Diane Jensen: Till we meet again

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Till we meet again

Diane, my eternal companion and love of my life, passed away today at 4:45 this afternoon. All the chemo treatments had quit working and the disease was progressing rapidly. She is no longer in pain or discomfort, but in her Heavenly Father's arms and home.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. I'll make a last post when funeral plans are made. Love you all

Dennis

2 comments:

Teacher PreacherOctober 17, 2015 at 10:33 PM
Oh my goodness! This has so saddened and shocked me that I can't stop weeping. I know she is in a better place but I will miss her so! She is such a gifted and an amazing woman. I loved talking with her and being with her. She was such fun when I worked with her in Young Women's and was such a marvelous sister and leader in Relief Society. I know how difficult this is for all of you and my prayer is that the Comforter will be with you in great abundance. Diane is also with you and will actually be able to help your family from the other side now that she is not cumbered by a sick body.I know this is true because Irv has been such a help to our family. I am so sorry. I send my love to your whole family. I will remember Diane forever and feel so privileged to have known her here on earth and know I will be her friend again. Love and prayers to all of you, Cherie Rencher
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UnknownOctober 18, 2015 at 8:59 AM
This news has broken my heart. What an amazing woman she was. Such an inspiration to me. I truly love her and I will miss her so very much. I am grateful for the knowledge of what an indispensable gift to the heavenly world she will be and the comfort that it brings to know that your family is forever. You know our Father in heaven is so glad to have her help. And I know she will be watching over all of you. All my love and prayers to you and your family, Brittany Rigby
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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.