Round 2
Round 2. After successfully completing Round 1 in December, I graduated college with my Bachelor's degree, job searched in Florida, applied for a job in Valdez, Alaska. I was ready to move on with my life. I had just taken another PET scan and was offered the job in Alaska. I made a joke I will never make again. I told the interviewer, "I am willing to accept this job, unless I get cancer again." Surprise, scan was not clean, and I was not able to go to Alaska. All of this happened in October 2016. I didn’t even make it a year after Round 1 before we put those gloves on again. This time I had to learn what a stem cell transplant was and, also, was the first time I stayed overnight in a hospital.
Before the big transplant, I had to complete a treatment called ICE. Another acronym for more drugs I can't remember. This time it was only three treatments, once a month, but I had to stay overnight. In Round 1, I had a port implanted in my chest, but I requested that removal as soon as I could. So this time I had a picc line inserted each time I was receiving treatment. This treatment regimen allowed for more days to feel like myself. I got to work with my brother and his buddies introducing them to the weight room and building workout plans for them. Then came transplant and a WHOLE new education, where I was told not to google.
My oncologist referred me to Omaha because they were the best in the world for stem cell transplants. There I met my lovely case nurse who has been a blessing in more ways than I could ever tell her and my transplant doctor whom I also adored. I got to spend a lot of time with these two, and the connections I was able to make with them helped me through many tough mental spots. Back to the stem cell transplant. Sparing the details, I was able to do an Auto-Transplant, which meant I was able to use my own stem cells for the transplant. I got my cells harvested, went through a lethal dose of chemo, and had my stem cells returned. This was the first time I realized cancer is a life or death diagnosis. The chemo this time was BEAM, if I didn’t get my stem cells back, I would not survive long. That chemo knocked me out. I was tired and lucky to eat a cracker and a banana during the day. For 21 days, I lived in a hotel room with my mom (it was big room, don’t worry) and slept about 23 hours a day. Everything you can imagine when you are sick happened to me. Even talking took too much energy from me. I would retreat to my "hidey hole" with God. We had many conversations that I can’t remember now, but he was there for me. Once transplant was over and my blood work looked better, I got to go home and continue treatment with a lot of radiation. However, I would like to mention, I did all of this outpatient in a hotel with NO nights spent in the hospital. This would make me the fourth person to do so in the UNMC outpatient program. I met the second and third patients and my mom actually remains in contact with their care takers occasionally.
There was so much for me to learn during this treatment, at least with Round 1 I understood the basics of chemotherapy, but transplant?! The education required for me and my mom was an unexpected blessing. Back home, I had an entire community behind me. Before I went to Omaha, my community threw a massive benefit for me and my family. I am telling you that was the most fulfilling, wholesome, happy, loving, humbling event in my life, I will never forget it, neither will my family or the many people who attended. Beyond that I had become close with my brother's buddies. My sweet brother who is 8 years younger than me had fallen in love with the weight room and so did a large group of his buddies, and I had the pleasure of helping them navigate techniques and safety in the weight room. They were my biggest supporters, truly. They were with me every day of prep treatment and checked in on me when I was down in Omaha. I missed some of their basketball season, so the boys got matching purple (Hodgkin’s color) socks for me to wear. These boys will forever be my little brothers and quite truthfully, they were a large source of my strength through this transplant, because this one was tough. When I came back from Omaha, I was required to wear a mask (this was before masks were the norm.) I was nervous, overwhelmed, but I wanted to get back to normal in the weight room. So what did these little junior high boys do? They all wore a mask with me in the weight room, although, they found they had a hard time working out with a mask. I was even able to help coach them in track when I came back.
I believe everything happens for a reason. Clearly, I was not supposed to be employed in Alaska. In staying home, I was able to spend more time with my brother through his junior high and high school years. He was such a big help in recovery, always asking me to go on walks or play catch. I was able to help them in the weight room, cheer on their games and events. They made sure I was wearing sunscreen. One day at a baseball game, someone asked me how many little brothers I had, I laughed. Of course, I had my favorite little brother, but I gained about 10 extra from this experience. Eight years later, I still love watching these boys grow into men, move on with their lives. They are carving their mark on the world, and I hope someday I can repay them for the support they gave me!
Let's talk about cancer details. The cancer was not staged this time. The tumor in Round 2 was about the size of my fist in my chest behind my thymus where a biopsy was completed. This biopsy was to determine if the cancer was the same or different, and it confirmed Hodgkin's Lymphoma again. The next step was to start that first round of ICE, once a month essentially for three months. This made me cancer free (yay!) so I was ready to do the auto stem cell transplant. My stem cells were harvested and the BEAM treatment began, for five days. I have since learned BEAM was especially tough on young fit, healthy women, who do not drink or smoke. I don't smoke, but I checked all the other criteria for a difficult time. A difficult time it was! Thankfully, this only lasted for about two weeks. Then onto recovery! This was pre-COVID and I had lots of visitors and far less masks than I do in the next!
Love, Haley.