Diane Jensen: Day 23, balancing act, no fevers, lungs a little better

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Day 23, balancing act, no fevers, lungs a little better

We're learning that one thing causes another and corrections of problems becomes a balancing act. The fungal infection she has been fighting in her blood really likes steroids she takes to eliminate the rashes. Except it's like a gas pump hose on a blazing fire, so the infectious disease team want the steroids tapered off faster than normal. The rashes are just about gone so the balance will happen and they're tapering the steroids twice as fast. Antibiotics are good for fighting the fungus in blood and lungs but not so good for diarrhea......you know which way we want that balance to go.....no pun intended on the word go. Today they're pleased with how well she is feeling, water weight is coming down and fungus is not in the blood now. Working on breathing and walking more to build strength. Henry and Diane have a new friend, what do you think her name should be? ......accepting suggestions.

3 comments:

UnknownJanuary 9, 2015 at 9:36 PM
Mazie
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UnknownJanuary 9, 2015 at 9:50 PM
Hi Diane so glad you are feeling somewhat better. Love you. You have such great strength and faith. Keep hanging in there.
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gbpckrsJanuary 10, 2015 at 5:40 AM
MATILDA:
English form of Latin Mathilda, meaning "mighty in battle."
Variant spelling of Scandinavian Mathilda, meaning "mighty in battle."
Or MAUDE (same thing)
http://www.20000-names.com/warrior_names_fighter_names_female_02.htm
You are a strong woman💪 keep going! You have so many who love you and are backing you in this battle. I'm happy to hear you're having a better day. Love you. Carol
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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.