Welcome to the Official Hospital of the Iowa Great Lakes

It was nearly two years ago when Milford, Iowa resident Connie Stein was literally stopped in her tracks, unable to take another step while on her daily walk. Her left knee suddenly wouldn’t bend, and she was in excruciating pain. The pain was so bad she couldn’t sleep, so she got a cortisone shot the next day.

“I went in to see Dr. Rierson. He examined me and said my knee was completely worn out and that I would need knee surgery,” said Stein. “I thought the cortisone shots would make it better, but over time I noticed my leg started turning in. I overcompensated for my knee pain by walking in a different way. That affected my back, creating back pain, too.”

Her pain gradually worsened and inhibited her daily walks. In fact, it got to the point that it was difficult for her to even get out of bed and walk around the house. At that point, she decided to get her knee replaced.

“I thought if I don’t do this now, why wait,” said Stein. “Dr. Rierson was very kind when I met with him before, and I knew he did robotic surgery. I heard it was more accurate, so he did my knee surgery in April 2022.”

Stein prepared for surgery by following the exercises to keep her leg strong as recommended by Lakes Regional Healthcare Physical Therapists. She also practiced using a walker by herself. She said, “I am a widow and live by myself and practiced using the walker in order to make sure I could take care of myself after surgery.”

Stein also had a CT scan before surgery. Dr. Chris Rierson of Northwest Iowa Bone, Joint & Sports Surgeons said, “A pre-surgical plan is created based on a CT scan of the patient’s own knee, and we use the robotic arm during surgery to resurface the diseased portion of the knee, sparing healthy bone and surrounding tissue for a more natural feeling knee. A small implant is then secured in the joint to allow the knee to move smoothly again.”

The results exceeded Stein’s expectations. “Everyone was wonderful during my hospital stay. I had knee surgery 13 years beforehand on my right knee and this time around I didn’t need as much pain medicine and I was able to move more easily,” she said. “I think the exercises I did before surgery and having robotic surgery were very beneficial to my rapid recovery.”

Physical therapy started a few days after the stitches were removed. There was quite a bit of pain for the first week, but that subsided as her movement improved each day. She said, “My therapist was surprised how well my leg was able to bend so soon.”

Stein is now able to live her life as she did before her knee pain began. “I’m not limited anymore. I’m walking again, playing with my grandchildren again, traveling to Florida and walking on the beach again,” she said. “I’m glad I didn’t wait very long for it to get better on its own, which wasn’t going to happen. I enjoy getting out and doing things, and I can because I had surgery.”

She exercises but doesn’t think of herself as an athletic person. That’s why it surprised Brenda Martin, a Milford resident and 2^nd grade teacher at Okoboji Elementary School, when she started experiencing shoulder pain in March of 2020. Moving hurt – putting on her seatbelt or her backpack or throwing the ball to her two labs. The worst part, though, was how the pain kept her up at night. She said, “I’m a hard sleeper, so when it started waking me up at night, I knew I had to do something.”

Her first step in treatment included physical therapy in Spencer. When that didn’t reduce her pain, she had a cortisone shot. That reduced the pain a lot, but only lasted for a month or two. At that point, Dr. John Leupold of Northwest Iowa Bone, Joint & Sports Surgeons ordered an MRI and discovered she had a tear in her rotator cuff. Martin said, “Dr. Leupold left it up to me whether to go ahead with surgery or not. We couldn’t tell through the MRI how extensive the tear was, so if I had surgery, he wouldn’t know if I’d need a full rotator cuff repair or just a clean-up.”

After almost two years of pain, Martin opted to go with surgery. “I knew several people from school who had surgery at Lakes Regional and all spoke really highly of it, so I decided to go for it,” she said.

On a cold, dark morning in December 2021, Martin arrived at Lakes Regional Healthcare’s Surgery Center with her husband. She said, “It was slick – everyone was really nice. I was able to meet with Dr. Leupold, anesthesia, and the nurses and then prep for surgery all in the same room, and my husband was in there with me,” she said. “Since we weren’t sure how extensive my tear was, Dr. Leupold told me if I woke up with a black foam block under my arm, it would mean he had to do a full rotator cuff repair versus if I woke up with my arm just in a sling.”

Martin woke up with her arm held up with a black foam block and learned that her tendon was almost torn through and non-surgical treatment would not have brought her relief in the long run. The surgery was short – she was home shortly after noon. She knew her recovery would be longer than she had hoped but was diligent in following her discharge instructions. “I slept in a chair for the first two or three weeks because I was afraid of rolling onto my arm,” she said. During that time, she did passive movement exercises as Dr. Leupold and her physical therapist, Sarah Tungland at Lakes Regional Healthcare’s Community Health Center in Milford, ordered. Then she started doing active movements during appointments with her physical therapist. She said, “At first, I had appointments three times each week. Eventually they were spread out more and more until I was down to one appointment per week. I just graduated from rehab in May.”

Now Martin is pain free and enjoying playing fetch with her dogs and gardening. Since having surgery, she’s heard people say shoulder surgery has a difficult recovery, but she has no reservations about it whatsoever. “Surgery was well worth it. I know how much better I feel,” she said. “In retrospect I wouldn’t have waited so long. It’s definitely worth it in the end.”

It was a beautiful day in September when expectant parents Emily and Chad Hansen had their first ultrasound a few weeks into their pregnancy. They were ecstatic to learn they were having a healthy little boy, who they would name Colin. However, after having additional ultrasounds a few weeks later, Emily’s care was transferred to Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Colin was born at only 26 weeks gestation weighing in at two pounds, five ounces. He was in the NICU for three months until returning home to Estherville, Iowa.

Fast forward two years and thankfully, Colin is now a healthy, happy, busy two-year-old. Emily and Chad love being parents and got pregnant with their second son in October 2021. Concerned they would experience the same situation as they did with Colin, they doctored in Sioux Falls for most of the pregnancy. Once Emily was 36 weeks pregnant and concerns about the baby’s health were alleviated, she wanted to move her care to Lakes Regional Healthcare. Lakes Regional Family Medicine physician Zach Borus, MD, MPH happily accepted her as his patient. Emily said, “Dr. Borus is the best. He’s always so down to earth, I trust him, and I can talk to him about anything. I love his nurses too – they always follow up with me and answer all my questions.”

Emily started having contractions with a bit of bleeding on a Sunday afternoon in July. Once the contractions were about eight minutes apart, she called Lakes Regional Healthcare’s Birth Center and was told to come in when the contractions were five minutes apart. She was greeted at the door by the nurse as soon as she arrived at 11:00 pm. “I was five centimeters dilated and nervous about the blood, but the staff was so calm, they made me calm,” said Emily. “I was their priority – they made sure I was comfortable before doing anything else. The two days I was there I know they were very busy with other patients, too, but the staff didn’t make you feel that way. I felt like I was their only priority.”

Part of making her comfortable included giving her an epidural to ease her pain. Emily said, “I got the epidural just shortly after arriving. It was great – I didn’t have any pain and I even fell asleep after I got it!” As soon as she woke up, it was time to push. “I started pushing around 6:25 am and Wyatt was born at 6:34 am,” she said. “He was healthy, and I was able to bring him straight onto my chest for bonding.”

The rest of her stay at Lakes Regional Healthcare’s Birth Center was just as comfortable. “I liked how I could deliver and recover in the same room. Plus, the food was good, I got to choose what I wanted, and they give you a lot,” she said. “I loved my experience in Sioux Falls, too, but delivering at Lakes Regional felt more like ‘home.’ I got more care and attention here. I’m so happy I was able to deliver Wyatt here.”