the arthroscopic PRC. Congratulations, Noah. None of the rest of us are ever likely to have the lead article, or describe our own procedure. You make us proud. 

May was hosted in great style by John at Montclair Bistro, 6118 Medau Place, in Oakland. Wine and appetizers were flowing as cases were discussed, then we moved to the main course of chicken piccata in an unusual but lemonly-delicious white sauce, along with salad, bread, and conversation. The large room allowed for boistrous discussion without the normal echoes, and a great time was had by all. It has been a while, but I think besides John, present were Bob, Josh, Kendrick, Noah, Shelley, Monty, Charlotte, Mat, Becky, Doug, Bill, and myself. Noah remembers that we voted to try to kill two at the next meeting, so I have reflected that in the above schedule.

March was a bit of March Madness, with the late realization the night before Journal Club that there was no host. This obvious malfeasance of duty to God and country resulted in the punishment that David hosted at the Webster Surgery Center, with Charlotte, Kendrick, Bill, Bob, Becky, Monty, Shelley, Noah, and John in attendance; Relton never got the email until too late. Food was one of David's specialties, home-cooked delights by the Woodland Market, and consisted of roasted lamb loin and chicken breast, with roasted potatoes and grilled corn. The appetizers were French bread, Camembert, and Point Reyes blue cheese (it is so good it should be capitalized: Point Reyes Blue Cheese), made by one of David's west Marin patients. Wines were supplied by Noah, and Kendrick and Noah discussed the finer points of what constitutes "corking", based on the suspect merits of one of the wines. Kendrick supplied Irish beer in honor of St Patrick's day (Guiness Special Export Stout, in bottles, one of several special Guiness products available, this beer a special variety that dates a request in 1912 from Belgium. Kendrick, in his OCD manner, corrected me: "Guinness Extra Stout (which I prefer to Guinness Draught bottles or cans) and Guinness Foreign Extra (which I prefer most by a long shot.  Higher hops and IBU with nice balance of dark roasted malts.") John delivered, as always, with a chocolate cake that was polished off with more enthusiasm than normal. The evening was marked by a single clinical case presentation but the night was more than filled with the discussion and decision to admit an additional member, Josh, for the traditional three month probationary period. We reviewed the traditional procedure for admitting new members, derived by consensus over history: all get a vote on whether or not to expand the group, with majority rule; anyone may nominate a new member, who chosen by popular vote; anyone of the group may cast a veto regarding any prospective new member, so as to preserve our current spirit of openly discussing our worst results for the benefit of improving our care of our patients; and that there will be no discussion whatsoever outside of the group of any complications that have been presented. These traditions were confirmed by all the members present. Kendrick is up next, who reports that he will put Josh to the test by asking him to help with the menu.

For February Journal Club, Becky, Bill, Charlotte, Matt and Relton converged on Doug’s recently spiffed up pad.   Doug and Eliza inaugurated their new kitchen, complete with Wolf range, by reheating take-out Thai food, including the requisite chicken pad thai, red curry duck, and yellow curry chicken, paired with an ebullient California Riesling.  Much of the early evening was spent anticipating upcoming cruises to the Caribbean or Antarctica and lamenting the myopic changes in healthcare that, thankfully, Bill and Bob will no longer have to countenance.  When 9:50 rolled around, Doug finally exercised the host’s prerogative and assumed the mantle, in David’s absence, of Journal Nazi.   The modified Brunelli gained thumbs-up kudos from Charlotte, and the Baldwin was once again heartily espoused by Bill.  The “evidence-based” sections of the Journal were met with decided skepticism.  The Journal’s reaffirmation of the Darrach was met critically by most, including Relton, who continues to find relative advantages to the Sauve-Kapandji, not the least of which is the preservation of a distal island of bone to anchor a soft tissue bail-out procedure, such as a palmaris longus tendon graft.  The remainder of the October 2010 Journal was slaughtered with remarkable efficiency, albeit disinterest (or perhaps fatigue).  Doug introduced the web invite for this meeting (www.socializr.com).  It seemed to work great, but check your spam folder and consider adding to your address book so your invite doesn’t get tossed into the Junk folder along with those male enhancement ads.- Reported by Doug

The January meeting started the year off with a bang. Bill Billings was the host, and members present included John & Doug (both back from their medical adventures), Charlotte, Rebecca, Kendrick, Relton, and David. The wines were spectacular (2005 Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne, Dom. Dubliere; 2006  Puligny Montrachet. Dom. Henri Clerc; 2004 Chgambolle-Musigny, Dom. Francois Bertheau; and 1999 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley), with cheeses including a luscious Point Reyes Blue, and crackers, as we discussed some cases and got caught up with the changes in our lives, esp Becky going to Kaiser, Bill being "retired" at Highland with Bob, and Relton taking on a new partner. Dinner was a wonderful French country chicken with peas and biscuits, and seconds was the rule of the evening, it was so good. Two desserts were served, including John's contribution of a chocolate cake, with high test coffee. Relton felt the Journal lacked much in substance; we learned about fractures and CTS in Korea. I thought the paper showing an MRI to evaluate malignant tumor margins was useless was a good thing to know, and likely to show up on an exam IMHO.

Other Meetings of Note

History of Journal Club .