Diane Jensen: CHRISTMAS Day 9, fevers persist and family party

Thursday, December 25, 2014

CHRISTMAS Day 9, fevers persist and family party

Yesterday, last night and this morning her temperature was up to 104 degrees, not good. Trying to keep it down with Tylenol, pain killers and rest. The family gathered at noon in one of the family conference rooms and gave the grandkids their gifts from Grammy and Papa. Diane also got hers from Santa, an iPad especially so she can face time with grandkids (used several times already today) from Utah to Montana. Feeling a little bit better tonight and even a little bit of appetite, the fever is down just a bit but not gone. Found out she can't have fresh or live flowers, pants or trees in her room. A couple have been brought and they had to go out on the nurses station. Can't eat grapes, berries or left overs, due to bacteria concerns. Had a chest x-ray and two ultrasounds checking for blood clots and pneumonia. Henry is slimming down with only one drip line, but even then he has two bags on it. Sitting up a bit more but walking has been tough, painful and tiring. All in all it has been a tiring Christmas we will never forget nor want to repeat....

2 comments:

christiDecember 25, 2014 at 8:26 PM
Merry Christmas!! Thinking of you today. I hope you start feeling at least a little better soon and that you can get rid of your fever. Love you!!
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LoriDecember 26, 2014 at 10:59 AM
Merry Christmas!! You are so amazing and strong! Keep fighting hard. We love you and pray and think of you daily. XOXOXO
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Diane is very thankful for any well wishes, even if she is not able to respond to all of them.

Diane's MDS Diagnosis

The hospital encourages visits when she is home or inpatient. Call first to insure she feels well enough at any particular time for visiting. Her immune system is severely compromised, so we ask you not to visit with young children or if you are ill. Currently she is an outpatient.

Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) is a bone marrow disease much like cancer. If left untreated, it will eventually lead to the failure of the bone marrow (requiring transfusions) or Leukemia.

The only way to prevent this is undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Presently, her blast counts are increasing faster than expected but have not reached the level of Leukemia. Her blood counts are lower now and she has had a transfusion to help with this. She is to proceed with the bone marrow transplant now because of how rapidly the MDS is progressing.

Diane will enter the LDS Hospital's Bone Marrow Transplant Unit on Wednesday, December 17^th. She will undergo alternating rounds of chemotherapy for about 2 weeks. The chemotherapy will kill the blood producing cells, as well as her immune system.

Once the blast counts are reduced enough, then Diane will receive a stem cell (bone marrow) transplant. Diane’s sister, Tracey, is a half match and is to be the stem cell donor. However, effort is still underway to get a full match in time for the transfusion. The purpose of the transplant is to have the healthy stem cells replace the unhealthy ones killed by the chemotherapy (in the bone marrow). Once the transplant is done she will be on medicine to prevent rejection for some time (estimated 6 months to a year).

Mid term bone marrow biopsy coming up on (day 17) Friday, Jan. 2 nd. Find out if more chemo might be needed after the results of that test come back. Then another biopsy about day 35. Transplant could take place around day 42 the doctor said.

At this time (June 30) no transplant is scheduled. The disease became active again about mid June. Her blast numbers increased rapidly within just a weekend. Had they been able to do transplant (June 8) it would NOT have been successful, and she would have gone thru much trama for nothing. She has started another round of chemo aimed at controlling the MDS to lower blast levels.

Both the chemotherapy and the stem cell transfusion will be very hard on Diane. We ask for your prayers of strength and comfort on her behalf.

This site will be updated with Diane’s progress.