Diane Jensen: Day 33, Vidaza begins

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Day 33, Vidaza begins

Dr. Asch came in this morning and said her numbers were pretty much the same with the exception of the nutrifills that had gone down slightly. "However", she said, "why wait until tomorrow, let's start the chemo today. " So within a couple hours, Henry was hooked back up with the Vidaza which only took a 15 minute run in time and she was done for today. She'll get the same treatment every day for the next 6 days. They're at a point where they're trying to get all things aligned so as the numbers get better and the chemo drug begins to work, talks can turn to going home and out patient term can begin. In order to go home, she'll have to leave Henry. She had a great visit and foot rub from Laura. Her diet is changing, here's breakfast and dinner......

1 comment:

LoriJanuary 19, 2015 at 7:23 AM
Extra Prayers for you as you start this round of chemo. You are such a strong, faithful lady and an example to us all. Keep up the fight, we love you and think of you daily. Sending lots of love and hugs to you! XOXO
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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.