About 6 months ago Ashley began feeling a numbness on her left leg. At first it was thought that it was due to her pregnancy with Kolbe and the way he was sitting. Post partum, the numbness did not go away, rather it began to spread to other parts of her body. After getting an MRI done it was found that she had large fluid filled cyst on her brain.
On Friday 10/3/25 Father Anselm with the Norbertines ministered Ashley with the sacraments of confession, holy communion and annointing of the sick. Later that same day we went to the ER at Hoag Hospital and Ashley was admitted to the hospital.
Today, 10/5/25 at approximately 7:35 Ashley was wheeled back to the operating room where they will remove part of her cranium, drain the cyst and remove a nodule that is filling the cyst with fluid for biopsy.
- 7:35 AM – Ashley is wheeled back to the OR to begin the proceedure. While she is anxious she is assured by all of the prayers and the confidence of the medical professionals. We are told the procedure is going to take about 2 – 2 1/2 hours with some preparation beforehand and post operative monitoring after.
- 8:22 AM – Ashley is under general anesthesia and doing very well.
- 10:22 AM – The surgeons are finishing up the surgery and closing up now. A sample of the nodule was sent to pathology for testing and we should get some preliminary answers today.
- 11:04 AM – The surgeon called and said that everything went well and that there were no surprises once they were able to look at her brain. Her brain looked very healthy. The cyst collapsed completely and the nodule was able to be completly removed. Ashley will be waking up in the next few minutes going to ICU. They will perform a routine CT scan to check for blood in newly vacant space the cyst was occupying. The hospital will also complete a couple of othe routine chest and abdomen scans, tomorrow. She was given lots of numbing medication for local pain.
- 11:11 AM – Ashley has landed in the surgery ICU, awake but still groggy. I should be able to go and see her in about 1/2 hour!
- 12:00 PM – I was able to speak to Ashley over the phone. She is awake with a headache. She is going to get her CT scan right now and should be done in about 20 minutes.
- 1:00 PM – Ashley is back from the CT scan and settling into the ICU room and eating chicken tenders. The doctor said everything went as well as it could!
- 4:00 PM A Message from Ashley:
Dear friends, Thank you for wrapping our family in prayer and supporting us through this difficult time. God is so good and merciful to us. I thank him for His love and perfect plan. I am offering up everything for each of you and your intentions. I love being a part of this community. Our community is beautiful. It is not perfect, we are all sinners, but God is with us and has given us each other. Im grateful for all of you, all our friendships and love we have for each other.
Thank you for all the text messages, phone calls, visits, delicious meals, encouraging words, generosity, sacrifices and, love you have given to our family. It all means so much to us.
Jesus, I trust in you. Knowing you are all praying for me is so incredibly comforting. Thank you. I will be praying for you.
It will be amazing to be able to feel my leg, arm and tongue again! I look forward to seeing you all soon and Praising our Lord for His miracles and healing. God is a God of miracles and Im so unworthy and blessed to have experienced so many of them during this time. God Bless you all and may our Lord reward you all. Keep the prayers coming please.
St. Faustina pray for us.
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross pray for us. All Angels and Saints pray for us.
God Bless you,
Ashley Dennis - 9:15 PM – Ashley will be spending the night in the ICU tonight, as planned. She will have “neurochecks” every hour till midnight. She is in pain but as usual, she’s being a trooper. If all continues to go well she will go back to stay where we started here at Hoag in the neurology ward. As of now it looks like she should be able to leave here Tuesday. Regarding the nodule, we will find out in about a week what it is made of. Good night everyone and thank you for your prayers and support. With Love, DnA
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