Hello, I’m Dr. Nicholas Cheney. My father had a career as an optometrist, and I always got to see how he experienced taking care of patients.
We’d run into patients frequently around town, and they were always very friendly, very happy, and enjoyed being taken care of by somebody who cared. And, you know, it seemed like a good profession.
I went to undergrad at The Ohio State University. I swam there, as one of my senior partners did. Then I went to medical school at the University College of Osteopathic Medicine. I did my residency in Columbus through Doctors Hospital and Grant Medical Center.
I thought I was going to focus on ophthalmology for a while. But as a college athlete, I had my fair share of run-ins with the team doc, so it kind of interested me in the musculoskeletal system. And then, as a resident, I kind of fell in love with foot surgery and ankle surgery.
You can kind of do a broad range of procedures in foot and ankle surgery. You can do total joints, you can do trauma, you can do sports, you can do some pediatric stuff. I mean, there’s kind of a little bit of everything. So there’s a little bit of every specialty other than the spine.
Arthritis of the ankle, midfoot, forefoot, hindfoot, sports injuries, trauma, bunions, hammer toes—those types of things, you name it, I’ll take care of it, as far as the foot and ankle are concerned.
What inspires me the most is my family—my wife and kids—working hard, going home, seeing them, and providing for them. My parents visit me in my office, and I remember visiting my dad at his office.
They think of me as the little guy who used to tag along with dad. Now I’m taking care of my own patients. That’s pretty cool.
As a relatively young guy, you don’t understand the feeling of having a patient return after you do a procedure and the joy and happiness on their face when they feel better. As a resident, you don’t experience that. But when you’re out in practice, it’s pretty cool.
