One year later.

It has been a year since I first heard the words, "you have cancer." A year since I heard words like: melanoma, malignant, tumor, stage 3, and "this is serious."

This year has been quite a ride. I have had: 3 surgeries, an 8 day stay in the hospital, 18 days of 4 hour rounds of chemo, 4 MRIs, 2 emergency trips to the ER, x-rays, 6 skin biopsies, more doctor appointments than I can count, 6 weeks of physical therapy, and have given myself a shot of low dose chemo 3 times a week for over 7 months.

On this cancerversary, my first of what I pray is A LOT, I wanted to talk about that day a year ago. The day I heard that cancer was trying to kill me.

"Jen McManus, the results are back. It is a malignant melanoma tumor. The is very serious."

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"I better not die. I can't. Do you hear me, God?" It was my first reaction. It was short. A simple cry, prayer, and request to God.

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"Jesus, I need you right now. You are the only one that can comfort me at this second. You knew suffering. You knew pain. You knew what it feels like to cry out for your life. And I need you to hold me."

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"How I am going to tell Adam?" He is so strong and was so sure that this was nothing.

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"I am a tough chick and I am SO going to beat this crap!"

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"Ok maybe not that strong. But with God's help I can beat this...............right?"

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"God if I don't beat this, please help my see that Your plan is good. Because right now Your plan does not feel "good".

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"I can't believe that I have cancer. How can a person who is not even sick have cancer? This has to be a dream?! Wake up, Jen. Wake up! This is not fair."

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"Nope, this is fair. So many people out there are getting this same news, but they don't have the hope of the gospel. I do. I need to show them that that changes everything. I am not scared."

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"Ugh I am scared. I am scared for my kids. How do you tell your kids? Will they understand? Will this hurt them? Will they blame God and hurt? This feels more real when I think about my kids. They need me to be strong."

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"Will I be strong? Can I be strong?"

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"Jesus, be my strength. This is going to be a long journey. Life as I know it changes right this second."

Wow. It feels crazy remembering that day in such a real way. In so many ways those thoughts, concerns, and fears are VERY different now. But, in so many ways they are very much the same.

I am not dead yet! To any cancer patient this is a big deal. The statistics for someone fighting stage 3 melanoma are not fun to read. And, to be honest I try to ignore them. 1 year later and God still has me here and that is worth celebrating.

I still need Jesus everyday. In moments when it would be easy to cry out in anger, I find myself instead crying for the comfort from a Savior that hurt just like I do. I love that God's perfect plan gave us someone who just "understands" everything we feel. My Jesus has felt everything I have, and that is so comforting when treatment gets tough.

It was so hard telling Adam that I had cancer and telling him that it had spread was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But he has been incredible in this journey. He continues to write me letters everyday: letterstojen.com . I couldn't fight this fight without him.

I am a tough chick, but cancer is mean. I still get sick A LOT. I get fevers, body aches, headaches, and nausea. I'm tired all the time. But, I continue to drag myself to bootcamp 3X a week. It is not pretty, but physically I keep fighting.

Having people who pray for me daily has been one of the biggest blessings to me. There are people all over the world praying for me, and I feel every one of them. All I have to do is tweet that I am having trouble and BOOM people begin praying for me. Thank you everyone!

God's plan still doesn't seem all that "good" to me, but I have seen "good" in this situation. God has used my cancer journey to show others His perfect love. I have seen my kids knowledge of Jesus and how faithful God is grow so much this year. And, I have been given opportunity after opportunity to share my story with so many. That is definitely....GOOD!

It still feels like this is just one big dream. Actually, it feels more like a nightmare at times. I wake up every day, and one of my first thoughts is "oh crap, I still have cancer." Some days, it feels like it was just yesterday when we heard the word: cancer. Other days, it feels like we have been fighting cancer for years.

I wore a LIVESTRONG bracelet long before I was diagnosed with cancer. Living with cancer has been very eye opening. There are so many people out there fighting this journey alone with no hope but their own strength. That makes me sad. I will continue to show others that God does not want us to be alone in this fight.

I am still scared for my kids. I'm scared that they don't get it. I'm scared that they don't understand why I am sick all the time. I hate when I hear things like "Mom, I know we can't cause you are sick, but tomorrow can we go to the park?" Or, when I have to answer the tough questions like: "Mom, so and so said that you are going to heaven, is that true?" But, I still get to be home with them full time and we find a way to make our crazy McManus Life work.

I am physically weak. I am mentally weak. And some days I feel spiritually weak. I don't feel strong. I don't feel like myself. The drugs I am on are powerful, and I hate them. BUT I continue to tell myself that with God's strength and love I am very STRONG!

One year later, life has changed so much; yet, in many ways not at all.

An update and more

Some days I try my hardest to forget that I don't have cancer. On those days I try to just live life. Some days it works. I forget for a moment that cancer is trying to kill me. Here is one of those days. My brother came to visit and we went and did all the tourist "stuff" in Austin. Like taking a picture in front of a big longhorn. (only in Texas)

Then there are the other days.....The days that I really feel like I have cancer.

One of my biggest struggles is the mental battle cancer wages with you. Having a deadly cancer and trying to beat it takes quite a toll on your mind. I try to do a good job staying positive and I have a strong faith. But some days my mind is weak. My doctor has me on some heavy medications that also make my head fuzzy. I am worst at night after the kids go to bed and find myself most nights just laying on the couch. (That is why I haven't been blogging a lot, it is really hard to even put sentences together)

I am sick and tired all the time. I struggle with headaches from the chemo and frequently have a ice pack on my head to help with the swelling(yes my BRAIN SWELLS...scary huh?) and pain. I have a fever every other day. It usually breaks at around 103 degrees. I hate having a fever!!! I throw up a lot from the meds I'm taking. I am tired.....really tired. Like I sleep over 12 hours a day and am still tired. I get mouth sores, have really dry skin, have thinning hair again, and overall feel like crap all the time.

I am not myself. I try so hard to smile. To be joyful. To laugh. But at nights when I am the sickest, I just can't. I'm on so many meds that mess with my head and most of the time they keep me from being myself. I tried new meds last week and I hate them. They make me loopy and kind of crazy. And I hate feeling that way.

I still work out. I know that you think that it is crazy. But it is the ONE thing that hasn't changed. Well kind of. Unfortunately I am weak. I can't do what I used to be able to do physically. But I still try. My doctor and I agree that going to the gym is one of the reasons I am able to still do this treatment. Did you know that over 70% of people with this cancer do NOT complete the year of chemo? They just give up or their body gives up. Going to the gym is how I fight this from happening to me.

I have a serious, deadly cancer, and I ignore that a lot. I don't ignore that I am sick. I feel sick. But I do ignore the seriousness of my type of cancer. Is that weird? I am not sure. A doctor asked me what kind of cancer I had. When I told him, his face went white and he said that he was so sorry. That felt really weird.

I don't know how you can help me. I'm not good at letting people help out. It makes me feel weak. And I HATE feeling weak. And to be honest I am not sure what I need help with. We have a routine that works right now. And we just keep swimming.

My doctor wants me to go to some cancer camp. Rock climbing and river kayaking in Colorado. It sounds interesting. But I really just want to go to Disneyworld with my family. And I want to go to Haiti with my husband and our friends at @HELP.

BUT

Life is still quite perfect. My kids are awesome and we really love the routine we have right now. I can still go to Connor's karate here and there, I love coloring and laying low on my "sick days", we live in the best city that gives us chances to have fun outside and together, I have friends who love me, a Mom who talks to me whenever I need her, and a husband who rocks my socks off. No, seriousily he is really the best. He continues to write me letters everyday (http://letterstojen.com/), lays on the couch with me every night, gets up with the kids when I have bad mornings, and makes me laugh.


AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, I still love Jesus. Ha that sounds funny huh? But I really do. It would be really easy for me to have a problem with Jesus. It would be easy to play the "why me?" game, but I don't at all. I love Him more than ever. I have seen Him get me through so much and I really do feel so lucky and so loved. I trust and believe that His plan is perfect for me. And having cancer will not change that.

*Medical Update: I go in for x-rays next week to make sure everything still looks "good" and that there is no new cancer. We decided to keep trying this higher dosage of chemo even though it took me out for a week or so. We want to get as much in my body as we can, which makes a lot of sense to me.

LIVESTRONG marathon

Have you ever ran a marathon? Is it a dream of yours?

Me? Nope, NO WAY! Never ever EVER. I am not a good runner. And I don't enjoy doing things that I am not good at it, especially for over 4 hours!

But on Sunday I was honored to be apart of this race:
Nope, I did not run. Not strong enough to do that. But I did stand out at Mile Marker 10 for hours cheering on as many as I could. We have been a huge fan of LIVESTRONG since Lance started it. We actually joked about how we loved LIVESTRONG before it got "cool". And then I got cancer. And then it became very REAL! And keeping you body as strong as you can became ever more REAL! Working out has become a huge part of my treatment. Even on days when I don't want to, I get my butt to the gym.

So when I had some friends asking if they could run for me in the upcoming LIVESTRONG marathon, I was honored. And beyond excited to get out there and cheer for them. So I made some signs, got up early, found the perfect spot, and cheered and cheered and CHEERED!
It was an incredible experience. There was almost 20,000 people at the LIVESTRONG half and full marathon all out running for someone they cared about or loved. It felt electric out there. And for the first time in my life I considered running! WHAT??!!! And I might have told someone that if I beat this crap I want to do just that.....run a marathon. (crazy!!)

Please be my strength...

Today is my 200th day on chemo.....

And to celebrate my body has completely failed me. This week has been super hard. Side effects that are usually pretty bad were worst. And I have been getting some new ones.

Instead of being sad about a bad week, I have made a video that I pray encourages you today.....

I miss my hair. I battled with it a lot in the past, but now that it is gone I miss it more than I ever thought I would. Yesterday while washing my hair a clump came out. I forgot that it could fall out again now that I am on a stronger chemo dosage. That made me so sad. Sad because it has taken months and months for my hair to grow.

It reminded me of the thousands of people out there beginning their cancer journey. I thought about all the women who are scared about what cancer will do to their hair. And I closed my eyes and prayed for them.

So I put together a little video. A video that I pray brings others hope. Hope that only our God can give them.

Be strong my friends....And find strength in Jesus......

Trouble with blogging....

I started posting years ago because of one reason: LAZYNESS. We didn't have any family living near us and I was in charge of getting new pics of babies out to all the grandparents and other families. No one was on Facebook and email was painful, so Adam hooked me up with this blog.

Now I have people all over heading over to see how I am doing. I talked about fostercare and adoption a lot before cancer. And now it feels like this blog is about cancer a lot. Which makes sense because cancer consumes a lot of our life right now.

I am trying to write about other stuff, but I have one other problem. I am on A LOT of freaky meds. Freaky meds that make me very tired and very not all the way there. My head is very fuzzy. I can't remember a lot of regular stuff. I am not smart. And I simply can't write easily. This is really hard for me and one of my top "HATES" in this cancer journey. (SO if you want to help me out, send me questions and I can answer them. That way I don't have to sit here and try to come up with stuff)

Good news I heard a rough cut of the video The Austin Stone story team is doing on this cancer journey. And it sounded great. Excited to see how God will use this story to help and encourage others. I am scared about being so raw in front of SO many people, but if it means one person sees the Gospel then my pride can be deal with it.

sneak peek:

UPDATE: I am on a higher dosage of chemo and I am doing OK! Fevers, headaches, and puking but I think that I can do it. Praying that my body gets used to it and we can keep going. Kill that cancer!

Let's go ride a bike...

We are an outside kind of family. We love doing things out and about. And especially if it involves bikes. I have raced a triathlon and was training for another when I was diagnosed with cancer. Adam does a competition with a couple buddies to see how many miles he can ride in one year. And he just accepted a position with a company who is all about cycling called "Map My Fitness"(Yay Adam!). Watching the Tour de France is a 3 week event in our house each summer.

One of the reasons we love Austin so much is because this city is all about getting outside and doing something too. And this city LOVES cycling. So it is a celebration when our kids start riding with us.

Connor picked up riding a two-wheeler very quickly. He kind of just got it. He has no fear and just jumped on and went. His current love is his roller-blades and that kid is CRAZY on them. We will soon have a little half ramp so he can learn how to do more tricks. If that kids is outside on something that "goes" then he is in heaven.Bryce is another story. He does not enjoy "trying" anything new. He wants to do things that he is good at and bike riding was not one of those things. We got him a big wheel when we was 3 and he has been dominating the road on that thing ever since. And to be honest Adam and I thought that he would ride that thing forever.
But about a week ago he told me that he wanted to ride a two wheel bike(which made me a little nervous). But I wanted him to do it, so we started practicing. I let him just tool around on the bike without worrying about the pedals at first. He got used to balancing on the bike and how to put his feet down when the bike was tipping over. Then today we tried pedaling. I held onto the back of the seat for about a minute until he got the feel and then.....OFF HE WENT. He just got it. He rode all day long and was so proud of himself. And we are super proud of him too. Way to go, Bubba!
We only have one more McManus to go....

How are the kids doing?

I get asked this question a lot. And it is a good one.

The fast simple answer is "They just don't get it" and "They are doing fine." But the truth is: it is a little bit more complicated than that.


Connor knows that I am sick. He has seen me at some of my worst moments and has even shed a few tears. But life for Connor is pretty wonderful. On my bad days he gets extra Wii time and time on the computer. We go to the gym 3X a week and he loves it there. He loves playing basketball, dodge ball, and helping the teachers. He also LOVES doing karate and is really good at it. We kept Connor at home this year and have been doing school with him. He is doing awesome. Connor is the oldest and loves being the boss, but I have loved watching him become a more compassionate and better older brother every day. He is my helper, and he is very excited about calling 9-1-1 if I ever need him to, seriously he asks quite a bit if he can call me an ambulance. Ha



Bryce doesn't understand that I am sick. But he gets that he can cuddle and lay on the couch with me A LOT and he LOVES that! And he also loves all the extra TV time. His personality is more of an at-home kind of dude, so he has loved that we stay in the house a lot more. One of our favorite things to do is coloring and drawing. I draw a picture of him and he colors it. He is the first person in the house to notice when I am having a good day and actually get dressed up, hair done, and make up on. And he still thinks that I am pretty. ( I love that)



Alexis is having the hardest time with this cancer journey. She is VERY attached to Mommy and all the hospital visits, doctor appointments, surgeries, and laying the couch have her very paranoid. I can't walk into the other room without her checking on me. It is super adorable and super kind of crazy. Poor little thing just knows something is wrong, but she doesn't know what. But because of all this time at home she is also getting pretty spoiled. I take a nap every day and so does she, so naturally we take a nap together. I haven't broken her enough to mess up her sleeping in her bed in her room at night, but naptime....yup I have broken that one. We love having a couple minutes to giggle and talk before we fall asleep. She is the first McManus kiddo who has been all about Mom, and secretly I LOVE IT! But I do worry that she doesn't understand what is going on and the fact that I can't get up to go to the bathroom without her freaking out is pretty disconcerting. Luckily, she loves going to church and the gym and has never cried there, so she can't be too broken. She also thinks that she has a headache whenever I have one too.


Because I am sick or laying on the couch more than ever, Daddy has had more and more "kid time" lately. And I love that. Dad just does the "cool stuff" and the boys especially love it. One of their favorite activities is going out into the woods and just exploring. I hate having cancer and I hate being sick and I HATE fighting so hard to live. But God is so good and He gives me these moments that make my heart sing.


It's hard having cancer at such a young age. And it's even harder being a wife and Mom. But it is not quite as hard having cancer with kids who are young. And I praise God for that. I am strong and I think that I am fighting this fight pretty well. BUT if I had to watch my kids struggle with having a Mom who is sick, that would be too difficult. I don't have to answer any "big" questions yet. They don't have any anxiety or even get what cancer is. They have never lost anyone close to them, so they don't really get that either.

So, their Mom lays on the couch more than usual. So, the littlest one REALLY loves her Mommy. So, all the kids get just a little bit more Daddy-time. So what? Connor, Bryce, and Alexis' Mommy has cancer, and it is not really a big deal.

So, when you ask me "How are the kids doing?" The truth really is..."Great."

Praise God for that.