Caring For Those With Cancer: Meet Lourdes Ungos
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we want to highlight the caring, compassionate team who cares for our patients in the most vulnerable times. Meet Lourdes Ungos, R.N., a registered nurse in the Baptist Infusion Center.
Lourdes has been with Baptist for two years and cares for oncology patients through outpatient infusion. She helps coordinate patient care with other providers, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, practice coordinators and other team members. Her typical day at work starts by looking up her assigned patients, drawing labs, starting an IV or access ports, asking about patient concerns and educating patients.
“Once patients have seen their provider and are ready for treatment, we get them settled comfortably, check their lab work and other pertinent studies and make sure to administer medications and treatments safely,” Lourdes said. “My team and I mostly give IV infusions for chemotherapy, immunotherapy, blood transfusions, IV fluids, antibiotics and iron infusions. We also give injections and bladder treatments.”
Lourdes loves her team and being a nurse at Baptist. She relates to patients and empathizes with them on personal and emotional levels since she is also a cancer survivor.
Lourdes and friends attend an event to support breast cancer awareness.
In April of 2013, Lourdes was diagnosed with stage two ER/PR+ Her2 negative breast cancer, a type that was both estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and progesterone receptor-positive (PR+). Hormone receptors are proteins found on breast cells that can pick up the estrogen or progesterone signals that promote cell growth, including cancer cell growth. Lourdes’ cancer discovery was made during a routine health exam when she was still living and working in the Philippines.
Lourdes reflected on her diagnosis and treatment from over a decade ago.
“I had six rounds of chemotherapy every three weeks,” Lourdes recalled. “I also had a mastectomy in my right breast where the cancer was found. I lost my hair, felt very fatigued and sometimes sick. I often found it difficult to remain positive and in a fighting mindset, but I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a good support system – family and friends who encouraged me. I remember my caregivers telling me to take it one day at a time and reminding me that the treatments will end and that they’re going to help me.”
Lourdes sometimes shares her personal journey with patients she encounters to encourage them in the same way she once was encouraged by others. She finds it rewarding to give back and provide them with a source of inspiration.
“I ask patients if they’d like to hear my story, but I never push to tell it,” Lourdes said. “I tell them that the treatments will end and that they can take it one minute, one hour, one day at a time and they’ll get through it. I tell them not to give up. I have also learned not to take a bad mood or attitude personally if a patient is not feeling positive or talkative or cheerful. I am there to do my job and help them, no matter what.”
Lourdes is recognized with a WOW award for her compassionate care and service to patients.
Over the years, Lourdes has developed an attitude of gratitude for her life and her work. She works hard to practice self-care and be grateful for each day. She pushes herself to be open to adventures and experiences. It’s what led her to the U.S. to work where Lourdes met her husband, Joe, and settled at Baptist after being a nurse at other regional health care systems.
“I am thankful to be given the opportunity to work here at Baptist,” Lourdes said. “I appreciate that Baptist fosters values that I am familiar with, having been raised in a Christian family and having been exposed to a similar work culture in my previous employment in the Philippines.”
Lourdes, thank you for sharing some of your cancer journey with us. Also, thank you for caring so compassionately for our patients at Baptist.
Learn more about Baptist Cancer Institute and breast cancer screening and prevention.
Join our compassionate care team who cares for cancer patients, like Lourdes.
