Christian Cheuque

My experience at HSS started out as more of a closure experience. I was convinced that whatever was that kept me from playing tennis had no fix, and simply went to my first appointment because I wanted to hear another "No, sorry." from a 4th doctor. My first encounter happened at the Ambulatory Clinic on August 2014 with Dr. Sammer Puri, who at the time was towards the end of his fellowship at HSS. I had already given up all hopes of playing professional tennis again (last official match: March 2012), but I wanted to see if I could at least hit the ball for an hour once a week with friends, just for the sake of exercise. After 3-4 months of exams, and after some extensive discussions among the hand specialists at the hospital, Dr. Puri and Dr. Lee finally gave me an option. The outcome wasn't clear at the time, but it was an option. So I took it. Surgery happened, and fast forwarding to 84 weeks later, I am 2 weeks away from competing again on the professional circuit. I was literally handed a second chance in life at what I love doing the most, and I owe it all to HSS and their wonderful staff. From the people working in the appointment desk, to the nurses, the first doctors who examined me, to the radiologists, the nurses at the pre-op asking me every 5 mins if I was comfortable or not, the post-op staff, the wonderful people at the Hand and Upper Extremity Therapy Center (Alexandra M. Jennie Y. Disol R.) for their efforts, constant patience, and amazing sense of humor, Dr. Sameer Puri and Dr. Steve K. Lee who performed an amazing job (right wrist arthroscopy, ulnar tendon repair, ulnar osteotomy). It has been an extremely long and difficult road to recovery, involving hundreds of hours of off-court and on-court training, with many ups and downs, yet I wouldn't be writing this if it wasn't for HSS. I owe you guys more than a lot, and I hope you can continue to help others get back in the game. Thank you.