Hello, I am new to the forum, although I have been following it since I was first diagnosed in March. I found many of the posts useful and inspiring. I live in the US on the west coast, so it is the middle of the night here.
First, a little background. I was diagnosed with stage 2be bulky cHL back in March after over a year of undiagnosed itching, and eventually unexplained weight loss and night sweats. I had 2 cycles of ABVD however my interim PET scan was positive so I was upgraded (or downgraded depending on your point of view) to 4 cycles of escalated BEACOPP. I had a follow up PET/CT in September and it came back positive with metabolic activity in a new lymph node in my neck compared to my interim PET. The lymph node was surgically removed and the pathology came back positive for cHL. I was not terribly surprised by this result as my itching had come back and actually would have questioned the result if the pathology was negative and probably would have asked them to find something else to biopsy. Still, all of this was a hard pill to swallow and I'm still trying to come to terms with it.
The plan going forward is that I will get a port inserted tomorrow (I previously had a picc which was removed) and will start a 3 cycle combination of bendamustine + brentuximab vedotin on Monday (assuming the insurance agrees, otherwise I will get in-patient R-ICE). This is a relatively new treatment recommended by a specialist referred to me by my oncologist (both of whom are part of the same medical organization but at different sites in my city). There is a paper published in April this year showing success with this protocol as a salvage therapy for relapsed or refractory HL. If this treatment does get me to remission (or near enough), then the plan is for me to have an autologous stem cell transplant around the end of the year and after sufficient recovery I will get radiation and 16 cycles (11 months) of brentuximab vedotin.
I was wondering if anyone has any familiarity with bendamustine + brentuximab, or either of them for that matter. Did it get you to remission? I'm worried that since the ABVD and BEACOPP didn't get me to remission, that this might not work either. How hard was the treatment, what side effects did you have? I've heard from the doctors that it falls somewhere in between ABVD and BEACOPP, but I'd like to hear more from someone who has actually been through it.
Always an interesting question why medical teams go for an Auto and/or an Allo or one of each or two Allo's.
There are various reasons when two SCTs are done and indeed trying an Auto first is desirable as there is no issue with GvHD and recovery tends to faster but even then an Auto my not be enough due to how the blood cancer has developed so then going on to have an Allo or going straight to an Allo my be the best plan.
I had no options and had to go straight to Allo and was always looking at two Allo's being my plan.
The two Allo's were very different and if the first one had worked I would not have had to be put through the strong (Mustard Gas) chemo but as it was I did have it 
Anti-rejection drugs are normally only used during the first 100 days then gradually reduced post day 100 and depending on how the graft goes these would be removed completely in the following few weeks then the battle starts for the graft to take full control.
I had no GvHD after my first Allo but yes it did not work but post Allo number 2 I had various types of GvHD so was on the evil (anti-rejection) drugs for a good 180 days before my GvHD fixed its self. But I will be on antibiotics for life to cover me for some infections as in my case my spleen no longer works and also have a pre-existing asbestosis so I am more open to chest infections but three years on I am doing well and looking NOT to be in hospital this winter 
This is why every journey is so different.........but worth it ;)
This is such a useful thread as it does show the complications of coming to a suitable SCT plan to move treatment forward.
I have to say that I did go into both my Allo's with active cancer cells in my skin so I was never in remission pre SCT.
My skin Lymphoma was very difficult to control so the lessons learned during my first Allo SCT helped my team develop the plan for my second Allo SCT. So I had three weeks (30 sessions) of radiotherapy to clean every area of my skin then went straight into a week of conditioning finishing with full on Melphalan then two days stem cell infusion and 3 weeks recovery then out.
