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The small lump on my right elbow turned out to be a liposarcoma of the right triceps, and it needed to be gone.

Apprehension, dread, nervousness, fear, caution, uncomfortable, and worry. These are all too common feelings and emotions among patients entering into their local public hospital. With each entry, there is a long shadowed storyline unknown to the passerby or the receptionist at the desk, logging one of many patients for the day. For some, the entire experience can feel unnatural, clinical, and downright impersonal and, at times, even cold. Such a scenario did not greet me on a cool Wednesday morning at the Lompoc Hospital.

Before the end of April, longtime Lompoc resident Bob Taylor knew about the Comprehensive Care Center, but had never been inside.

Seeing my father struggle with weight has been a part of my life from my very first memory. Every day, I could see the difficulty he had moving and breathing. The shame and guilt that he had from eating just like a “normal person” because of his size were evident everywhere we went. I saw it even when I was a small child – people would stare at him all the time because of his size.

When Elizabeth McKenzie arrived as a patient at the Comprehensive Care Center, she says she could “wiggle one foot, wiggle one hand, and flap my lips.”

When plastic surgeon Dr. John Baeke first saw 7-year old Marsahn Elijah Emerson in the Lompoc Valley Medical Center Emergency Department last December, the little boy’s head was a mass of bloody lacerations and punctures.

Dick Newcomb and his younger brother Glen were always close as siblings, even with four years separating them.

Lompoc resident Naomi Hopkins has been a patient of Dr. Rod Huss’ for a year, and last October, he delivered her daughter, Phoenix Skye White.

Lompoc resident Pamela Martin hasn’t had the best of luck with her bones. But lucky for her, she found orthopedic surgeon David Cortese, MD.

For the Gonzalez family, the arrival this week of newborn Paul Augustine Gonzalez is lucky #13. Maria and Jose Gonzalez welcomed tiny Paul at 8:33 pm on Tuesday in LVMC’s Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum department, with assistance from OBGYN Dr. Rod Huss.

Sitting in the Comprehensive Care Center’s activities room, Odessa Gilmore can usually be found with a smile on her face.

In the halls of the Comprehensive Care Center, applause and cheers started breaking out as Sheila Holley cruised by with her walker. “Sheila! Look at you!” came the calls and recognition.

Mary Fahning is no stranger to broken bones and keeping an active lifestyle. A year ago, the Lompoc resident broke her foot and hiked 150 miles with the injury until she could get to a doctor.

At the age of 76, Beverly Dean had a clean driving record, without even a fender-bender. But when she was on vacation out-of-state, a rain-slicked road ended her exemplary history.

After a disabling stroke, an independent Shirley Holston found herself needing an assisted living environment.  After a few locations, she has now settled into the Comprehensive Care Center where one of the residential cats, Mirage, has adopted her and visits regularly.