Home > West Fargo woman found the courage to seek treatment at Essentia for incontinence – and is thankful she did

In this day and age, there are still topics surrounding women’s health that many find embarrassing or difficult to discuss. West Fargo resident Cyrisse Wietstock would like to help change that.

After struggling with and overcoming incontinence thanks to expert care provided by Essentia Health, Cyrisse is sharing her story with the hopes of eliminating the stigma surrounding this condition and empowering more people to speak up about their health – no matter how uncomfortable it may be.

Cyrisse’s struggle with fecal incontinence started after she had back surgery and became worse after undergoing a procedure on her heart.

This condition was having a major impact on Cyrisse’s life.

“I was living more and more like a hermit,” she said. “I was actually relieved that I didn’t have to leave my home too often because of the COVID pandemic.”

After one incident in cardiac rehab that resulted in her falling off a treadmill due to complications, Cyrisse met with Essentia Health physician assistant Stephanie Severson.

“Stephanie was the first health care provider who asked me about my bowel movements,” she recalled.

At first, Cyrisse was embarrassed to discuss her bowel difficulties, but she says Severson made her feel at ease by saying “I’m in the poop business” to help convey how common these types of issues are. Severson then told Cyrisse that Essentia Health OBGYN Stefanie Gefroh could help.

Dr. Gefroh determined Cyrisse’s muscles that allowed her to control bowel movements had deteriorated. Because pelvic physical therapy didn’t work, Dr. Gefroh suggested an InterStim implant, a medical device that emits a continuous, mild electrical pulse through a wire to stimulate sacral nerves, which strengthen the sphincter complex.

Dr. Gefroh told her that she had taken care of fewer patients with bowel incontinence compared to urinary incontinence. She also said the patients she had implanted with InterStim for bowel incontinence had excellent results. Cyrisse was willing to try anything and remembers saying, “The worst that can happen is it doesn’t work, and my life will still be miserable.”

To Cyrisse’s’s astonishment, the InterStim trial did work, and she experienced an immediate fix. She is no longer “miserable,” having returned to a more normal lifestyle.

She says that whenever she speaks to health care providers, she urges them to have more open and candid conversations about topics like poop and sex. She says that normalizing these conversations can make all the difference in their patients’ lives – especially for their female patients.

Cyrisse hopes her story will inspire more individuals to speak up and seek care if they are suffering from this condition.

“If I’ve learned anything from this experience, it’s that this condition can be fixed and there is hope,” she shares. “Be brave, find the courage to say, ‘I’m having trouble’, and go see Dr. Gefroh.”

Of Cyrisse’s experience, Dr. Gefroh stated, "I am incredibly pleased to see Cyrisse gain confidence and joy in her life again. It was such an honor to help her. I know that talking about urinary and fecal incontinence can be scary, so I want to break down the barriers and empower women to find their voice. I am so proud of what we can offer and excited we are adding a urogynecologist to the Essentia OBGYN team this fall who is further specialized in helping women with these issues."

Did you know that one in three women are impacted by either urinary or fecal incontinence? If you are experiencing symptoms of urinary or fecal incontinence, make an appointment with one of Essentia’s skilled OBGYN providers at EssentiaHealth.org, via MyChart or by calling (701) 364-8900.

View video transcript Listen to audio description (MP3)

(DESCRIPTION) A toddler boy walks in a dining room, carrying a book made of fabric.

(SPEECH) SPEAKER 1: When we were pregnant with Ryder, we found out fairly late in my pregnancy that Ryder had a heart condition. We had gone in for one of my regular checkups with my midwife, and on the little Doppler, we heard an irregular heartbeat. And we found out that he had a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot.

(DESCRIPTION) She sits with him on the floor, pointing at buttons on a toy.

(SPEECH) And it was one of those-- I think I pretty much just shut down. During that scan, that's when they found the murmur and the hole in his heart.

(DESCRIPTION) He pushes buttons on the toy as he stands up.

(SPEECH) So I was completely caught off-guard and hadn't mentally prepared myself for that. But from there, it was really great working with the team at Essentia, because not only did my midwife circle back with me, the cardiologist, Dr. Rauser-Foltz got a hold of me right away and talked me through and asked if I had any questions, she had us come in and meet with her even though baby wasn't born yet, but she wanted to make sure that we got to meet her and were comfortable talking to her.

(DESCRIPTION) The lobby of a hospital, with desks on one side and elevators on the other. A hallway on one of the upper floors of the hospital, with chairs, desks, and a sign on the wall that reads, Women's Clinic.

(SPEECH) From there, we went and had some additional scans just making sure that we had as much of a picture as we could prior to him being born, and we had the option of having Ryder down in the cities. We would have gone anywhere and done anything for him to make sure that it would gone as best as possible, and we wanted to stay in Fargo. We wanted to stay at Essentia because that is where our care team was at and where we felt comfortable. And after Ryder was born, Dr. Rauser-Foltz came in and again was really great about assuring us that we're doing everything we can, you don't need to be nervous about anything at this point. We did a scan and confirmed it was the Tetralogy of Fallot and that he would need surgery.

(DESCRIPTION) Ryder smiles as he clutches a stuffed animal and sits on the floor.

(SPEECH) Her being so involved and so in touch with everything that was going on was also so comforting, to the point he was not feeling well and I had taken him into the walk-in clinic. And before I was even out of the parking lot at the South University Clinic, she had called me on the phone to check in and see, how are you doing? Do you have any questions? And just that involvement and that reassurance of you're doing everything right or this is what you can do to help him, but again, very involved and very comforting.

(DESCRIPTION) She reads the book to Ryder and another boy.

(SPEECH) His surgery was the day after his six-month birthday. And he did so well with the surgery and did very well with recovery. So we got to celebrate Ryder's first birthday in December and it was such a joyous day, because there was so many unknowns and so many ups and downs in his first year.

(DESCRIPTION) Ryder walks away. She grabs the waist of his pants.

(SPEECH) SPEAKER 2: Hey, where you going?

(SPEECH) SPEAKER 1: Getting to see him walking around and playing. And what a little blessing and what an exciting day. It was quite the milestone to be able to get to and knowing that we have so many more ahead, but we made it through all of this. And that tough little guy is doing great he's keeping on keeping on.

(DESCRIPTION) Text, Like Nowhere Else. The Essentia Health logo appears, consisting of three leaves in a circle. Text, Essentia Health.

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