Just a quick hello to say that we are traveling back to Atlanta after a week in Germany for Kyle's first round of immunotherapy treatment at the CeGat clinic in Tübingen. We had such a lovely experience with Dr. Biskup (who was at the forefront of some groundbreaking Parkinson's research in the early 2000s; I had a starstruck moment when meeting her and connecting the dots that I'd read about her for years through the Michael J. Fox Foundation!) and her team of geneticists, oncologists and nurses, and we are overwhelmed with the unexpected joy we experienced as a family in this sweet, small German town. Since Kyle's treatment took less than an hour each day, we had long, slow days full of parks, zoos, cafes, wandering on cobblestone streets, flower markets and gracious locals who forgave our bad (read: nonexistent) German language skills and boisterous children. It was so special to have Kyle's mom with us as well!

God has used this hard situation to bring about so much goodness in our life, and if it weren't for us having to travel for this treatment, we would have never had this wonderful family time together that gave us the most precious memories and was the ultimate 'chicken soup for the soul'.

Thank you, Lord, for having a better plan for us than we could've ever imagined -- even when it doesn't feel that way on some days :) We know that if we knew what You knew, we would have even more confidence in Your plan for our family. 

Now for the medical update where I copy and paste my notes that I don't totally understand + run spell check on a bunch of words I typed quickly in the doctor's office....Kyle received 4 injections per day for 4 days. 2 injections of 10 peptides each, and 2 injections of Leukine to help stimulate an immune system reaction to the peptides. The hope is that this will train his T cells to react to the peptides and generate an immune response to fight the cancer cells. We gathered a baseline for immune monitoring on this visit, and we'll draw another blood sample for immune monitoring on our 5th visit in September. By our 8th visit in January 2025, we'll get a sense for how well the treatment is working and if Kyle's immune system is responding to the peptides. At that point, we'll decide if we continue to travel to Germany every 5-6 weeks as planned, or if we can space the remaining treatments out a bit more. I don't plan to post on CaringBridge after every immunotherapy treatment, but will you join us in prayer over the next several months that the immune response will begin building up in Kyle's system and that we'll continue to see no new tumor growth? Kyle will only do one more round of chemotherapy in June, then he will stop the Temozolomide chemo, but will continue wearing his Optune helmet and his off-label prescription therapies. His MRIs will continue every 2 months. 

As always, thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We can't say thank you enough, and we never take your support for granted. Especially as we travel, thank you to the friends stateside who prayed for a safe journey, gave us rides to the airport, checked in during all hours of jet lag, and stocked our fridge with milk and eggs upon our return. Thank you also to the friends who showed us some extra love the day before we left as we said goodbye to our sweet dog, Griffey, who lived an amazing 14 years here on earth as Kyle's best friend. It was a good change of scenery to get out of the house, and we saw lots of chocolate labs in Tübingen which we took as signs that Griffey was still looking out for us!

Our next trip to Germany is in early July, and we'll be connecting through Rome where Kyle will receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick at St. Peter's Basilica. Another special blessing made possible by our amazing friends and family who look for ways to remind us of the Holy Spirit's presence around us whenever they can. 

We love you!