Very, very new! Advice much appreciated!

[Cygnus]

Hello all! I'm very new to all of this.

I have a bit of a black thumb and kill off houseplants in general, but I've developed an affection for my orchid because it seemed to be getting along very nicely with my lack-of-watering schedule.

It was your dimestore gift orchid, white with purple veining and spots. Lovely.

A while ago I noticed that it appeared "dusty", then cobwebby and looking closer I noticed bugs. I googled, found I had mealy bugs and did what I could to remove them. In the meantime my blooms and some of the lower leaves fell off. The stalk is yellowing at the top and drying as well. I was googling whether or not to cut the stalk and found this site so I'll be cutting above the last node I think the term is, below which is still green.

In an effort to completely eradicate the mealy bugs I sprayed all crevasses and everywhere I could get with rubbing alcohol, I wipe with a clean damp cloth whenever anything looks slightly white.

Yesterday I "repotted" it into its old pot. It was potted in moss and I stripped as much of the original moss away from the roots as possible. They all look good, so I'm hoping the mealy bug infestation wasn't originating too much from there.

I washed and sanitized the clay pot and inner plastic one before replacing as much moss as possible to re-pot. I didn't water it over-much when I replanted because the remaining roots and moss were quite damp from when I watered it before pot removal.

I re-sprayed the plant and every bit I could see of the roots with rubbing alcohol. (Rubbing alcohol being what I saw recommended on google. I hope I haven't killed it!)

I'm thinking of trimming the stalk down today, but I'm wondering if it would be too soon after the re-pot to do so. (Are they prone to shock?)

Also, any other recommendations for the mealy bugs and general care?

I have no mold or obvious smell or bacteria or fungus or anything. It really seemed happy before the darn bugs but since I'm betting it came home with the bugs it's been dying by inches since.

It's lost about 3-4 leaves, it has about 3 now that look nice and healthy, but again the stalk is withering.

Sorry so long of a post, but I appreciate any advice.

I was thinking of getting more orchids seeing as how they got along so "well" with me but then all of this happened. And as I understand it the bugs will spread to other orchids even if not kept nearby so I don't want to being a new one home to the same fate.

Thanks SO much for any help!