Being your own advocate & finding confidence with guest Amy Hart

Intro  (0:00)

• Today’s guest is Amy Hart

• In an Ileostomy due to colon cancer

• Mom to 2 little girls. 

• She has an amazing story, going through Colon cancer THROUGH covid! 

The Beginning Of Amy’s Story And How It All Started (1:28)

• Diagnosed in November of 2019. 

• On the heels of my daughter’s birthday. 

• Approaching her birthday, started having a lot of changes in bowel movements. 

• Was always a slow-moving human, but then it started moving fast and furious. 

• Started seeking therapy thinking it was something to do after having children. 

  • Chalked it up to PPD or other things, but doctors didn’t think anything was wrong.

  • Her body was speaking but did not know what it was saying.

• Intense abdominal pain and cramping. 

• Bleeding began in the stool and it was not just a little. Alternating with feeling sick and not being able to go to the bathroom fully. 

  • Emptying bowels completely. 

  • Knew something was not right.

• Listen to your family history. 

  • Grandmother died of Colon Cancer

  • Mother died of Uterine Cancer 

  • No concept of genetic testing until was diagnosed with cancer. 

• Had to fight a doctor to give me a colonoscopy because I was so healthy. 

• When they did it, they found cancer immediately and said it was in later stages. 

• Has been a difficult process for her, and continues to be a big challenge for her.

• Knowing this information is so powerful because she will be forever monitoring her body. 

• Have now had other family members get checked because of what she has gone through to make sure they are safe. 

Looking Forward (10:25)

• Wanted to hide away forever after getting her Ostomy

• But THIS wasn’t who she was. How I found her on Instagram!

• A lot of people may not understand it, but they see us through it. 

• She has found confidence that she didn’t have before. 

• She was not easy on herself, she was mean to her and she did not need to be. 

• Didn’t pick this life, but you are doing it and you are owning it! 

• You are not alone doing this. 

Surgery & Ostomy (12:18)

• Diagnosis November 2019 through colonoscopy. 

• Then MRI and CT and another colonoscopy afterward to biopsy the tissue to confirm Stage 3B Colorectal Cancer. 

  • Genetic testing confirmed Lynch Syndrome

  • Predisposition to multiple cancers. Colon, Uterine, Bladder, and Kidney.

• Marker from genetic testing came back at 80% Colon Cancer. So when the Surgeon got that they knew they should be as aggressive as possible. 

• 2 years out of surgery and numbers are still scary. 

• We should all know our genetic testing whether it’s genetic testing or something else. 

• After Lynch Syndrome Diagnosis went in for Radiation for 6 weeks. December 9th – January 14th.

• I had a 6 week break then had surgery in March.

• Took the entire colon. – Ileostomy to get everything or less of a chance of coming back.

• Surgeon and Tumor board looked at the case and said to remove the entire colon and everything beneath it. 

  • Total Proctocolectomy with an end Ileostomy and ATR reconstructions 

  • BIG thing saying if you looked at the inside picture of a body, she would have nothing from the colon down. 

  • Reason for that extreme version of surgery is because she is young and wanted to be there for her kids. 

  • This is the best thing you can do to have one surgery and have it over with and give yourself the best chance. 

• At the end of the day, it came down to being done with it and not having to worry about all of the “What ifs”.

Post Surgery (21:00)

• Came out of surgery and the minute woke up in the ICU would not let the nurse help her with that. 

  • That was her way of dealing with it

• Researched how to take care of it and everything so she was ready! 

• Woke up and looked at it, puked then got to it. 

• Because of the lack of personal stuff with covid and not allowing any visitors, gave her a lot of time to get up close and personal with herself and have not spent a week alone in a long time. 

  • Forced her to really say are you going to do this and get up or boohoo through this. 

• We all have a choice, everything in life is a choice and we all have these choices. The difference is getting better and getting louder.

• Do have these moments of why me and poor me, and any of us who have gone through something devastating in our life have these thoughts. 

• But LOVE to see the other side of it too. We are still all walking this path.

• “This is the life we have been given and I am going to do what I think is best.”

• Can say this is really hard, I don’t want others to go through it, but you can have good days and enjoy life. You can live and walk with it.

Closing (33:00)

• Love the most that you shared about the mindset. The things you went through that it can be a dark path, but you chose not to go down that dark path.

• Live your life the best you can.  We are all doing it and trying to make sense of what our path is. 

• Your story is important so live it! We only get this one and when it’s over that is it. 

• Look at it and say, it wasn’t perfect, but I showed up anyway and I had some fun. 

• Find Amy Hart on Instagram. @barefootprofessional @barefootostomate 

• I wish none of us had to go through this, but I am glad it has led us here.