Diane Jensen: Day 35, Going Home

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Day 35, Going Home

Left the hospital at 5 pm. Heading for home. Out patient status for now. Next 4 days back for chemo then 3 weeks off. Then repeat for the next 3 months. She was apprehensive while we waited to get discharge orders, afraid she wouldn't get to leave, but we did. Glad to be going home! What else can we say for today? THANKS to all who helped clean the dust from the house! ......

7 comments:

CatherineJanuary 20, 2015 at 4:53 PM
Yay, so glad you are home!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Sherry RogersJanuary 20, 2015 at 7:43 PM
Hurray! So glad to hear this good news. Comfort of home never looked soooo good, right?!?!?!! Let me know if there is ANYTHING you need. (ex: Run to the store, yard work, bathrooms, food, etc.). Love you guys!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Penny :)January 20, 2015 at 7:45 PM
We are very happy you get to come home!!!! When is a good day to bring dinner over?
ReplyDelete
Replies
christiJanuary 20, 2015 at 8:07 PM
So glad that you are home!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
wendy smedleyJanuary 21, 2015 at 5:39 AM
Yay! Welcome home
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJanuary 21, 2015 at 9:51 AM
Welcome home. How was your first night? I hope good.
ReplyDelete
Replies
JennJanuary 21, 2015 at 3:29 PM
Yay! So glad you get to go home! Sheila will be admitted on Tuesday be sure and say hi!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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.