How a Riverview Health Physician Helped One Woman Feel Better Than She Has in a Decade
Photographer / Robert Jones
A woman’s health journey can be a disconcerting one when not paired with a quality and compassionate medical team.
Many women struggle to get solid answers and helpful solutions to the health problems they face. Such was the case for Sarrah Stafford who had suffered with heavy periods for the past 30-plus years ever since she started menstruating at age 13. Her cycles had become particularly difficult, however, over the last 10 years.
“It had gotten to the point where it was hard to function anymore,” says Stafford, who searched for answers by consulting multiple doctors. Unfortunately, none of them provided any hope, healing, or help.
Even after all these consultations, Stafford was left wondering what was wrong with her. Was it hormonal? Perhaps the onset of perimenopause? She asked doctors what could possibly cause such long, heavy cycles, and they simply shrugged and said, “Yeah, with your period you’re going to have cramps and bleeding.”
Yes, but heavy bleeding for seven to 10 days straight?! Stafford knew that what she was experiencing was not normal.
Stafford arrived to one of her appointments with another provider armed with a list of questions as she was determined to leave with answers and advice. But after she voiced her first question — requesting information about perimenopause and menopause — the doctor responded flatly, “Menopause is when you haven’t had your cycle for one year. Have you had your cycle in the last 12 months?”
It was a snarky question given that the purpose of the appointment was to figure out what was causing her heavy cycles.
“I’m not a crier, but after I left her office, I got in my car and sobbed,” Stafford says. “I was just really discouraged and felt like there must not be anyone out there who could help me feel better.”
Not long after that she was at work when she started feeling so awful that she questioned if she had appendicitis. She gutted out the pain all day, but by the time she got home from work, she feared something was terribly wrong.
She headed to Riverview Health’s urgent care where she received excellent and thorough care. Initially suspecting a kidney stone, they ran several tests. It wasn’t appendicitis or a kidney stone, but images revealed that Stafford’s uterus was covered in fibroids. In addition, her hemoglobin number was 6 rather than the usual 12 to 15.
The Riverview Health team referred Stafford to Dr. Deena Elsahy, a fellowship trained Minimally Invasive GYN Surgeon, and that’s where Stafford’s positive health journey began. Dr. Elsahy found that Stafford’s uterus was unusually large, with several fibroids.
“It was pregnant sized — past the level of her belly button,” says Dr. Elsahy, who went over all the options with Stafford, recommending a minimally invasive surgery by removing the uterus via a robotic hysterectomy. Although Stafford had never heard of such a robotic procedure, she trusted Dr. Elsahy because, unlike all the other physicians she had seen, Dr. Elsahy listened, cared, and took all the time necessary to answer each and every one of Stafford’s questions.
“She’s so smart, and I was just blown away by her at our first meeting,” Stafford says. “I felt heard, I felt safe, and I felt like she was going to help me feel better — finally!”
Sadly, this road to finding a competent and trustworthy doctor for women’s issues is all too common for many females.
“In women’s health, it can be particularly challenging for women to receive the care that they need,” Dr. Elsahy says. “A lot of women, especially those with chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis, have seen several doctors and felt like they have been dismissed before they finally find a provider who listens to their concerns and lets them know [their symptoms] are not all in their head.”
Stafford had her robotic surgery on December 26, 2024, and was up and walking around hours after waking up in the recovery room. She was discharged the same day.
“The surgery was minimally disruptive to my already busy life,” Stafford says.
Her mom had a hysterectomy 25 years earlier that was a vastly different experience as doctors cut into her abdomen almost like a C-section, making recovery lengthier and more painful. According to Dr. Elsahy, the minimally invasive approach has been shown to have many significant improvements in terms of less intra-op and postop complications, which allows her laparoscopic and robotic hysterectomy patients to go home on the same day as the surgery.
It’s been a little over a year since her hysterectomy, and Stafford couldn’t be more pleased with the results, with her current health, and with the care she received from Riverview Health.
Stafford reports feeling the best she has felt in 10 years. Just the cessation of her cycles alone has been a huge relief.
“That’s made everything loads better because I used to feel good for maybe a week out of the month and then my body would prime for starting the cycle, with bleeding that would last anywhere from seven to 10 days,” Stafford says. “That was seven to 10 days of cramping, too.”
Now, her hemoglobin and iron numbers are back up and stable, so her energy level has improved significantly. Plus, her hair is growing back, and the color has returned to her skin.
“My family laughs because they’re like, ‘We didn’t realize how pale you were before, but what the heck? Now you have color in your lips and face!’” Stafford says.
Her quality of life has improved tremendously in every way possible.
“Having the surgery changed every aspect of my health, both physically and mentally,” Stafford says. “Overall, I feel like my old self again.”
Stafford can’t begin to articulate the relief she felt once she finally found a doctor who cared enough to ask questions, listen, and respond with compassion.
“The mental load that was taken off of me when I finally found someone in my corner that knew what was going on with me, knew how to fix it, and had a plan going forward is hard to describe,” Stafford says. “I knew I was in good hands, and I felt such relief. I just cried and hugged Dr. Elsahy in her office.”
Now, over a year later, she gets emotional just talking about it.
As for Dr. Elsahy, she says that her favorite part of the job is getting to know her patients on a personal level.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the people,” she says. “That’s why I do what I do.”
Stafford recommends any woman who is considering this surgery to do her research on treatments and doctors.
“If someone has issues going on with women’s health, I will always refer them to Dr. Elsahy [and Riverview Health],” Stafford says.
To learn more and find a Riverview Women’s Health provider, visit riverview.org/women or call 317-776-9400 for Noblesville or 317-214-5788 for Westfield.
