Diane Jensen: Day 34, PIC line gone, 2nd Vidaza

Monday, January 19, 2015

Day 34, PIC line gone, 2nd Vidaza

So.....After Diane's shower today, she and the nurse were taking her robe off and whooooops........, out comes the PIC line!!! Dr Asch comes in and finds out and says, "Wait a minute, maybe this is a blessing, maybe it was supposed to happen this way, we can actually give the Vidaza in the belly with a shot. " This makes it even more likely she can come home tomorrow or Wednesday if they get approval form the insurance company for one of the drugs she has to take in pill form . They are trying, it is the antifungal drug. The family is having FHE tonight at our house and do a vacuum or sanitary wipe down of dust areas, blinds, door knobs, base boards, door panels, shelves, appliances, hard surfaces, floors and carpets. Apparently, the worst things where bacteria grows in homes are areas where dust and mold could possibly collect. She even has ankles today.....

3 comments:

christiJanuary 19, 2015 at 6:58 PM
Hoping that you get to come home!! That would be so awesome!!
Love you
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AnonymousJanuary 20, 2015 at 10:29 AM
How exciting. We are all anxious to have you home. Love you.
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wendy smedleyJanuary 20, 2015 at 12:00 PM
Crossing my fingers that she gets to come home!
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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.