LVHN's Bloodless Program Gives Evelyn a Second Chance at Retirement

Armed with a personalized care plan and surrounded by allies, Evelyn Howard felt a wave of relaxation as the anesthesia pushed her toward a gentle slumber. Whatever lay ahead, she knew an ace surgical team would honor her request for bloodless surgery without objection or judgment.

Howard, a 70-year-old retiree from Emmaus, knows who put her in that position: the caring team with Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN)’s Patient Blood Management Program.

The program, which began in 2019, coordinates bloodless surgeries throughout LVHN.

Supported by Kelly Frinzi, Lead Patient Liaison for the LVHN Patient Blood Management and Bloodless Surgery team, by the time of Howard’s lifesaving surgery in January 2024, she could let go of her concerns. A pain-free life awaited.

By summer 2023, Howard’s life was riddled with knee and leg problems. Her back burned with pain. She took initiative. Her spine was injected with cortisone. Nothing helped. Then, she woke up one morning – her left leg was numb from the mid-thigh down. The nerve supply to the lower half of her body was cut off. If her spine shifted any farther, Howard was told, emergency surgery would be required.

She wanted control over how her surgery was performed. Specifically, she did not want transfused blood, which violates her beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness.

The research, though, overwhelmed her. After two exasperating days, Howard called Frinzi, whose number she had received through word of mouth, on a weekday evening.

Worries typically don’t keep business hours, so someone from the program is always on call. Frinzi recommended neurosurgeon Mei Wong, MD, with Lehigh Valley Fleming Neuroscience Institute. Then, Frinzi listened and counseled.

Frinzi says the hour-long discussion streamlined the process: Howard was prepared for her first meeting with Dr. Wong, who had plenty of information to develop a surgical game plan. “I wanted to be prepared emotionally for the surgery,” Howard says. “I wanted, to my satisfaction, to know the what-ifs. I wanted to be completely relaxed and enter into the surgery with information, so that I could set that aside and move on to what else I had to do to prepare for my surgery.”

Thanks to Frinzi, Howard could do just that. “She was amazing,” Howard says. Any question or concern or worry she had – equipment, blood fractions, you name it – Frinzi addressed. “She took me through the entire medical directive and answered all of my questions without hesitation,” Howard recalls. After one phone call, she was revived and relieved.

In the weeks leading up to the surgery, Frinzi checked in with Howard for updates and to answer follow-up questions. Frinzi provided paperwork. The day of the surgery, Frinzi was there as Howard’s vitals were taken. Dr. Wong came by to answer questions.

Howard felt no anxiety.

The Patient Blood Management team is there to make sure patients’ requests, be they medical- or personal-based, are heard and respected. That requires constant interaction “to reinforce the safe feeling, that feeling of not being alone,” Frinzi says.

Coordinating the right surgical plan is a team effort. Nurses and doctors must be adept at bloodless alternatives – LVHN’s Bloodless Surgery team includes more than 50 physicians in every surgical specialty. “Dr. Wong fully respected and supported my stand on blood,” Howard says. “I never gave that issue another thought.”

Dr. Wong performed a lumbar spinal fusion, which decompressed Howard’s nerves, and inserted hardware to stabilize her spine. The procedure took around three hours and was drama free. It helped, Dr. Wong says, that Howard was “a very motivated patient.” Howard’s recovery will conclude in early 2025, but now, she says, “I’m feeling absolutely amazing.” Howard has returned to the volunteer work she does as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.