Patient Stories
Idaho Brain Tumor Patient Finds Home She Needed at Hoag
Pictured: Paul and Tricia Dietzler take a selfie together the morning before her second surgery at Hoag. What was an Idaho woman with a brain tumor doing driving almost 1,000 miles across two state lines to get to Orange County, California? Tricia Dietzler was in too much pain to contemplate that question as her husband, … Read More
For Stroke Patient, Day at the Beach Becomes Most Important Day of Her Life
Pictured: Lisa (far right) with her two friends, Jaclyn and Julie, who helped save her life with their quick action. It was July 10, 2023, and already blazing hot in Rancho Cucamonga when Lisa Peterson and her daughter, Haylee, left their home for Newport Beach to enjoy some respite in the waves with friends. They … Read More
New Wireless Pacemaker Has Patient ‘Going Strong’
Photo: FinisherPix Gina’s heart “paused” twice while she was in the ER with one of the longest atrial fibrillation (Afib) episodes she had ever experienced. It was 2022, and a newly FDA-approved dual chamber leadless (wireless) pacemaker was available through a clinical trial in only a few select sites across the country. Thankfully for Gina, … Read More
Dismissed by Others, Neck Surgery Patient Receives Relief at Hoag
Blair Allan knew exactly what it looked like to the Urgent Care team in Los Angeles: A late-20s, healthy woman who had suffered no injury, showing up to the Urgent Care complaining of pain and asking for relief. It’s September 2020. The opioid epidemic is in full swing. Blair forgives the nurses for their caution. … Read More
GERD Patient Finds Relief and a Team That Listens
Erin Bowlus played semi-professional flag football for two years with a broken hip. The lighting-intense pain flashing through her leg? She just sucked it up. So, when started to experience crushing chest pain in 2016, she didn’t believe her first set of doctors’ suggestion that she was suffering from anxiety. Erin is tough. She can … Read More
‘I Didn’t Know How Much Pain I Was in Until I Was Out of It”
Sarah Post was able to get through the day. She was on her feet a lot and took frequent flights for work. Yes, her back hurt. But she figured it was sciatica left over from her pregnancy with twin boys that she delivered at Hoag nine years ago. It would flare up from time to … Read More
Patient Finds Wound-Healing Relief from Hoag Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The entire “Star Wars” oeuvre (the old stuff and the new stuff). “Andor.” “The Mandalorian.” While undergoing treatment at the Sally & Joseph Warpinski Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Medicine Center, patients are invited to pass the time by watching movies or TV. Jeffrey Diercksmeier devoted his 50 hours of healing to the George Lucas universe … Read More
Heart to Heart: Father and Son Firefighters Grateful to Hoag’s Cardiac Surgery Team
The nurse was impressed. Recuperating from robotic mitral valve repair surgery at Hoag’s Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute, Kenneth Kemp said a nurse performed a bedside echocardiogram on him and commended the repair. No sign of leakage. Something you’d expect in a valve replacement surgery but remarkable in a repair. Incredible job. “I … Read More
After 10 Years with GERD, Patient Says, ‘I Received the Best Results’
Julie Engquist ties her shoes. She sleeps with just one pillow. She walks her dog. If these things don’t sound groundbreaking, you’ve likely never contended with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). But Julie had. For 10 years. “The pain and discomfort were overwhelming,” she said. “There were a few times where I thought I was having … Read More
Grateful Patient Thanks Surgeon for Not Operating
Linda Lifur-Bennett, Ph.D., wants to clarify one thing: She is a patient of Burak Ozgur, M.D., director of the Hoag Spine Center. No, the Newport Beach neurosurgeon did not operate on Dr. Lifur-Bennett. In fact, he did not perform any procedures on the 70-year-old clinical psychologist. Rather, through his compassion and expertise, Dr. Ozgur prevented … Read More