Can an orchid be resuscitated?

About three weeks ago I was given a small potted orchid. It had creamy off-white blossoms about the diameter of a golf ball and relatively large bladelike leaves. There were several knobby little seedlike things on the stalks.

There was no little card telling me how not to kill my plant, but my hair stylist had a similar one in his shop, and he said to water it about every 7–10 days and let it drain.

I gave it some water about a week later, but couldn’t see how to let it drain.

Then the blossoms started dropping, and now they’re all gone. The knobby pods fell off. The leaves started turning brown, and so did the growing tips of the stems.

Is this little plant past hope, or is there something I could do to salvage this lovely gift? I wouldn’t have said I had a black thumb, but it’s never been particularly green. I have no instinct for this.