IN IT TOGETHER

e tried for about a year, but it just wasn’t working,” said Lindsey. “I had heard really good things about the reproductive medicine program at Sanford , so we made an appointment.”

Lindsey and Justin began meeting with the reproductive medicine team at Sanford Health Fargo including Stephanie Dahl, MD, who specializes in reproductive endocrinology.

“Lindsey and Justin came in at just the right time,” said Dr. Dahl. “We recommend couples who have no obvious issues to schedule an appointment after trying to conceive for a year with no results. If the woman is over 35, she should come see us after six months. If she is over the age of 40, has irregular menstrual cycle or other health issues, she should make an appointment right away.”

During these first appointments, couples will undergo a routine evaluation to help discover any possible problems.

“We usually do a few other basic things to evaluate reproductive health,” said Dr. Dahl. “After this, we can start with oral medications and other non-invasive options and sometimes, that is all it takes for a woman to conceive.”

However, this wasn’t the case for the Stoeltings.

“We just needed some extra help like a lot of couples,” said Lindsey. “And when you start down that path of other treatment options, it can be very overwhelming. But the crew at Sanford was amazing. They took the time to make sure we understood the process and what was happening.”

The Stoeltings decided to try IUI (intrauterine insemination). They had five procedures but sadly it didn’t work.

“We took some time and thought, ‘What are we doing?’” said Lindsey. “But we decided to try IVF.”

“In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is usually the last thing we try,” said Dr. Dahl. “It has good results, but it is expensive, more invasive and has certain risks, like conceiving multiples, associated with it.”

But in this case, IVF was just what Lindsey and Justin needed. Two weeks after the first procedure, they received the happy news

“I was so tempted to take a home pregnancy test,” remembered Lindsey. “But we decided to wait the two weeks and have a blood test. We’d waited essentially three years, but those two weeks were the longest ever. But when the nurses called and said we were pregnant, I was just overjoyed. And I think the nurses were about as excited as we were! We had spent so much time with them that they were truly happy for us.”

And through all the appointments and ups and downs, Lindsey was able to receive her care while staying close to home, which is true for many women in North Dakota and Minnesota.

“We offer care in several outreach locations across the region,” said Dr. Dahl. “We often see patients for their initial visit in person locally at our outreach sites and then help adjust medications or check in with them through our Tele-health system so they don’t have to travel to Fargo.”

After a stress-free and easy pregnancy, Lindsey gave birth to her daughter Bria, who is now nine months old.

“She completes our family and brings us such joy,” said Lindsey. “It took her awhile to get here, but it was all in God’s hands and worked out how it was supposed to.”

To Find Out More

about the reproductive services offered at Sanford Health Fargo or to find an outreach location near you, visit sanfordhealth.org.

Debbie Bartholomay didn’t plan to give her husband his best birthday gift ever last January. And she didn’t know it would be simply hollering for Larry to come into her hospital room.

But the South Fargo couple hadn’t expected Bartholomay to suffer a life-threatening stroke on January 2 either.

Bartholomay’s coworkers at Ascensus Trust had been worried about her that morning. She wasn’t acting like herself and didn’t look well, so they sent her home to rest. They had reason to worry. Bartholomay, 53, has had three open-heart surgeries. She has a pacemaker and a mechanical heart valve.

Larry let Bartholomay sleep and then had trouble waking her for lunch. When she awoke, Bartholomay had difficulty speaking, the right side of her body was weak and the corner of her mouth was drooping. Larry recognized the symptoms of a stroke and immediately dialed 911.

The ambulance crew activated a stroke alert so a specially trained team was waiting for Bartholomay when she arrived in the emergency department at Essentia HealthFargo. She could not speak or understand language. Her right arm and leg were completely paralyzed.

Dr. Ziad Darkhabani, an Essentia Health interventional neurologist, quickly diagnosed a blood clot blocking her left carotid artery. Blood was not flowing to the network of vessels in her brain’s left hemisphere. “Time is of the essence because a stroke kills 30,000 brain cells a second,” Dr. Darkhabani explained. “There can be no delay in treatment.”

Bartholomay was quickly transferred to the neurovascular suite where Dr. Darkhabani and his team began a minimally invasive endovascular procedure. First, Dr. Darkhabani expertly threaded a tiny catheter through the artery to the clot and delivered a clot-busting medicine. Then he used suction to carefully remove the clot in one piece. The large vessel opened completely, restoring blood flow to Bartholomay’s brain.

Even though the procedure was a success, Dr. Darkhabani told Larry that Bartholomay could suffer paralysis and be unable to speak, at least at first. So imagine Larry’s surprise when he returned to the nurses’ station after a few hours of sleep and realized he was hearing his wife calling to him from her room.

“I was hollering, ‘Larry, come in here and talk so I can hear,’” Bartholomay recalled. “I said that twice. And Larry was like, ‘Is that Debbie?’”

Less than 24 hours after the procedure, Bartholomay was speaking again. For Larry, who turned 59 that day, it was the best birthday present ever.

“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” Larry explained.

“Debbie had an amazing recovery,” Dr. Darkhabani said. “The next morning she was back to normal, except for a slight facial droop and that improved by the next day.”

A CT scan showed Bartholomay hadn’t suffered any brain damage. She went home three days after her stroke.

“For a large-vessel stroke like Debbie’s, we now have multiple studies showing endovascular intervention is the best option and achieves better outcomes for patients,” said Dr. Darkhabani, a interventional neurologist. Six recent studies, including one in the New England Journal of Medicine, found patients who have endovascular procedures fare better than other treatments, he explained. One study found more than 35 percent of these patients were able to live independently or nearly independently after recovering from their strokes. Without any procedure, less than 20 percent of patients were able to live independently or nearly independently, he said.

“We have a new standard of care for people with large-vessel strokes who are treated within the first six or eight hours,” Dr. Darkhabani said. “We know it will give patients a better outcome. While it once was a procedure of last resort, now it is what we can do and should do.”

“To be honest, I feel better now than I have in the last year,” Bartholomay said. “I’m peppier and happier. I feel good. I couldn’t have asked for a better doctor. Dr. Darkhabani is just unbelievable.”

Bartholomay said she’s grateful for the care she received at Essentia, which gives her more time with her family, including son, Kasey and his wife, Lisa, and grandchildren, Brooks and Claire.

“I truly believe there was an angel above who was watching over me that day,” Bartholomay said.