Diane Jensen: More tests, everyday to the hospital

Friday, January 30, 2015

More tests, everyday to the hospital

My car seems to run in autopilot as it carries us to and from LDS hospital. We have to go everyday either to get blood tests or to pick of the "gold packets" of the medicine that the insurance company won't pay for. While under treatment of the chemo I guess Diane is classed as an inpatient so we can get the meds only at the hospital, otherwise we pay for them at $7000.00 a month. That's about $235.00 per day. We are also appreciative of the tender mercy the Lord gave us of lowered gas prices to make all these trips to SLC. Somehow, all of you also get to benefit from that mercy which was sent for us. Again, we are appreciative to all of you for your kindness and prayers. What special people you are, the best friends we could have ever asked for. Sincere thanks from the bottom of our hearts.

1 comment:

wendy smedleyFebruary 1, 2015 at 2:22 PM
Diane, so glad we can keep up to date on your progress, we miss seeing you each week in Relief Society. Press on
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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.