Hi followers! My mom reminded me this morning it has been a while since there has been an update and I just looked and it has been over 6 months since my last update! My bad! I should blame my brother. Wasn’t he making the updates?! Just kidding Ross. 

Anyways, before we get to all my updates (there are plenty!), I wanted to take a few minutes to let everyone know how thankful I am for everyone’s love and support throughout my journey. There is no way I could go through this journey without each and every one of you. Having cancer is one thing but having cancer through a pandemic adds a whole other layer to it. Every text, call, message, present, donation, meal, and drawing from your kids made this rollercoaster of a year much more bearable and I can’t appreciate you all enough. And just in case you stop reading here, happy Thanksgiving week to you and your family! I am so thankful for my health and to have all of you in my life.

As mentioned before Ross usually writes these and he writes MUCH better than I do, so setting expectations now :) Over the last 6 months a lot has happened and I won’t bore you with all the details and hit on the highlights. 

July 17, 2020 was a great day! It was the day my medical team informed me that I was in REMISSION! What does remission mean to my medical team? It means that my CT scan, blood work and physical exam all came back normal! 

Next big thing to take place in July was my surgery to reverse my ileostomy bag. With Covid, I have to go by myself to every appointment and yes even for surgery. My parents dropped me off at 5:30am that morning. Unlike my last surgery that lasted 15 hours, this surgery lasted about 2 hours and required only 3 days in the hospital. A few things about my surgery:

• When the surgery was completed, the surgeon did not stitch the wound completely. I was left with a quarter sized wound to heal on its own — this was done on purpose to help an infection to escape. About a month post operation, my wound was healed nicely with no infection. 
• Many people have asked if the surgery was successful. The answer is yes. It took about 3 days for my digestive tract to get on track. But since my digestive tract is now much shorter than the regular human being, I go to the bathroom more since food passes a lot quicker. 

We were scheduled to come home mid-September from California. However, my energy level was still fairly low. After a visit to the endocrinologist and my medical oncologist plus some additional testing, we learned that my iron levels were low. The doctors needed to do some more testing to figure out where I was losing blood from. I ended up doing an endoscopy and colonoscopy to see if there was any bleeding in my GI tract. While my upper GI was fine, they found irrigation in my lower GI that would cause bleeding on occasion. At the end of the day it was nothing major — they found the source of the bleed and the irritation should go away on its own. However, with my iron levels still low, the doctors decided that I would require 5 weeks of iron infusions on a weekly basis - hence needing to cancel our trip home for September. The infusions were relatively quick! About an hour total and after the 5th week was completed, I definitely have more energy which has been great. 

As we all thought life was getting back to “normal,” I started not feeling 100% and not hungry. After one day of not being able to go to the bathroom (which is very rare for me) and a handful times of throwing up, we called the doctor and I was told to go to the ER. I ended up having a bowel blockage due to my intestines getting stuck around some of my scar tissue. It resolves itself most of the time and in my case it did however I was still in the hospital for 3 days hooked up to an IV for fluids and for monitoring. 

For those who aren’t aware, I also have had a non-cancerous brain tumor on my pituitary gland called a prolactinoma since I was 18. I have had many MRIs and blood work done since then to keep an eye on it and luckily it has been fine for all these years. But during an appointment with my endocrinologist, he ordered a CT scan on my brain and found out that I also have a pituitary adenoma tumor which is large enough that it will have to be removed. So yes, that means another surgery for me. It will not be till early 2021 so stay tuned for updates there! At least I’ll hit my deductible in January?!

When I first decided to be treated in California and at City of Hope the end of December of 2019, Covid wasn’t a thing and the plan was to fly back and forth from Chicago to LA between appointments, surgeries and what not. Since Covid happened, that wasn’t possible and after 10 months of being in California, I was finally cleared to fly and made my appointments with my medical team for spring which means I was finally able to come home. My parents and I were scheduled to come home on November 3, but I couldn’t wait that long! I came home early on Halloween and surprised my sister. It was amazing and if you haven’t seen the video, add me on Instagram (@anhunt35) or Facebook to watch. It was payback for when my sister surprised me for our birthday back in March. 

So far being home has been amazing and a great distraction from the last 10 months. Love being home with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and my nephews! When I first arrived home, it was relatively warm still in the Chicagoland area and I was able to social distance with several friends which was so great! 

If you have made it this far, congrats! You made it to the finish line! One last thing: One of the reasons I have been sharing my experience with everyone is to help at least make one person aware of symptoms of ovarian cancer or at least listen to your body if you or loved one complains of pain or if something isn’t right. Ovarian cancer symptoms are not spoken about enough. I have joined several ovarian cancer organizations to get more involved to help spread the word of this awful disease and also create a network for myself. If you have anyone going through cancer and they are looking for someone to talk to, please send them my way! I would like to chat. 

With all that being said, thank you. I will try to update this more often but the next update most likely won’t be till January-ish. 

Love,

Ashley

P.S. I have added more pictures to the gallery