Peace out Chemo, Hello Canada!

After 10 rounds of chemo, DJ finished treatment in January 2025! We decided to skip the last 2 rounds after multiple conversations with his oncologist and lots of prayer. His white blood count was dropping lower than we’d like and his fatigue was getting much worse. His oncologist said that he had received the benefit of the chemo with the 10 rounds and that 2 more at a lower dose wouldn’t make much difference. The info that really tipped the scales was that a new drug was approved in the fall that specifically targets the gene mutation that causes his tumor. So, we know that if his tumor starts to grow again in the future, we have even more options to treat it. This was such a long and very hard journey but we are so thankful for how God sustained us all through it. We also could not have survived the cancer treatment journey without the help and encouragement of our family and friends! A huge thank you for all the prayers, texts, meals, babysitting and encouragement through this whole journey.

To celebrate the end of cancer treatments, DJ and I took a trip to Western Canada. This was the biggest trip we’ve taken since before Ava was born and the longest we’ve ever left the girls. Our moms took turns keeping the girls while we explored the beautiful Canadian Rockies, a place we’ve wanted to visit for many years. It was exactly what we needed after a very long year and a half.

We flew into Calgary, AB on May 4th. We had a very early wake up that morning because we had to leave for Atlanta at 3:30 am! So, we did not do much our first day in Canada. We spent our time getting settled in our hotel and planning out our week. I’ll break the days up into individual posts because I have so many pictures.