Nicole’s Story

I’m very grateful to Summit, especially Dr. Holm.

Graphical text: Summit Stories, overlaying a collage of patient-submitted images

So we never take much time to say, “thank you for the great service,” so I just wanted to take a few minutes and say just that.

Back in 2001, I went in to Dr. Holm after 8 years of chronic wrist pain. I was only 18 at the time, and I had stopped using my right arm because my wrist was at a level 9-10 pain constantly, and no other doctor could or would figure out why. Dr. Holm ended up doing an exploratory surgery on my wrist and figured out that my ligament was so shredded that even the arthrogram came back negative. He found it and was able to do some repairs. A few years later, he also released two of my nerves in my wrist and elbow to give me relief.

When I fell and injured my ankle in May (because I’m obviously way too clumsy) I didn’t even bother to go to anyone in Grand Rapids, I waited until I could find a specialist at Summit because I wasn’t going to screw around with a doctor who wasn’t a specialist in orthopedics ever again. I saw Dr. Rupke earlier this month and found out that I had fractured my ankle.

Anyhow, I’m very grateful to Summit, especially Dr. Holm. He believed me as an 18 year old when every other doctor dismissed my pain as a whinny teenager, and he gave me 14 years of much more manageable pain. Of course, I did manage to fall on it again this winter on the ice which has since irritated it again, but that’s a whole other story.

Although I’m not happy that I’m so clumsy that I constantly injure myself, I am grateful that I feel like I have a place to go where my pains aren’t going to go unnoticed and untreated. I like knowing that there’s doctors out there that will believe that you’re in pain, and they’ll go to extra lengths to find out what is wrong. That’s a really nice feeling.

Thanks again,
Nicole

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