Tong has been giving me Octreotide shots for my cancer for a year now. These shots are given in the gluteus Maximus and must get into the muscle, not merely under the skin. Sometimes the protocol calls for two of these shots. Her caring attitude and her technique are both top-notch. These are large needles, yet her technique is so quick that the pain ranges from “didn’t feel a sting at all” to “no worse than an annual flu shot”. I don’t know how she does it, but often there is another nurse present, obviously to learn Tong’s technique. I don’t know how she does it, but I have no fear when going to her for these shots. In addition to her technique, developed over her 30-year nursing career in China and the USA, I very much enjoy her chatty personality as well. She is very knowledgeable and will often anticipate and answer a question before I even ask. She has become something of a legend among some of us cancer patients. Our only anxiety is the fear that we will be getting our shot(s) from someone other than Tong! This might sound crazy, but it has gotten to the point where I almost look forward to my shots from her.

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Nurse Tong was my first nurse when I started going to MD Anderson for treatment in 2019. She always remembers me and doesn't need to call my name, she just comes and finds me in the waiting room. She always asks me about my family and how I'm doing. She always hugs me and makes me feel important that I'm her main patient at that time. And it's always nice that she always says that I'm her lady and she looks for me. Even if I see a different nurse and she sees me on schedule she will come say hello, hug me. She's very compassionate, she listens and she cares, she's extraordinary.