Diane Jensen: Breathing better, newest malady

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Breathing better, newest malady

Getting off more and more fluids is helping the breathing problem.

She had developed a stronger presentation on her arm from the results of the IV. Jeremy saw the picture of it and said:
Could be three things. 1) localized cellulitis (skin infection), 2) superficial thrombophlebitis (inflamed vein), or 3) extravasation of whatever was going in the IV into the tissues which has caused a reaction. The doctors here have checked out and believe it is the #2. We have put hot packs on it and it seems to be improving. It has been very painful and has given her significant discomfort. We hope it resolves quickly.

Giving her daptomyacin for skin reaction. Another two rash areas showed up on her outer upper left bicep and one on her left torso side. She has had several visitors and several naps today. She got up and out of the room today and walked down to the nurses station and back. She got tired but is is good for her. Her appetite is still not good and they have talked about giving her an appetite enhancer. I bought a frozen hot chocolate at Hatches and she ate about 6 spoonfuls. That's gotta be high calories.

They will be taking another chest xray tomorrow and we plan to walk again this evening......forced or otherwise! The pain she has makes this difficult for her.

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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.