It is the day of days. Transplant day, Day Zero. All other days begin now.
It is kind of fitting that yesterday was Memorial Day as we celebrated those who gave their lives to defend our freedom and the freedom of this country. Wars just seem trivial now compared to what Jenene is going through. I know that what I just said is not true, and that comparing her struggle with Leukemia and people sacrificing their lives on the battle field are in no way comparable, but when it truly comes down to it, Charlene is 'giving life' to Jenene. She is giving of herself something that some of us can only imagine doing. I can't imagine what a sacrifice one can make during war times, but I am very proud to know that one individual cares for and loves another, as much as these two sisters do, and then I am sure that Charlene's gift to Jenene is as memorable as those people who we celebrated yesterday.
Please keep both Jenene and Charlene in your thoughts and prayers today.
Thank you
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Update on Jenene from May 29th.
Jenene has been at OHSU for about a week now and has received her radiation and chemotherapy treatments all week. She has been feeling ok, with only slight nausea and pain from her port site.
She is currently receiving Cyclosporine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclosporin) which will help her body to accept the stem cells from Charlene. She will probably have to continue this treatment when she gets out of the hospital as well.
With her chemotherapy treatment (Cyclophosphamide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoxan), there is a chance of damage to her kidneys, so they are combating that with the use of Mesna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesna) that will help protect and detoxify her kidneys and vital organs while she receives her chemo treatments.
She finished the 8 rounds of the TBI radiation therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_body_irradiation) on Friday and then received the chemo treatment yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday). She will have a day off tomorrow (Monday) from any treatments; other than her regular meds and the cyclosporine.
On Tuesday morning, Charlene will be admitted as an outpatient at 6am and they will then begin the process for harvesting her stem cells to give to Jenene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_transplant#Allogeneic).
Otherwise she has been in pretty good spirits, she has been taking walks around the ward and has been eating regular meals.
She is still wanting to wait to have visitors, but please call, text or email her to keep in touch. She may want to see someone at anytime, but please ask her first before coming up. We will keep everyone informed.
Charlene has been doing well too with her neupogen shots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filgrastim), with some pain in her body from the growth of her bone marrow. Please keep sending her good thoughts at: charlene.bronson@gmail.com.
If you still wish to donate to her, please make the checks out to Jenene Philips and you can send them to either 1392 SE 64th Court Hillsboro, OR 97123 or 3543 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97214.
Or visit her website with a PayPal account attached, so that you can donate to her via a credit card. That site is here: http://jenenephilips.tumblr.com/.
Please pass on the following link to those who may want to know about her past treatments and to keep a watch on her progress: http://neeners-updates.blogspot.com/. You can also email her at jmphilips503@hotmail.com or find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenene.philips.
Thank you all for your support.
Ross
Team in Training: http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/portland11/ryoungman
She is currently receiving Cyclosporine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclosporin) which will help her body to accept the stem cells from Charlene. She will probably have to continue this treatment when she gets out of the hospital as well.
With her chemotherapy treatment (Cyclophosphamide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoxan), there is a chance of damage to her kidneys, so they are combating that with the use of Mesna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesna) that will help protect and detoxify her kidneys and vital organs while she receives her chemo treatments.
She finished the 8 rounds of the TBI radiation therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_body_irradiation) on Friday and then received the chemo treatment yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday). She will have a day off tomorrow (Monday) from any treatments; other than her regular meds and the cyclosporine.
On Tuesday morning, Charlene will be admitted as an outpatient at 6am and they will then begin the process for harvesting her stem cells to give to Jenene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_transplant#Allogeneic).
Otherwise she has been in pretty good spirits, she has been taking walks around the ward and has been eating regular meals.
She is still wanting to wait to have visitors, but please call, text or email her to keep in touch. She may want to see someone at anytime, but please ask her first before coming up. We will keep everyone informed.
Charlene has been doing well too with her neupogen shots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filgrastim), with some pain in her body from the growth of her bone marrow. Please keep sending her good thoughts at: charlene.bronson@gmail.com.
If you still wish to donate to her, please make the checks out to Jenene Philips and you can send them to either 1392 SE 64th Court Hillsboro, OR 97123 or 3543 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97214.
Or visit her website with a PayPal account attached, so that you can donate to her via a credit card. That site is here: http://jenenephilips.tumblr.com/.
Please pass on the following link to those who may want to know about her past treatments and to keep a watch on her progress: http://neeners-updates.blogspot.com/. You can also email her at jmphilips503@hotmail.com or find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenene.philips.
Thank you all for your support.
Ross
Team in Training: http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/portland11/ryoungman
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Jenene was re-admitted to OHSU yesterday to start her radiation and chemotherapy treatments in preparation for the Stem Cell Transplant on Tuesday the 31st.
She now has a portacath (port:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_(medical) into her upper chest to replace the PICC line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picc_line) that she got on her first visit. She is most likely going to be here for about 30 days, depending on how all the procedures go.
She is currently in the radiology department having her first of 8 treatments (2 times a day for 4 days) of Total Body Irradiation (TBI) therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_body_irradiation), then she will get 2 days of chemotherapy treatment (Cyclophosphamide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoxan). She will get a day of rest and then receive the stem cell transplant(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_transplant#Allogeneic) on Tuesday the 31st.
Charlene will be getting shots of neupogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filgrastim) starting on Friday for 4 days to help her stem cell production. She will then get a catheter into her neck to get the blood drawn from. Charlene will be a outpatient throughout this process and will be returning home each day. If you would like to send her good vibes please contact her at: charlene.bronson@gmail.com.
We will let folks know when Jenene is well enough to come and visit her in the hospital. It is really dependant on how well she is recovering from all the treatments. Please stay tuned.
Thank you to all the folks who have donated money to her over the last few months to help with bills and other costs. She is really appreciative of all those who have supported her, both financially and personally. If you wish to donate to her, please make the checks out to Jenene Philips and you can send them to either 1392 SE 64th Court Hillsboro, OR 97123 or 3543 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97214.
Or visit her website with a PayPal account attached, so that you can donate to her via a credit card. That site is here: http://jenenephilips.tumblr.com/.
Please pass on the following link to those who may want to know about her past treatments and to keep updated on her progress: http://neeners-updates.blogspot.com/.
You can also email her at jmphilips503@hotmail.com or find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenene.philips.
Thank you all for your support.
She now has a portacath (port:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_(medical) into her upper chest to replace the PICC line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picc_line) that she got on her first visit. She is most likely going to be here for about 30 days, depending on how all the procedures go.
She is currently in the radiology department having her first of 8 treatments (2 times a day for 4 days) of Total Body Irradiation (TBI) therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_body_irradiation), then she will get 2 days of chemotherapy treatment (Cyclophosphamide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoxan). She will get a day of rest and then receive the stem cell transplant(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_transplant#Allogeneic) on Tuesday the 31st.
Charlene will be getting shots of neupogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filgrastim) starting on Friday for 4 days to help her stem cell production. She will then get a catheter into her neck to get the blood drawn from. Charlene will be a outpatient throughout this process and will be returning home each day. If you would like to send her good vibes please contact her at: charlene.bronson@gmail.com.
We will let folks know when Jenene is well enough to come and visit her in the hospital. It is really dependant on how well she is recovering from all the treatments. Please stay tuned.
Thank you to all the folks who have donated money to her over the last few months to help with bills and other costs. She is really appreciative of all those who have supported her, both financially and personally. If you wish to donate to her, please make the checks out to Jenene Philips and you can send them to either 1392 SE 64th Court Hillsboro, OR 97123 or 3543 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97214.
Or visit her website with a PayPal account attached, so that you can donate to her via a credit card. That site is here: http://jenenephilips.tumblr.com/.
Please pass on the following link to those who may want to know about her past treatments and to keep updated on her progress: http://neeners-updates.blogspot.com/.
You can also email her at jmphilips503@hotmail.com or find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenene.philips.
Thank you all for your support.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Update for May 16th
So it has been a little while since my last update on her. We have been busy getting things ready for her trip back to the Hospital on the 23rd (7 more days). Lots of prep work for that.
She has been having a few tests throughout the last few weeks with all results coming back clean or in good standing. She had a Lumbar Puncture today as well as labs.
She will be admitted on May 23rd, sometime in the early afternoon. She will be getting a port (called implantable ports: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The next day (the 24th) will be the first day of her 4 to 5 days of radiation therapy and chemo treatments.
On Tuesday May 31st, she will be receiving stem cells from Charlene through a stem cell transplant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Charlene will also be doing some treatments prior to the 31st, to boost her blood cell production, as an outpatient. Please make sure that you keep both Charlene and Jenene in your thoughts on that Tuesday. Charlene is been such a great support for Jenene and I can’t even begin to tell you how much that means to Jenene. Not only through the donation of the stem cells, but also as a sounding point with all that Jenene has been going through. We love you Charlene!
Jenene will be limiting the amount of visitors that she will have up to the hospital for the first couple of weeks as she is going to be very weak and will be out of it for the first few days. But as her counts begin to come back up, she will be extending a broader invitation to all folks to visit. We will keep you posted.
She has also requested that no one brings gifts for her. She is requesting that the money that you may spend on a gift, be donated to her instead. If you would like to donate to her, please make the checks out to Jenene Philips and you can send them to either 1392 SE 64th Court Hillsboro, OR 97123 or 3543 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97214.
Or visit her website with a PayPal account attached, so that you can donate to her via a credit or debit card.
That site is here: http://jenenephilips.tumblr.
She would also like to remind people that I am running in the Portland Marathon for team in Training and I am currently raising money to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you would like to have more information about that, please visit my website at: http://pages.teamintraining.
This and all of the other updates are on her blog at: http://neeners-updates.
If you wish to contact her, you can email her at jmphilips503@hotmail.com or call or text her at 503-341-3498. You can also find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
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