Nicole Eaton, therapist, mom of 2, biker, traveler, and sculptor, is always on board to try something new. One of her most recent endeavors has been learning to weld. Her social work practice keeps her busy, but in her spare time she has discovered she loves to create metal sculptures. She has even been able to sell some of her work at a gallery in Coeur d'Alene.
Last year, her husband took her skydiving for her birthday. It was exhilarating! In her head, she was going to land in a graceful run, like in a movie. But it didn’t quite turn out that way. When she came down, she put her feet out and impacted hard. She couldn’t catch her feet under her and she couldn’t stop. She and the tandem skydiver on her back dragged along the ground and fell into a heap. “It wasn’t pretty!” she said. It was immediately apparent that her ankle was broken.
The doctors in the emergency room knew she would need surgery, but her ankle needed to be set in the meantime. The Emergency Room Physician attempted to reduce her ankle but had a difficult time. She followed up with Dr. Tadje several days later. Due to the severity and instability of her ankle fracture, Dr. Tadje felt that Nicole needed surgery ASAP. She came in 2 days later and Dr. Tadje fixed her ankle with 2 plates and 9 screws. And most importantly to her, he preserved her brand-new Idaho tattoo.
On a check-up visit, Nicole mentioned that she needed to heal quickly so she could get back to her creations in the welding shop. In the following conversation, Dr. Tadje offered her a box of medical hardware, and she offered to make him a sculpture out of it. After exploring different possibilities, she came up with an amazing sculpture that symbolizes the work that Dr. Tadje’s staff aims to do each day. A butterfly, something beautiful and new created out of worn and unusable parts. Dr. Tadje and his staff are happy to be able to admire this work of art in their office every day.
Written By: Rebecca Howard
