Knowing that having cancer was not a good and pleasant experience. I was in the ICU at Allenmore for more than 2 weeks, and fortunately, I had Hong as my nurse for 2 consecutive weekends with her schedule. I have to say that I didn’t like her much at first because she kept pushing me to get me out of bed after my wound debridement. I was in pain and did not want to get up, but she, with her patience, came into the room every morning and gave me the plan for the day about what time to get me up. That was annoying. However, for the second week I was there, I received the news that I had stage IV cancer from the surgeon. Hong was the only one holding my hand the entire conversation. She gave me the support I needed at that time. She was nice enough to give me the time to grieve through my bad news for that day and did not ask me to get up at my usual time. She went into the room expressing her empathy and spent time with me to help me process the news in a brighter way. She let me know what steps I need to take in order for me to be successful and to have my chemo in a timely manner.

And yes, for the next day, she came back with the plan for me to get up to the chair at least 30 minutes to an hour for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She said that moving helps with my lungs, my muscles, my metabolism, my wound healing, and my entire body. Thank you, Hong, for your motivation and optimism that I can have my first chemo next week. Everything just started now, but I will always remember her kindness and smile whenever she came into my room.

Thank you, Hong, for everything!