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April
When She Wished Upon a Star
Colleagues made Doris Hetzel’s dreams come true following heart surgery
The reservations were made. Doris Hetzel of Bethlehem Township was looking forward to celebrating her 65th birthday in Disney World with her family. However, she had one bridge to cross—heart surgery. Would she be well enough by their April departure date?
Battling congenital heart disease, Hetzel was in different hospitals her whole life. In January, she arrived at LVH–Muhlenberg for surgery. It was the first time she had come here for care. “I noticed that everyone shows a genuine concern. I didn’t experience that elsewhere,” Hetzel says.
Regional Heart Center—Surgery colleagues knew Hetzel’s Disney deadline. Meeting it wouldn’t be easy. The surgery to replace her heart valves and remove scar tissue was extensive. “She was probably as sick as you can get,” says patient care coordinator Eva Fox, R.N. “But we knew that if we worked together, Doris would be able to go on vacation.”
Hetzel’s husband, Don, noticed this teamwork during meetings (collaborative rounds) held in their room. The Hetzels were joined by their doctors, nurses, therapists, and every other member of their care team. They discussed Hetzel’s progress and the next steps in her recovery. “At other hospitals, doctors would come in and leave without saying anything,” Don Hetzel says. “At Lehigh Valley Hospital, we always were told exactly what was happening.”
Following surgery, Hetzel needed dialysis until her kidney function returned to normal. Although she was improving, her kidneys weren’t recovering as quickly as anticipated. When she was discharged three weeks after surgery, she still needed treatments three times a week. Her Disney trip was in jeopardy.
That’s when her nurses devised a plan. Fox contacted Disney World’s medical director and arranged for Hetzel to receive dialysis in Florida. “I felt hope,” Hetzel says. With the plans in place, Hetzel’s biggest wish came true a few weeks later. She was healthy enough to be taken off dialysis and go on her family vacation.
Fox, who celebrates her birthday the day after Hetzel, received the best present in her mailbox that day. Inside was a Disney postcard from Hetzel thanking her and her colleagues for their care. “It made me cry,” Fox says. “It tells us we touched someone’s heart.”
Hetzel felt great during vacation; not once did she need a wheelchair. When she reminisces about her trip of a lifetime, she says, “I can’t believe a hospital did what they did for me.”
This page last updated 4/2/08 10:48 AM
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