Diane Jensen: Day 5, family events

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Day 5, family events

Baby Caleb was blessed today at our home. We were able to face time between home and Diane at the hospital-so she could"be there". Aaron did a great job with a very special blessing to our newest grandson. The "red death" has done a number on her system and her appetite. About 4 ounces will fill her to the brim. She has had a difficult time feeling good yesterday and today, very weak and sick feeling, tiring rapidly, but most of the time has kept a good attitude. The grand kids (all of them) came to visit, the room was warm and the socks came off...

Late breaking news, circulatory blood blasts are at 0%. Another week and a half or so and a bone marrow biopsy will give the percents in the marrow.

3 comments:

christiDecember 21, 2014 at 3:40 PM
I am sorry you aren't feeling well but glad the Red death is doing what it's suppose to. Thinking and praying for you!!
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AnonymousDecember 21, 2014 at 8:07 PM
We are here with Ellen and we all send our love. You are one brave lady. We love the socks. Our prayers are with you. Joseph and. Suzanne
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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.