Patient & Resident Stories
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Bonnie Matthews
Natchitoches Assisted Living Resident
For the past three and a half years, Bonnie Matthews has made Natchitoches Assisted Living (NAL) her home. For several years, she visited friends there and liked what she saw. When her children retired and began travelling, she wanted to downsize and felt NAL would...
Doug Ireland
Hernia and Gall Bladder Surgery
Late one Friday night, Doug Ireland, Sports Information Director and Assistant Athletics Director at Northwestern State University, began experiencing intense abdominal pain. Thinking that maybe he had a case of indigestion, a stomach bug, or maybe even food poisoning, he hoped he would start feeling...
Eliza Brittain Behrendsen
Breast Cancer
Eliza Brittain Behrendsen is no stranger to breast cancer. Her mother and mother-in-law passed away from it. As life sometimes goes, Eliza was caring for her mother-in-law when she herself felt a bump of sorts in her breast. Thinking it was just a cyst, Eliza thought she might need to get it drained. A busy mother of two high school aged sons and active with many projects and community events, Eliza really hoped the bump was nothing. However, somewhat concerned she mentioned the “cyst” to her sister, Dr. Marguerite (Cissy) Picou.
Reggie Rice
Living out in the country, where Reggie takes care of his property and raises chickens and other farm animals, he realized his pain was becoming a problem. It was difficult to perform his daily chores, and in time, even getting up and caring for himself became painful. Walking any distance was a challenge, because the pain in his legs was so intense. Out of necessity, he traded some equipment for a golf cart so he could get around the property to care for the animals. At night, it was impossible to lie flat in his bed comfortably. Instead, he settled for a recliner where he could sleep short periods of time with less pain.
Martha Russel Greer
One night, Martha woke up in the middle of the night with a sharp pain in the pit of her stomach. “Really bad stomach ache,” she thought to herself. By the next morning, she was feeling better and wondered if she had some sort of...
Kathleen Cloud
Thanksgiving week, Kathleen Cloud had intense pain in her side and felt nauseated. She knew something was seriously wrong. She went to two different emergency rooms for care over the course of a week and learned that her problem had to do with her gallbladder. The medicines prescribed did not seem to work, and that’s when Kathleen turned to Natchitoches Regional Medical Center.
Joan Gahagan
I’ll never forget the night of January 24th. At the age of 80, I slipped and fell on a patch of ice outside our carport door. I can still remember the ice cracking and popping as I hit the concrete. Being 5:30 in the late afternoon, darkness was fast approaching with no one in sight. I began to scream and holler for help as loudly as I could. My two little Chihuahua puppies heard me from inside of our house, and soon their barking brought my husband to the door.